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“If he’d been a dentist, I might be making impressions of teeth,” Ingham said in June 2004.
Instead, Ingham became a renowned costume designer. She was the first costume designer for the Great River Shakespeare Festival and designed costumes for seven of the festival’s first eight productions.
“Her influence was enormous,” said GRSF producing director and co-founder Paul Barnes. “There’s no other way to put it.”
On Sunday, Ingham died at age 71 from stroke-related causes. Ingham, who made her home in Fredericksburg, Va., was in Winona visiting for the opening of the festival and suffered a massive brain aneurism July 3 while participating in a water aerobics class at the Winona YMCA.
Barnes knew Ingham for years. When starting the new festival, which kicked off five years ago, Barnes immediately thought of Ingham.
“I always loved Rosemary because she was feisty and passionate, and those were qualities I knew were going to be essential to bringing this theater to life,” Barnes said. “Rosemary was never a shrinking violet, and yet she was also one of the most compassionate people I’ve ever known.”
Ingham was raised in Virginia by a grandmother who was a tailor and a grandfather who sold Singer sewing machines.
“I can’t remember not being able to sew,” Ingham once said.
Ingham received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Montana, Missoula, and a master of arts degree from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md.
In the late 1970s, she met English costume designer Liz Covey. The two co-wrote “The Costume Designer’s Handbook” and “The Costume Technician’s Handbook,” both of which are considered essential resources in the field. She was the recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Achievement Award from the United States Institute of Theatre Technology, and the 2003 Golden Pen Award for the third edition of “The Costume Technician’s Handbook.“
Ingham helped launch the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Conn., was a resident company member at Actors Theatre of Louisville and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, and taught at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Ingham designed for numerous regional theaters, including the Utah Shakespearean Festival, American Players Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C., and Theatre Virginia.
Ingham used to joke that she never wanted to be part of starting a new theater company.
“I’ve done that before, but that was about 150 years ago,” Ingham said in 2004. “I’ve said consistently never again, but here we are.”
Barnes and Ingham used to joke about that, especially around opening night as things seemed especially chaotic. She couldn’t resist the opportunity to embark on yet another new adventure, Barnes said.
Truly, it was a love of words that inspired her to become a costume designer.
“It’s not about the clothing,” Ingham said. “It’s about the play.”
Ingham is survived by four sons: Richard, of Washington, D.C.; Jim, of Palo Alto, Calif.; Ted, of Montpelier, Vt.; and Stephen of Verona, Italy; three daughters-in-law Leslie, Alice, and Lawren, and four grandchildren Rosemary, Emmy, Nate, and Harriet. A family memorial will take place in Fredericksburg, Va., with plans under way for a celebration of her life in the fall.
Contact Käri Knutson at kknutson@winonadailynews.com or (507) 453-3523.
