So you go to a show, you laugh at the actors, and you cry when the guy and girl fall in love. But let's be honest: you really want to know the important stuff - like where did the main actress get those shoes? That dress? And most importantly, that hat?
These things don't just miraculously appear. A theater production's costume designer is responsible for such fashion decisions, but behind-the-scenes seamstresses contribute much more to the production. Costumes develop an ambiance that can't be created any other way.
They're also the product of extensive design and a significant amount of time. The first and most important step to designing a costume involves reading through the script, which provides the costume designers with a sense of the mood that needs to be portrayed onstage. Senior Lindsay Braun, who is costuming this semester's musical Zombie Prom, says the script has a number of themes to which she must comply - "But there is still plenty of room for creative freedom," she said.
To develop ideas for costumes, many designers watch movies that pertain to their show's time period. Braun traveled back to the '50s by watching Back to the Future and Pleasantville.
Once costume concepts have been decided, designers then travel to fabric and secondhand stores - such as the Garment District - to purchase supplies. But when Beantown proves not enough, a trip to New York City, a place abounding with fabric and thrift stores, could be necessary to obtain choice fabrics and pieces.
Because costume designers are normally working on a tight budget, borrowing goods from other schools is sometimes necessary. Senior Kristin Glans, costume designer for this semester's Romeo and Juliet, said Tufts has a program where designers can rent or borrow costumes from other colleges in the area, like Emerson or UConn.
Once materials are purchased and rough draft costumes are sewn the fun part comes - the first time that the actors actually put on the costumes. This is Braun's favorite part about costume design. "I have all of these ideas in my head, and then when they are actually put together and the actors try on the costumes for the first time, it's really exciting. The actors normally look even better than I ever thought."
Glans said the most exciting part of the job comes when the actors first don their costumes. "It is a great concrete realization of something that you painted on paper. You can create a different world that you can suck other people into for a few hours."
Braun created this "different world" in Zombie Prom, which opens next weekend. To establish the show's comical mood, she created mainly bright and cartoon-like outfits for the characters. "Their world is very different than ours, and I wanted to show that." Braun's Zombie Prom outfits consist mostly of colorful poodle skirts for the ladies and leather jackets and sweater vests for the men.
Glans' costumes for Romeo and Juliet were meant to develop a "Renaissance mood." The ladies wore "pretty costumes" that consisted of bright jewel tones, while most of the men wore tunics and tights.
Costume designers, then, are among the most important persons involved in production - they have the power not only to set the mood for the entire play, but also to make sure that a handful of campus guys have the opportunity to dress up in tights.
