Rehearsal Clothes

Next week, I will attend the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.  I don't get to go often.   But since I am now working only one job and since it is happening in Los Angeles, I will be able to attend the whole festival.  I am very excited because I will be able to see some excellent productions from colleges across our Southwest region as well as student projects in all aspects of theatre design.  There are also a ton of theatre workshops.  Three days of exciting theatre activities right in my own backyard.

I am going to present a workshop at the festival on the correlation between costume design and developing a character as an actor with an emphasis on the importance of appropriate rehearsal clothes for actors.  This was my masters' thesis and a particular passion of mine.

As I've written before, I didn't intend to get into costuming.  Being a woman of size, I was pushed there by producers and directors who didn't want to have to take responsibility for making sure my clothes fit.  When they found out I could sew, they just handed me the whole shebang.  And so I became an actor who designs costumes.

What I found out as I began to learn more about costume design is that the skills that make me a good actor also makes me a good costume designer.  Clothes are an important part of our personality.  They are the first clue the world has about who we are and what we feel about ourselves.  We want to think that the world doesn't judge us on our externals, but reality proves daily that it does.  A costume designer trades on clothing stereotypes to help the audience understand the characters in a play.

A smart actor learns to work with their costumer to help create the appropriate "skin" for their character.  That doesn't mean that they tell the costumer what to design.  Each member of the theatre team must be allowed their own creativity.  But a savvy actor will know how to collaborate with the costume designer so that the designer understands the actor and the character.  That way both actor and designer get the visual effect they desire.

Most importantly, an actor will rehearse in clothing as close to his/her final costume as possible knowing that the clothes will inform the character.  This is important for more than period pieces.  We all know that undergarments like corsets, girdles, etc., change how you move.  Shoes do as well.  But even in contemporary clothing, what you are wearing will make a difference in how you move.  And physical movement is an important facet defining a character.

I could go on and on about this...I told you I was passionate about the subject.  I'll go into it further at a later date.  Just let me say today that I hope I have people in my workshop.  I'm a little afraid no one will attend.  Learning to use clothes as a tool for character development can make a difference between an okay performance and an outstanding one.  So I can wait until next week.