Ann Marie C.J. Crosmun, Props Master and Costume Designer

Once upon a time, there was a High School, in a land called “Minnesota”, where 3 teachers (Ms. Bjornebo, Mr. Tillman & Mr. Van Hee) introduced Ann Marie, to the joy of speech contests and the theatre. Before she had even won her first (of several), Regional & State awards and competitions, she caught the theatrical bug. She went to a fantastic liberal arts college and was mentored by the talented and kind Dr. William Hezlep, where she learned as much as she could about technical theatre. She then went to study a year in Paris at the Universite de Sorbonne to gain more knowledge about the liberal arts and Marcel Marceau’s mime theatre. She discovered all types of learning disciplines and graduated with 5 majors and 5 minors.

Then off to graduate school for Theatre and Mass Communications Law. During her studies, she was asked to stop teaching college speech classes and become the Continuity and Video Promotions Director for South Dakota Public Television. After several years at SDPTV and creating a national promotions video library, she chose to work for North Carolina Public Television.

Creating several award winning promotions and NCPTV’s catch phrase, “Learning for a Lifetime,” she left to pursue her career in designing one-of-a kind jewelry, which garnered national magazine recognition and earned 1st and 2nd place awards in international competitions.

She then added her talents to creating theatrical props. Beginning at North Carolina Theatre, under the tutelage of Laurie Johnson, Ann Marie began her travels through the wonders of prop land. A prop emergency transported her to Raleigh Little Theatre for several seasons and earning her the Ed Bodell Rookie Award for her ‘unending energy, willingness to jump right in’ and her smiling face that always asked “what do you need me to do next?” From there, she was head hunted over to Bare Theatre, The Cary Players, Bartlett Theatre and back to Bare Theatre.

Now you may ask, where does that leave our theatrical property mistress? Well, she has jumped into the deep end again. A referral from her first director, Rebecca Blum, at Bare Theatre, brought Ann Marie to Bombshell Studios. She is looking forward to exploring new worlds, going where she had never thought of going before, into the creative land of film. “It’s puppies and kittens” -“don’t believe me, just watch” laddie!