For the past 14 years, Kerry Moran has volunteered her time to help create high-quality local theater. She designed and produced A Winter’s Tale at PVCC Theatre, performed as an actor in A Christmas Carol for The Virginia Playwright and in the Screenwriters Initiative at the Hamner. She produced and designed Arcadia for Play On! Theatre, went on to collaborate with the director, John Holdren, on The Importance of Being Ernest at Four County Players, and recently designed the costumes for Legally Blonde: The Musical at Live Arts.
“Some volunteers work at one place only, but I don’t have loyalty to any one theater,” Moran said. “I try to work at my highest level wherever I am. Ultimately, it is about the play and how we bring it to life, whether acting, producing, or designing.”
Moran was involved in theater in high school, but didn’t return to it until her daughter was cast in a show at Black Box Players that also needed adults. She landed a role on stage, and began helping out behind the scenes, eventually becoming a set and costume designer for Black Box and then volunteering at other theaters.
“As a practicing architect, I look at everything as a design project,” Moran said. “With theater, you’re out of the gate really fast and it’s temporal so you have to be there. It’s something you have to experience. It’s different every time. It’s all heart for me, and I like the challenge of it.”
Her volunteer work is not only about her love of theater and design, it’s also a quest for comradery. “It’s exciting to find people you work with well and with whom you share your passion.” Plus, the time-sensitive nature of theater production creates a sense of urgency, which in turn creates a satisfying bond between the team. “It’s fun to spend four hours doing something with someone—something out of the norm, like making a marble floor out of paint.”—Raennah Mitchell