OnStage Blog: We all know the most central creative roles in any theatrical production. There is the playwright, who is the prime artist responsible for creating a show to produce. There is the director, who – after reading the script and interpreting it – creates his or her own unique vision for the show, and then is responsible for executing it. Finally, there are the actors, who bring the show to life through the characters – some of which may be vastly different from their real-life personas – that they each portray during the performance.
2 comments:
I really think that costumers are mostly appreciated and I agree a little with this article but I also think that parts of it are wrong. I know that costumers get a significant part of the budget and that a lot of other departments get shafted and do not get the attention and love that the costume department does. Personally, it is really nice to know that the costume department is loved but it is also sad that there are other departments that do not get the same recognition as we do. I think that there should be more articles about them and more love for the other departments because they need it wheras departments like the costume department do not need it as much. I hope that newer departments get the recognition that they deserve and are able to more forward in the industry and be more prominent and loved.
I partially agree with Sophie here, but I also agree with the article. In many theatre’s, such as ours at Carnegie Mellon, I do not feel that costumers are underappreciated or overlooked. If you look at any of the budgets for our productions this year, you can clearly see how much money the costume department gets for shows, because their needs are not being overlooked, and instead taken care of. However, this article is not talking about theatres like ours, it specifically talks about “Local Theatres.” Many regional theatres I’ve seen do have pretty underappreciated costume departments, and I think that is partially due to staffing. It is really important to have a full costume shop staff to go along with a “resident designer” to produce good work, but at many regional theatres the “resident designer” also takes on the roles of costume shop manager, first hand, stitcher, tailor, draper, cutter, and so on and so forth. Those costumers are criminally underappreciated.
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