Awards & Press
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2025 LUCILLE LORTEL AWARDS
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN
Oana Botez for Orlando / Signature Theatre Company
BroadwayWorld -
2025 OBIE AWARD
COSTUME DESIGN
Oana Botez for Orlando / Signature Theatre Company
NewYorkTheater -
2025 OPERA AMERICA MAGAZINE
COVER STORY
Cosi Fan Tutte / Detroit Opera
Opera America -
2024 HENRY HEWES AWARDS
COSTUME DESIGN
Oana Botez for Orlando / Signature Theatre Company
BroadwayWorld
“Turned out in a chic pinstriped suit and tastefully pale tie (costumes are by Oana Botez), Cesario has no personal designs on Olivia.”
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"The costumes by Oana Botez are in jewel tones of emerald, burnt orange, royal, and adorn the dancers bodies with panels, drapes, and styles that work, never interfering, but only adding to the ways of the dance."
— „Scavengers”, Martha Graham Dance Company, 2021
LA Dance Chronicle -
"This made The Gig feel timeless: dancers skating arm-in-arm like a scene from a Norman Rockwell Christmas card, but to 70s music blasting through our headphones, Williams’ confessionals more melodramatic than a Jane Austen novel, costumes that were giving Tolstoy; fur hats, wool coats, long and cinched, Oana Botez’s design adding to the timelessness, echoing that no matter the era, people just fall in love. [...] When each started, I cried. I squealed. I started snapping and yelling onto the ice. In the first, drag performer Dan Donigan, bedazzled in a gossamer golden dress, took off his hat to reveal a shaven head underneath, peeling back layers of gender. "
— „The Gig: After Moise and the World of Reason”, Williamstown Theatre Festival @ The Rink, 2025
Row 3 Relays -
"Costumer Oana Botez has designed some attractively colorful suits and tasteful accessories for this elegant anachronism, who believes with all her great, big, generous heart that common courtesy is the very foundation of civilization."
— „Charm”, MCC Theater, 2017
Variety
“It is pretty to look at, with Anna Fedorova’s set ravishingly lit by Yuki Nakase Link, and the actors clad in Oana Botez’s elegantly contemporary take on period costumes.”
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"The costumes designed by Oana Botez are amazing, especially those used for Mildred. The brightly colored dresses show the lively atmosphere during the 1960s, yet it also exudes sophistication and conservatism."
— „MILLER, Mississippi”, Long Wharf Theater, CT, 2019
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"Oana Botez’s costume design is a master class in how to honor specifics of time and place without being hemmed in by them. Her ensembles for Roshni, Hamida and their commander, Gulal (Nandita Shenoy), glitter like freshly fallen snow in moonlight. Layers of epaulets swell like the shells of the Sydney Opera House. Layers of skirts, open in the middle, suggest muscle rather than frills. The guards are powerful without looking masculine, feminine without looking dainty. It’s a way to make an argument and imagine a different world, a different past and future, through clothing. "
— “House of Joy”, California Shakespeare Theater, 2019
SF Chronicle -
"Costume designer Oana Botez puts those three characters in red-toned plaid shirts and traditional Slavic costumes, all the better to contrast with Belikov’s buttoned-up black suit and military-style overcoat and Barbara’s pink lace dress. "
„Man in a Case”, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Lansburgh Theatre, 2013
Washingtonian
“The plaza’s pool—with its imposing “Reclining Figure” by Henry Moore and its water that comes knee-high on the dancers—served as the main stage. It was dominated by the Gallim troupe, including New York City Ballet principal dancer Taylor Stanley, all costumed by Oana Botez in shimmering, two-piece, sequin-covered clothes in tropical-fish hues; their activity suggested a postmodern riff on an Esther Williams aquatic number.
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“Most of the characters—except Hamlet (Michael Cumpsty), of course—are dressed in white, as though a virginal appearance could disguise their bloody motives. After Hamlet confronts his mother in the famous bedroom scene (“Mother, you have my father much offended”) and kills Polonius (Herb Foster), the brilliant costume designer, Oana Botez, re-clothes the remaining cast members in gray, black, and brown—colors that evoke not only the dead soil beneath the snowy wastes but the gloom that Hamlet has managed to unearth in the lives around him.”
