Sarah Nash Gates

Sarah Nash Gates (1949 – December 4, 2015) was a Seattle-based costume designer, and theatre arts professor at the University of Washington. She served as the president of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) from 1991 to 1994. From 1994 to 2014 she served as the executive director of the School of Drama at the University of Washington.

Educator Gates was raised with two siblings in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with summers usually spent at the family's cabin in Milbridge, Maine, riding horses and sailing.

Gates earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Boston University and then continued there to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1973. She went to California to complete a Master of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1974. She taught at the State University of New York at Fredonia and also at Stephens College in Missouri. In mid-1976 she co-taught costume-making to 57 would-be clowns at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College under the directorship of Bill Ballantine. To teach clown costuming, Gates partnered with Anne C. de Velder, who went on to serve as assistant professor of costume design at the University of Illinois, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

Gates came back to Boston University to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1984. She then accepted a teaching position at the University of Washington in Seattle, staying there for 30 years. She taught costume design and the history of costuming.

Costume designer Gates designed costumes for many theatrical productions around the U.S. but especially in Seattle for the 5th Avenue Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre. 1986 – Salome's Dance of the Seven Veils, an excerpt from the opera Salome performed by soprano Josephine Barstow, choreographed by Mark Morris, at the Seattle Opera House 2009 – To Begin the World Over Again: The Life of Thomas Paine, a traveling one-man show by Ian Ruskin, made into a TV movie in 2016. 2013 – Oliver! at 5th Avenue Theatre 2015 – Carousel at 5th Avenue Theatre

Theatre associations Gates was thoroughly involved in professional theatre organizations. She attended her first USITT meeting in 1976, and helped form the Costume Design & Technology Commission. In 1980 she began serving on the board of directors, and she was chair of the Finance Committee from 1984 to 1990. She was granted the Founder's Award in 1995.