Kristen Robinson, set designer and visual artist, is currently an MFA Candidate 2013 in Set Design at Yale School of Drama and the Yale School of Drama's nominee for the 2012-2013 Princess Grace Scholarship.
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Theatre requires me to trust and work with others. It is a meditation on selflessness and impermanence. This trust, while frightening at times, is among the most compelling challenges of the theatre.

As a set designer, I define myself by a devotion to hard work, practice, and a deep belief that beauty will indeed save the world. I understand my purpose is to be truthful: Truthful to the art form, truthful to the story of the human spirit, truthful to my own art. How do I manifest that truth? By giving myself fully to the work; by not accepting harmful compromises; by actively working against apathy.

I am an artist by need, not by choice. I will always lead a life of theatre and art because to not create would be an active denial of the truth of who I am as a person. I am an artist who wishes to live the work she has been called to do. I want to support myself through my art. I cannot imagine I would be able to live in any other way.