Dhyanis Carniglia doesn’t mind a challenge. In fact, she welcomes them.

Through her work as a scenic artist and prop designer and maker for local theater companies, the Novato resident navigates the ins and outs of bringing theatrical works to life, evoking everything from a Tuscan villa to an Amazonian village to Shakespeare’s imagined worlds and much more.

This week, her latest project comes alive at the Ross Valley Players’ Barn Theatre: “Pet Lingerie,” this year’s chosen New Works production by the theater company.

Co-written by Bay Area playwrights Fred Raker and Bruce Tallerman, who met while writing for television in Hollywood, the musical was chosen from more than 70 previously unproduced plays by Bay Area playwrights. In it, three characters meet to reboot their lives and present outlandish and silly entrepreneurial ideas to a tech-crazed marketing guru.

For this whimsical production, some of her prop work includes giant cookies with decorations on them, a negligee for a parrot stuffed animal and a pope puppet, handled by a hired puppeteer.

Ahead of the show, Carniglia took the time to speak about the production and her experiences in the theater world.

Q How long have you been doing this work?

A Since 1986. I was in a production for the Marin Civic Light Opera back in those days. I became the props designer right away in that. It was kismet. I auditioned and got in the show, but they needed props. I also did a lot of the costuming. I’m a Middle Eastern dancer, belly dancer by specialty, and that show was set in Baghdad. It needed a lot of that type of costuming, which I could contribute easily. I had been traveling and dancing for five years before that around the world. I always made my own costumes and other people’s and I had sewing talent and art talent from a long way back. I figured out that theater would be able to maximize all of it. I’ve done it ever since then. I have a lot of chapters in my life as far as theater goes. I’ve worked on the Mountain Play on and off for 30 years, but the first four, I was the costumer.With Jim Dunn, I did some fun ones. I worked at the Contra Costa Musical Theatre a lot. I garnered several awards from there, including San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Awards.

I did it as a one-woman thing. I didn’t have a shop. I didn’t have a crew. I just did it. At the same time, I was introduced in 1986 to the Barn Theatre and eventually I became head costumer there and did props and scenic art.

Along the way, I fell in love with the Barn Theatre. And now that I’m semi-retired, retired from costume for sure, because that’s a pretty big job, I’m having a wonderful time at our local theaters with scenic art and props.

Q What do you enjoy about doing this?

A I get a lot of fun and fulfillment in this because every show is different. It never gets boring. There’s always new challenges around every corner. And with the New Works, which we do at Ross Valley Players every year, I’ve had some lovely times because one of the special things about it is that the piece has never been produced anywhere before. Whatever I would come up with by the way of props or scenic art would be the first time it’s ever done. In this current show, there are quite a few things that I could invent and use my vision to accomplish, including the pope puppet.

Q Had you ever done puppets before?

A I’ve dressed dolls a lot. The first sewing I ever did was doll clothes. It wasn’t that far away. I did puppets in middle school. It was mostly a job of researching all the pope vestments and duplicating them — and miniature, which was a lot of fun. And using the right materials. I have boxes of fabric left over from all these years, so I go to my own stock and find the right brocade and the right fringe for the whole thing.And then it’s been so many hours working on the set itself. There are two hotel rooms and I had to dress them, figuring out how the beds look, the headboard and all the rest of the furniture.

Q Have you been able to see the show?

A Yes, I stayed and watched a dress rehearsal. The actors are doing a great job. What I saw the actors do got a lot of laughs out of me and I know the script.

Q It must be great finally seeing the work hit the stage.

A I just revel in opening nights. They’re time to relax, have fun and be with the rest of the team.

Q When you’re not working on theater projects, what do you do?

A I produce my own line of dance costumes and clothing, called Divine Design by Dhyanis, and I’ve had a boutique home dance studio since COVID. And I’m a grief coach. I graduated from a two-year program in 2012. I’ve been helping people through major losses. It’s all done by phone, so I can work that into the rest of my artistic schedule. I consider it an art as well. I’ve had my own share of big losses. I lost a daughter in a car accident when she was 8 and a half years old. And I lost my dear husband of 25 years three years ago, in 45 minutes, a heart attack out of the blue. I had to take my own medicine. I started it because of losing my daughter and I said, OK, I better get trained because people are looking to me like, what do you do? I could show by example that I’m resilient and have carried on and created a lot of fulfillment in life.