Teacher-Scholar Legacies: Mary Wayne-Thomas

Professor of Design & Production Mary Wayne-Thomas poses in her office in Scales Fine Arts Center on Tuesday, November 19, 2019.

By Brook Davis, Professor of Acting

Mary Wayne-Thomas often chuckles and recalls, “I thought I’d come to Wake Forest for three years and then move on. I’m still here.” Professor Mary Wayne-Thomas has served the Wake Forest Department of Theatre and Dance as a scenic and costume designer for the past 44 years. Joining the department in 1980, Mary has also worked as a technical director, carpenter, scenic painter, property master, costume craftsman, tailor, draper, stitcher, makeup artist, cobbler, puppet builder, and armorer on over 100 productions.  She is currently serving her third round as chair of the department before she retires in December 2024.

Mary recalls, “I became interested in theatre when I was in high school. My mother worked with the community theater a lot, and it fascinated me. When I went to college, I started off as a math major. Calculus was fine, but I just had other interests, so I became a theater major.” Mary received her BFA from Pennsylvania State in Theatre Design and Technology, worked professionally for a while, and then received her MFA from Ohio State in costume design, scenic lighting, and technical direction. While many contemporary theatre artists focus on one area of design, Mary is a different breed; she feels equally comfortable designing sets and costumes. Colleague Tina Yarborough says, “She can make you a gown like the Queen of England and even build the throne for you to sit on.”

Professor of Design & Production Mary Wayne-Thomas applies makeup for the shoot to Anne-Payton Brothers as Mrs. Zero in The Adding Machine, a 1923 expressionist play by Elmer Rice, directed by professor Brook Davis, on Monday, February 5, 2018.

Mary arrived at Wake upon completion of her MFA in 1980, hired as the only designer working with directors Harold Tedford and Don Wolfe. During those years, she often designed costumes and sets for the same productions. As the department grew, Mary spent years fearlessly advocating for the importance of tenure-track design artists. Dean Paul Escot transferred her position to tenure-track in 1996.  

Mary was and is a caring, remarkable teacher; she has inspired decades of students in classes including Introduction to Design and Production, Theatrical Scene Design, Costume Design, History of Costume, Stage Makeup, Scenic Art for the Theatre as well as sections of Introduction to Theatre and others. She also taught at Worrell House as well as led the Euro-tour study abroad program for seven years.

Students in her courses witness the dedication of a hard-working artist who pays attention to detail, researches, and meticulously creates her work.  How does she maintain her level of excellence?  Once, she said, “I was researching makeup of the l8th century, because in the show we have a scene where the characters are getting ready for a play, so what would they actually be using? What would be the containers? How would they apply it?”  Around that time, she was working on another show and had changed her focus entirely. “I got to do some research on shadow puppets and how they’re used in various cultures and the ideas of how they’re articulated.”  Mary describes her job saying, “So you get to delve into some very specific, weird things. Every show has its interesting things to learn more about, and I guess that’s what’s so great about my job.”

Alongside the many Wake Forest productions she has designed, Mary’s work has been seen in N.C. and across the U.S. at the Festival Stage of Winston-Salem, Winston-Salem Little Theatre, Manbites Dog Theater in Durham, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Duke University, Parkway Playhouse in Burnsville, NC, Paper Lantern Theatre Company,  Attic Theatre in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Hartford Stage Company, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Barter Theatre, Santa Fe Opera, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, North Carolina Shakespeare Festival and Utah Shakespearean Festival.  

Incoming chair and director Cindy Gendrich sums up the bittersweet sentiments from Mary’s Department of Theatre and Dance beautifully: “She is the biggest-hearted, most effortless collaborator you could ever wish for. She probably doesn’t realize this, but everyone loves Mary Wayne-Thomas, and we also all know that no one loves Wake Forest more or has given more of herself to it than she has.”