“Booked and busy” Atlanta costume designer L. Nyrobi Moss is currently working on seven shows and counting for the 2024-25 season, including The Color Purple at Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville, Georgia, Dracula at Virginia Stage Company (Oct 16-Nov. 3), and Welcome to Matteson! at Orlando Shakespeare (March 5-30, 2025).
How do you start your morning when you’re in show mode?
I start by being grateful for my life and what I get to do, because I ran nonprofits for 30 years. I remember that even when I’m annoyed with nonprofit theatre, I get to do this.
Which teacher or mentor has shaped your theatre journey the most?
Dr. Shirlene Holmes. She passed last year. When I transferred from Miami University in Ohio to Georgia State University, she taught me how to write my own way out by writing my own classes and curriculum. She was a statuesque African woman with high head wraps. Shirlene wrote something called Since ’76 that’s one of the most beautiful pieces that doesn’t get the play it deserves.
What show have you designed the most?
I’ve designed The Color Purple four times. Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds and Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 keep coming back. I have a lot of remounts.
What show would you like to design?
I am fascinated by everything about Cirque du Soleil. I have not done Mary Poppins or My Fair Lady, and I love them both.
First theatrical memory?
Oh, God. I’ve been in theatre most of my life. In elementary school, I was Lena in A Raisin in the Sun. My mother used to call me extravagant. She asked me where I wanted to go on vacation once and I said Paris. She said, “You mean Paris, Texas?”
Last memorable theatrical experience?
Every opening night, after people quit talking and the lights come up, within the first five minutes, you either have me or you don’t. One that still gives me chills to this day is Latrice Pace singing “I’m Here” as Celie in The Color Purple at Actor’s Express.
Where is home to you?
In the words of one of my favorite lines, “Home is a place we all must find, child. It’s not just a place where you eat or sleep. Home is knowing. Knowing your mind, knowing your heart, knowing your courage.” The Wiz changed my life because it let me know that I wasn’t crazy. Wherever I am in life, I take me with me.
What gives you hope?
Everything. The fact that I can find joy in the midst of all this chaos. And that I know that every day God’s mercies are new.
If you could give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be?
To trust your muchness. Trust how larger-than-life you are without listening to people when they tell you that you’re too much, or that you should calm down, or that you have to be “less than” to make them feel comfortable. You are a lot and the world needs a lot.
If you could change one thing about the theare, what would it be?
One of the biggest challenges I have is when white people have a misconception about who we are as Black people in the world. We made your clothes, we built your houses—how dare you think we wouldn’t do the same thing for ourselves? I’m always very conscious of how the world sees us and how we’re represented.
It’s not theatre unless…
The magic is there, and you know that you only get one shot to take that audience with you down whatever rabbit hole you choose to go down. Theatre is energy. It is life.