— White on White, Marquis Theater, 2005
The New Yorker -
“Finger Suite” set the guest artists Michael Blake, Keith Sabado and Valda Setterfield (who should all steal Oana Botez’s rich-hued, structured costumes for their closets) pointing, nagging, bragging and everything else with their digits, all to music by Satie. ”
— Don’t Mistake Some Silliness for a Lack of Sincerity by Claudia LaRocco,
NY Times -
““The new “Apian Way,” paired to sonatas and partitas by Bach, takes the social interaction of bees as its point of departure. Wearing Oana Botez’s crinkled metallic-green costumes each cinched at the waist by a black corset seven dancers swarm the stage, propelling their arms in windmill circles and flicking their wrists like wings.”
— Social Bees Fluttering to Bach’s Sonatas by Gia Kourlas,
NY Times
“the dancers wore sculptural layers of purple by Oana Botez”
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“The other premiere, “Royalty Redux,” by Mr. Solomons, is a more choreographically substantial effort. Puzzling at times, it was also intriguing in the screwball energy it engendered in its cast: Sarita Allen, Michael Blake, Hope Clarke, Mr. La Fosse and Ms. Setterfield. Decked out in jewels and Oana Botez’s gorgeous, voluminous and strange formalwear, they are blown hither and thither by the mercurial,…”
— Paradigm 15th anniversary show, Danspace Project, St. Mark’s Church, 2011
NY Times -
“Now only dream logic and panache and sly costuming (courtesy of Oana Botez) bind them.”
— Alan Smithee directed this play, Big Dance Theater, BAM Harvey Theater, 2014
NY Times -
"The shipwrecked elder royals (richly dressed by Oana Botez) seem, as they often do, nearly dispensable."
— Tempest, La Mama Theater, 2014, Laura Collins-Hughes for NY Times
“The concept is intriguing, and there is much to admire in this production: Mimi Lien’s set design, Oana Botez’s costumes and Raja Feather Kelly’s choreography.”
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“That, we glean, is love. Wearing glasses, dark pants and a white shirt, Mr. Gindick is both wistful and lost as he inserts himself into the more flamboyantly dressed group. (Oana Botez, the costume designer, has a flair for mixing paisley patterns; her backless jumpsuits for the women are divine.) Taking three steps before crossing a foot in back, the dancers don’t walk so much as float effortlessly through the space. ”
— Hapless Bizarre, Joyce Theater, 2015, Gia Kourlas for NY Times
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“The company of five women (including Ms. Szeglowski) is clad in fantastic costumes by Oana Botez. There are fringy tinsel capes and sleek science-fiction outfits that glitter in 50 shades of silver. It’s like watching a squad of Barbarellas in clubland — a driving, pumping beat often emerges from the glitchy score by the duo Prism House, which also handled the video.”
— Starway to Stardom, HERE Arts Center, 2017
NY Times -
"That may be why the text feels as dominant as it does in this physically eloquent production, whose design aesthetic is simultaneously lush (Oana Botez’s sumptuous period costumes, Joe Levasseur’s saturating jewel-tone lights) and spare (Joanne Howard’s modular set)."
— 17c, Big Dance Theater, BAM Harvey 2017, Laura Collins-Hughes for NY Times
“Even in less obvious moments, “Orestes” hums with physical assuredness, in keeping with a confidence of purpose. The coolly urbane costumes (by Oana Botez) mix natty suits and woven tunics, with a few deft, outré touches.”
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“The show is divided into four movements that embody the political and psychological forces that ruled the ruler — Strategy, Survival, Prayers and Sovereignty — with a single actress at the center of each one. For the record, none of these women, who wear high-sheen formal gowns designed by Oana Botez, bear much physical resemblance to the Elizabeths found in London’s National Portrait Gallery. Nor do they attempt to achieve a homogeneity of style in portraying the queen. Do not expect the fully fleshed verisimilitude of Elizabeths past like Bette Davis, Glenda Jackson and Cate Blanchett”
— “texts&beheadings/ElizabethR,” BAM, 2015, Ben Brantley for NY Times
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“But her supporting cast of pupils — Mr. Colimon, Mr. Gund-Morrow, Toussaint Jeanlouis and Kaneza Schaal — are very winning in their electric paisley school uniforms (Oana Botez is the costume designer), and each has a floral song to perform in genres that include folk ballad and rap. (Trevor Bachman is the music director.) Ms. Jones croons encouragingly about finding the fragrant flower waiting to blossom within each of us.”
