Some artistic legacies live on in the realm of the intangible. Think about the teachers whose gifts keep influencing the work of their students, or a performer who made such a mark on a role that future interpreters can’t help but stay in conversation with it as they craft their own versions. 

But sometimes, legacies take a very tangible form — for instance, the 50,000 costume pieces recently donated to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust by Crista Patrick, the longtime costume shop manager of the University of

Tulsa’s theatre department. 

Over the 15 years she taught costume design and construction at TU, Patrick (who serves as District 3’s city councilor) amassed an extensive collection representing productions that span more than 30 years. Not only did TU use the collection, but the greater Tulsa theater community also was welcome to reach inside the closet for its costuming needs. 

Now, with the shuttering of the TU program, Patrick and the TPAC, in partnership with the City of Tulsa, have ensured the collection will live on.  

“​​After learning TU was going to close its theatre doors, I wanted to try and preserve the community resource I had been offering,” Patrick says. “On average I would loan costumes to around 40 productions a year, outside of the four to six TU productions we worked on per year. It was…