The Stage and the School

Chapter 12: Costuming

Overview

The costuming of a play must contribute to the overall meaning of the production. An actor's costume should display the personality, social status, and idiosyncrasies of his or her character. In addition, the costume should reflect the character's relationship to other characters and to the play itself. Color coding— matching characters by color or pattern—can provide subtle means of identifying members of the same family, the same group, or pairs of lovers.

In the planning stages, the costume designer, or costumer, should meet with the director, scenic director, and technical director to discuss costumes that fit the time period, style, lighting, budget, and theme of the play. When designing the costumes for a production, the costumer must consider the following: the kind of action that will take place, the comfort of the actors, the ease with which a costume can be put on and taken off, the durability of the design and fabric, the historical period of the play, the total design of the production, and the director's conceptualization of the play.

A costume plot should be created describing the colors, fabrics, and accessories for each design. A wardrobe manager keeps the costume plot and chooses responsible assistants, or dressers, for all dressing rooms. The costume designer should see test fabrics under stage lighting using swatches, or fabric samples. Later, the costumer will hold a costume parade in which actors wear the costumes under the lights before the final fitting. Actors should rehearse in costume until they feel comfortable, natural, and confident in the designs. Likewise, all accessories should be obtained as early as possible so that actors can use them during rehearsals.

The costumer can acquire costumes by renting, borrowing, adapting, or making, or building. Renting may be expensive, but well-made costumes can enhance the performance; generally, costumers adapt thrift store clothing into costumes; and finally, making costumes offers many benefits for students, including seeing their own work on stage.