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Imagining Costumes

Halloween is fast approaching and our community enjoys creating costumes for the spooky festivities. Costumes can be purchased, made of repurposed clothing, made by hand, or a combination of all these methods. Investopedia reports that Americans are expected to spend as much as $104 per person on Halloween–about 11.6 billion dollars.

Steel House costumed members
Steel House costumed members

University of Idaho costumers have also been hard at work creating the wardrobe for the cast of “The Addams Family: A New Musical” which is running this week.

The Addams Family: A New Musical
The Addams Family: A New Musical

For “The Addams Family,” the costume shop team dressed 18 actors, created two costumes for Wednesday, and Morticia, Fester, Grandma, and Pugsley had additional costume pieces that covered their primary costume.

Ginger Sorenson, the director of the costume department, worked with Rachel Herrick, the costume designer, to coordinate the team and assemble Herrick’s designs. Herrick is a distance MFA student residing in Virginia and Zoomed in for regular meetings. She flew to Moscow to oversee fittings, technical rehearsals, and how her design functioned on stage.

The shop has twenty-six people consisting of design assistants, drapers, and stichers as well as new costume faculty Abigail M. Coleman. There is also a six member wardrobe crew for the performances as well as hair and makeup designer Allen Hadley.

Sorenson noted some interesting challenges included a tear away skirt for Morticia and working with props artisans Macy Korsten and Natalie Wargi for the puppeteers’ costume pieces.

Rather than a black cloak for Fester, Herrick designed a “navy blue one with silver embroidered luna moths, and a couched crescent moon scallop” which Sorenson constructed. She also built Wednesday’s corset. After the run of show, the corset will be reused as a teaching tool for the Advanced Costume Technology Studio.

Theatrical costumes are used for storytelling and informing an audience about a particular character. They must also be durable to last the run of show, rapid wardrobe changes, and daily washing.

The University of Idaho has been staging theatrical productions almost since its beginning. An early show was “She Stoops to Conquer” directed by elocution instructor Aurelia Henry.

She Stoops to Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer

Depending on the design of a play, the costumes can be historical, whimsical, and modern.

The School for Scandal
The School for Scandal
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Medea-Her Story
Medea-Her Story
Theatre on the Lawn
Theatre on the Lawn
Amelie the Musical
Amelie the Musical
Parallel Lives
Parallel Lives

The University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives holds a variety of collections that tell the history of the U of I Theatre Arts Department like the Edmund Chavez papers, University of Idaho Theatre Arts Department Records collection, 1983-2017, and the University of Idaho Theatre Arts Photographs, 1920-1976. Some production photos may be seen in our digital collections.

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol

Resources

Edmund Chavez Performing Arts Center Papers, 1959-1976

Investopedia

University of Idaho Department of Theatre Arts

University of Idaho Theatre Arts Department Records collection, 1983-2017

University of Idaho Theatre Arts Photographs, 1920-1976

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