Olivera Gajic
Assistant Professor of Costume Design
Olivera Gajic is a New York-based costume designer and educator. She designed for theater, opera, dance, film, and performance art in the United States and Internationally.
Olivera was born and raised in Serbia. She began her career designing costumes for Serbian theater and television after studying at Belgrade’s Academy of Fine Arts. In 1999, Gajic moved to the U.S., where she received a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Design. She has been living and working in the US ever since.
To her credit, Olivera has 250+ theater, opera, dance, and film productions. Most notably: Jedermann (Salzburg Festival, Austria); The film I am a Seagull; and the almost two decades long Lucille Lake Project (Chekhov Project Company)
Olivera designs extensively for the Arden, Trinity Repertory, and Juilliard School. Her work graced the stages of many theaters including American Repertory Theater, Guthrie Theater, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theatre; Vineyard Theatre; New Georges: Mabou Mines; Here; Company XIV: American Symphony Orchestra; Two River; Riverside Theatre; Berkshire Theatre Festival, Cleveland Playhouse; Playmakers; Shakespeare & Company; California Shakespeare; Shakespeare Santa Cruz; Pennsylvania Shakespeare; Drury Lane; Hanger; Pennsylvania Shakespeare; Barrington Stage; Theatre Works; American Stage, Actors Shakespeare Project, Folger; etc.
She is particularly proud of many new works created over the years with acclaimed interdisciplinary ensembles and theater companies, including Pig Iron, Talking Band, PearlDamour, Latitude 14, and Restless NYC.
Olivera’s work has been shown at exhibitions including the U.S. national exhibit at the 2004, 2007 & 2023 Prague Quadrennial and Curtain Call: Celebrating a Century of Women Designing for Live Performance (Lincoln Center), Costume at the Turn of the Century (Moscow), Vesuario a Scena (Mexico City), OISTAT Sena (Rabat, Morocco), etc.
Olivera is a recipient of the 2004 NEA/TCG CDP for Designers, 2010 IT Award for Outstanding Costume Design, 2010 TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award, Barrymore Award for Outstanding Costume Design, and Bessie Award Recipient for Outstanding Visual Design.
USA Local-829
https://www.oliveragajic.com/
