Tammy Honesty
Associate Professor of Scene Design
BA – Wilmington College of Ohio
MFA – West Virginia University
IATSE-USA Local 829
In Professor Honesty’s (she/her) over 25-year career as an educator, she has taught both full- and part-time at a variety of universities ranging from 2-year programs to 4-year conservatory programs. In 2016, she joined the Kent State University's School of Theatre and Dance after being Head of Design at Western Illinois University's Department of Theatre & Dance for two years. She was an Assistant Professor at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota; a Visiting Assistant Professor of Scene Design at University of Cincinnati CCM, Denison University, and Wilmington College; Full-Time Faculty Associate at Wright State University; a guest artist and instructor at Miami University, Xavier University, and Sinclair Community College.
Professor Honesty is an active member of United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) at both the regional and national level. She currently serves as the Vice President of Education & Training. Being involved in the various facets of USITT has helped her become a better educator and designer. She is also a member of United Scenic Artists – IATSE Local 829 as a scenic designer.
Professor Honesty’s designs have earned awards and recognition regionally, nationally, and internationally. Her work has been showcased in World Stage Design 2013 & 2022 digital gallery, the USA-USITT Prague Quadrennial Gallery Exhibit (along with her student’s work), USITT, and USITT Ohio Valley’s Peggy Ezekiel Board’s Choice Exhibit. Her designs have been seen on stages from New York City (Off-Off Broadway) to the Midwest. She enjoys designing theatre for young audiences and has designed 10 productions for the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's Educational Touring Company. Notable designs include the scenery are An Evening with Groucho for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, which is currently being broadcast on PBS stations nationwide, as well as Merchant of Venice at Cleveland Play House, Crowns for the Human Race Theatre, and the Midwest premiere productions of Gloria: A Life!, Managing Maxine, Lombardi, and Becky's New Car for the Human Race Theatre Company. She has designed the world-premiere productions of Family Ties and Banned From Baseball at the Human Race Theatre Company. She designed the scenery for West Virginia Public Theatre’s production of A Christmas Carol. In September 2022, she designed the set for the world-premiere, Off-Broadway play, The Memory Exam, for Oberon Theatre Ensemble at 59E59 Theatres.
In addition to designing scenery, Professor Honesty worked as a scenic artist for River City Scenic and 3dx Scenic Studios where she was also a project manager. Examples of her painting talents have been cruising the world on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Lines, and on display at various corporate theatre events including the Longaberger conventions. Recently, Professor Honesty and a student team at Kent State painted a nearly full-scale 3D-printed replica of Pio Fedi’s Liberty of Poetry which was on display at the Ellis Island National Immigration Museum. She also co-authored The Fake Food Cookbook: Props You Can’t Eat for Theatre, Film and TV published in 2018 by Routledge.
