Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Carley Carranza lends style to any production the Matchbox Children’s Theatre puts to stage

 

Tucked away in an office space of the Matchbox Children’s Theatre lays the world of Carley Carranza.

A mannequin displays a dress taken straight from a fairytale and all about the space are the tools and materials of custom making. Along one wall are racks of customs adding to the overall make-up of the worlds she builds.

Carranza is the costume manager for MCT and for years she has thrown her skills whole-heartedly  into each presentation of the MCT.

“Costumes are where my work is mainly centered,” Carranza said. “But if someone needs help on our teams we pull together. We are very family and team oriented at MCT. It takes the workers, family support, matchbox kids and our wonderful volunteers to keep this place up and moving.”

Carranza’s inspiration for theater began at an early age. Describing herself as a very imaginative kid, she grew up watching such shows like “The Muppets” and “Fraggle Rock.”

She marveled at how worlds were brought to life through the use of puppets, music and special effects.

Watching these shows opened a gateway for creation.

“I grew up poor and my brothers and I would make and create a lot of things to keep ourselves busy,” Carranza said. “We inherited a second hand video camera from the early 80s. We would dress up and make skits, dance and be goofy.”

She was also supported by parents who supported the projects, as well as handed down the talents and skills that Carranza would find necessary later in life.

“They taught me a lot with sewing crafts and drawing,” she said. “These are some of my most treasured memories. I want to provide that for these kids. Pass the torch of imagination and creativity to the next generation.”

Carranza was born in Owatonna, lived for a time in Texas and spent most of her childhood in Albert Lea. She also spent a year living at the Minnesota School for the Deaf in Faribault.

However, for 28 years, Carranza has been living in Austin and establishing roots for her family.

While living in Austin, she got her first chance to work with the MCT.

“The first show I was asked to help sew some costumes for was for ‘Toad’s Adventures,’ she said. “I jumped on it. I was so happy and felt right at home at MCT. I told myself this is what I was meant to do and I’ve been here for 16 years now.”

In all, Carranza’s work includes sewing, costume design, specialty costumes and making them work on stage, whether that be “a nine-foot pink dragon that cries glitter or an eight-foot talking fish.”

Carranza said she enjoys the challenge she gets with the small theater. Each day inspires her work of inventing and creating.

In a lot of ways, her work with MCT allows her to further inspire her own imagination.

“The joy I get from this area of theater is I get to be a big kid here,” she said. “I create, play and use my imagination, then watch it come to life on stage. When I make these costumes for the show and the kids see them for the first time, they are all smiles and so happy.”

Aside from her contributions to MCT, Carranza is a strong believer in MCT’s contribution to the community and the kids who take part in its programming.

She feels that MCT has become embraced within the community, but at the same time she said she would like to see a “forever home” for the MCT. 

Currently MCT is in the basement of First United Methodist Church in downtown Austin and while the situation has been good for MCT, Carranza still hopes that someday it can find its own place in the community.

A place where the theater can continue to offer once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for kids in the community, because as Carranza explains it, that’s one of the brightest aspects of working with MCT.

“I’ve seen kids who are shy come to life on stage and shine like bright stars,” she said. “People who thought they couldn’t sing found their voice. People from all walks of life come together and help create something amazing. Friendships made, families made and memories made. Theater is life and the show must go on.”