— Duat, Connely Theater, 2016
Ben Brantley for NY Times -
"Throughout the performance, the choreography places dancers — wearing Oana Botez’s slinky, shimmering sequin shorts and tops, a clever nod to fish scales — in its depths."
— You Are Here, Lincoln Center Hearst Plaza, 2021 NY Times
“Costume Designer Oana Botez gives us elegant garments that wrap each character in the iconography of his or her role.”
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“They have surrounded him with Peter Ksander’s spectacularly eclectic set, Oana Botez’s wild melange of period costumes and modern dress, Tei Blow’s extravagantly jolting sound design, Jennifer Tipton’s sometimes disorienting lighting design, and Jeff Larson’s surreal video designs”
— Man in a Case, Shakespeare Theater Company, DC Theater Arts
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“ Oana Botez dresses the four Elizabeth’s not with the starchy full neck ruff I am familiar with, but with more calculated, stately brocade gowns. Each gown is specific to age range of a particular Elizabeth. There is high, back-of-the-neck fan collar for Monique Barbee, a square low-neckline gown for Ayeja Feamster, and high neckline Tudor round collar for Juliana Frances-Kelly. Christina Spina’s gown is a demure youthful number.”
— ‘texts&beheadings/ElizabethR’ at The Folger Theatre by David Siegel, DC Theater Arts
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"The athleticism of the cast is made all the more impressive by Oana Botez's gorgeous but heavy-looking costumes. Mattocks is outfitted in a knee-length leather coat with fur lapels. Most members of the cast wear fur, especially in the Zhivago scenes."
— Alan Smithee Directed This Play: Triple Feature, Big Dance Theater, BAM Harvey Theater, 2014,
Theatermania
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“All of this is delivered with the kind of irreverence and joy that only great drag can achieve. That time-honored tradition quite literally shines through in Oana Botez's extravagantly spangled costumes, which Jones changes in and out of with the efficiency of a Las Vegas showgirl.”
— Black Light, Joe’s Pub, 2018
TheaterMania -
“Oana Botez's vibrant costumes pop against the bland classroom setting, fashioned by Arnulfo Maldonado. It all tells the story of a group of people who dream about a life more fabulous than the one they currently have. While Dawkins and Davis ground Charm in realistic performances and design, they're not afraid to employ a little magic so we might understand what that fabulous existence might look like.”
— Charm, MCC Lucille Lortel Theater, 2017
Theatermania -
"Oana Botez’s costume design is a master class in how to honor specifics of time and place without being hemmed in by them. Her ensembles for Roshni, Hamida and their commander, Gulal (Nandita Shenoy), glitter like freshly fallen snow in moonlight. Layers of epaulets swell like the shells of the Sydney Opera House. Layers of skirts, open in the middle, suggest muscle rather than frills. The guards are powerful without looking masculine, feminine without looking dainty. It’s a way to make an argument and imagine a different world, a different past and future, through clothing."
— House of Joy, California Shakespeare Theater, 2019
SF Chronicle
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“Sandra Caldwell, a black transgender woman of immense poise, beauty, and – pardon me, I can’t help it – charm, plays Mama Darleena Andrews, a role based on Miss Allen, who was 67 years old when she volunteered to establish a Charm School at the Center. Costumer Oana Botez has designed some attractively colorful suits and tasteful accessories for this elegant anachronism, who believes with all her great, big, generous heart that common courtesy is the very foundation of civilization. Director Will Davis (the visionary behind “Men on Boats”), who identifies as transgender (as do several other cast members), directs a terrific ensemble cast in this bittersweet fantasy of perfect comity within the LGBTQ community. Once again, costumer Botez carefully suits clothes to character.”
— Charm, MCC Lucille Lortel Theater, 2017
Yahoo Entertainment -
"The impressive cast of five women—Ali Castro, Jade Daugherty, Ayesha Jordan, Nola Sporn Smith and Szeglowski herself—wear disco-ball-silver outfits by Oana Botez; the piece weds sharp synchronized choreography, partly inspired by moves from the series, to equally tight deadpan delivery of modern, interview-based textual fragments. "
— „Stairway to Stardom”, 2017
Timeout