Elyse Grimaldi is a Pittsburgh-based costume designer and crafts artisan. Her enthusiasms include sculpting, mask making, leather craft, fabric dyeing, painting, and decorative wire structures. She holds a BS in Theater Arts from Portland State University, and an MFA in Costume Production from Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to her graduate education, Elyse designed costumes in Portland, Oregon and its surrounding regions for over five years.
Elyse is a recipient of the 2019 Portland Drammy Award for Outstanding Costume Design, in addition to the Phyllis and Tom Burnam Award for Outstanding Contributions to the School of Theater + Film at Portland State University. Her recent work includes painting and dyeing for three seasons at the Tony Award winning American Player’s Theatre, costume design for The Bakkhai, _____ The Wolf, and Escaped Alone at Shaking the Tree Theatre, millinery for Quantum Theatre’s Far Away, as well as serving as crafts assistant for Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 and puppet maker for Babel at Carnegie Mellon University.