Sophia Weltman,  sophia.weltman@gmail.com,  818.292.2159

b. 1995




work       
         
about






Education

University of California, Los Angeles

PhD student in Theater and Performance Studies — 2023 - present 

MFA in Costume Design — 2020-2023



Instituto Marangoni, Milan — 2019-2020

Certificate in Women’s Fashion Design



University of California, Berkeley — 2013-2017

BA magna cum laude in Human Geography, minor in Art Practice 


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Research Interests

Aesthetics of global capitalism, ruin, and decay

Philosophies of difference 

Queer temporalities 

Dress and the body 

Post/de colonial theory 

Modern and contemporary art and cultural production


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Fellowships and Awards  

2024 Fine Arts Trust Award, University of California, Los Angeles

2024 Georgia Frontiere Scholarship in Memory of the Humanitarian Efforts of Aaron Curtis Taylor Award, University of California, Los Angeles

2024 Graduate Summer Research Mentorship, University of California, Los Angeles 


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Presentations

“Forbidden: Helen Rose and the Fabric of Imagined Futures,” Critical Costume 2024, University of California, Los Angeles, March 10, 2024.


“Beige Enchantment: SKIMS and Second Skin,” 32nd Annual Berkeley Interdisciplinary German Studies Conference on Beauty and Artifice, March 11, 2024. 


“An Order of Unsolvable Gestures: Isabelle Albuquerque’s Orgy for Ten People in One Body,” Center for Study of  Women Thinking Gender Conference, University of California, Loa Angeles. Working group on reproductive bodies,  February 28, 2024.


“Theatrical Legacies of Futurism and Surrealism,” Global Histories of Theater (lecture), University of California, Los Angeles, May 2023. 


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Teaching Experience

Teaching Associate, University of California, Los Angeles

- Global Histories of Theater and Performance: Ancient - 18th Century (Prof. Michelle Liu Carriger), Fall 2022

- Global Histories of Theater and Performance: Modern and Contemporary  (Prof. Hans Vermy, Prof. Felipe Cerva), Spring 2023, Spring 2024

- Play Reading Analysis (Prof Dominic Taylor), Fall 2023

- Introduction to Costume Design (Shoshana Rubin), Winter 2023

- Costume Construction Laboratory (Spring 2022)


Assistant Instructor, Creative Growth, Oakland

- Woodworking, 2018

- Textile, 2017 


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Research Experience

Professor Suk-Young Kim, University of California, Los Angeles. Research Assistant, October 2023- present. Conducted research on blockchain technology, copyright law and ethnographic methods for forthcoming book, Millennial North Korea.



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Academic Service

Member, UCLA Center for Performance Studies Conference Steering Committee, Winter 2024-present

Organizer, Critical Costume 2023, David Copley Center for Costume Design, UCLA, Summer 2023-present-- International conference with 214 participants and 76 presenters from 30 countries. 

Working group leader, In Cahoots Conference, UCLA, February 2023. 


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Non-Academic Work Experience

Palace Costumes, Los Angeles, CA

Organized, inventoried, and managed costume stock, 2021-2023.


Dôen Clothing, Los Angeles, CA

Conducted design research on Victorian and Edwardian women’s dress. Procured and inventoried textiles

and clothing samples, prepared mood boards, updated line sheets, communicated with manufacturers, Summer 2019.



Dr. Sharon Hecker, Milan, Italy 

Edited Dr. Hecker’s book on lost-wax casting and Medardo Rosso. Conducted due diligence research of bronze and. 

plaster sculptures and wrote corresponding reports, Winter 2018-2019. 



Ancient Agora of Athens, Greece

Conservation Intern, handled new acquisitions, inventoried sculpture, maintained databases, Summer 2018. 



Paulson Fontaine Press, Berkeley, California 

Gallery Assistant and Junior Printer, 2017-2018.



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Exhibition Texts

Ben Borden, Bloom, Noon Projects, Los Angeles, March 2024

Ellen Schafer, Stuff, Galerie Wonnerth Dejaco, Vienna, July 2024


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Publications

article on Wafer Bilal and ‘Domestic Tension,’ The Daily Cal, 2014

Trey McIntyre Project Has its Last Dance at Zellerbach, The Daily Cal, 2014

Berkeley Art Museum Redefines the ‘Possible,’ The Daily Cal, 2014

article on The Vienna Philharmonic: 100 years since WWI, The Daily Cal, 2014

article on student-run production of Bertolt Brecht’s plays, The Daily Cal, 2014



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Interviews (given)

“Gender-free Fashion is Creating Bigger Conversations in the Industry,” Interviewed by Jessie Cohen, Scripps

News, June 2023. 

“Fandom of the Opera,” Interviewed by Sadie Van Gelder for UCLA Magazine, September 2023. 



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Interviews (conducted)

Edgar Arceneaux, Conserving A Time to Break Silence, The Hammer Museum, February 2024



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Languages  

Italian 

French 


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Costume Design Credits

Costume Designer, Les Mamelles de Tirésias, performed by UCLA School of Music, directed by Alison Moritz, 2023

Costume Designer, Hickey, short film directed by Giovanna Molina, 2022

Costume Designer, Wax and Wane, short film directed by Beidi Wand, 2022, Winner of SCAD Savannah Film Festival Best of Show in Global Forum. Awarded Best Women Short, in Los Angeles International Film Festival Indie Short Fest

Costume Designer, Red Bridal Veil, first staging of play written by Rouchen Li, directed by Jessica Hanna, 2022

Costume Designer, Hiding Places, feature film directed by Brad Barnes, 2021

Costume Designer, Computer Love, short film directed by Joe Picozzi, 2021

Costume Designer, Hot Air, Cool Lady, short film directed by Urvashi Pathania, 2021



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References

Suk-Young Kim 

Professor of Theater and Performance Studies, UCLA 

skim@tft.ucla.edu




Sean Metzger

Professor of Theater and Performance Studies, UCLA

smetzger@tft.ucla.edu




Michelle Liu-Carriger 

Associate Professor of Theater and Performance Studies, and Department of Theater Chair, UCLA

mcarriger@tft.ucla.edu




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