We're currently in production on our repertory shows this year, Into the Woods and Midsummer Night's Dream. Today, I've got a behind-the-scene peek into one of the many cool special effects we're doing in the costume crafts world to create these two huge, magical shows.

Our costume designer for Into the Woods is Bill Brewer, of UNC-School of the ( Read more... )

First off, I need to give credit to the faculty and staff of Ohio University's costume department, who hosted the USITT Costume Symposium a few years ago. At the symposium, they had a half-scale form two-part mold out on display one day and handed out instruction sheets on how to cast your own forms. I can't take credit for this idea! We only ( Read more... )

One of my graduate students, Samantha Coles (a rising 2nd-year), has a very specific area of focus: custom cordwaining ( Read more... )

This weekend, four students and two of my fellow faculty/staff and i all have traveled to the USITT Southeast Regional Conference, hosted by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

If the Commission Symposia are microcosm conferences divided into disciplines (like the creature-costume event i covered last month, sponsored by the Costume ( Read more... )

Recall that i mentioned the fact that we do not have a large mask collection at my workplace. However, we do have some cool ones worth checking out, so i present for you here a photo-essay of masks in the collection of the PlayMakers Repertory Company of North Carolina. The photos even include process shots for a complete set of goblin masks from ( Read more... )

Our Costume Crafts Supervisor, Julia Powell, is an expert moldmaker and caster. During the regular season, she works in the Props shop of the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre (Milwaukee, WI), where she has been called upon to cast any number of bizarre things--including entire sets of "human" bones ( Read more... )

I thought i'd kick off 2007 with the final installment of my four-part studio setup series!

For those who haven't been following this series, Part One is here, which addresses the equipment and inventory needs of a typical dyeshop or "wet room," Part Two is here, which focuses on specific equipment and inventory utilized in leatherworking, ( Read more... )