Costuming with a Vision

Episode 125: Costuming with a Vision Does the thought of costuming a show fill you with dread? Are you always resorting to colourful t-shirts and jeans because that’s all you have time for? Holly Beardsley will lead you through costuming with a vision. The way you costume your show is an important part of the directing process. Show Notes * The Pauper Princess * Pinterest * Theatrefolk Pinterest Page * The Drama Teacher Academy Episode Transcript Welcome to TFP – The Theatrefolk Podcast – the place to be for Drama teachers, Drama students, and theatre educators everywhere. I’m Lindsay Price, resident playwright for Theatrefolk. Hello! I hope you're well. Thanks for listening. And we have arrived at Episode 125! I’m a poet and I don’t even know it. Wooh! You can find any links for this episode in the show notes at theatrefolk.com/episode125. Today, we are talking costumes and not just putting clothes on actors but actually costuming with a vision. I will fully admit – full disclosure here – when I directed shows, when I used to direct, costumes were pretty low on my list. If I could use colorful t-shirts, that’s kind of what we went with. It’s really funny because my mom is this amazing sewer. When I was a kid, we always had homemade Halloween costumes and I don’t remember it ever bothering me all that much because they were really cool costumes. I had this Raggedy Ann costume that I used for years. So, she’s this amazing sewer and knitter and quilter and none of that has passed into my genes. I have none of it! Costumes were always terrifying, maybe? I don’t know, an afterthought, certainly, and that is something that it should not be. I’m always big about saying that the theatrical experience is a visual one and that means you’ve got to pay attention to your costumes and what characters wear has to have the same kind of importance as to what they say. Have you ever been to a show where you were totally distracted by out of place costumes? Or a show that was trying to be very period and yet, you know, all the guys are wearing modern shoes? Or a show where it was clear there hadn’t been any thought into the costumes? I think that we need to do that, right? Because the way you costume a show is an important part of the process. And so, our guest today is going to fill you in on how to costume a show with vision. Holly Beardsley wears a lot of hats. She’s a director; a playwright and we have her play, The Pauper Princess, which she’s going to talk about; and she’s also one of our Drama Teacher Academy instructors. We just opened her course, the Do-It-All Director’s Introduction to Costuming which covers every aspect from vision to color blocking to a step-by-step guide for sewing a dirndl skirt. It is an awesome extravaganza or an extravaganza – that, too. But, first, vision – take it away, Holly! LINDSAY: So, Holly does a couple of things for Theatrefolk; not only is she a playwright, she is the author of The Pauper Princess, correct? HOLLY: Correct! LINDSAY: Wait a minute. No, no, that’s not it! And Holly is also a Drama Teacher Academy instructor. Her course is – oh, let’s see if we can do it,