January 31, 2014

Behind the scenes: Costume Shop stitches the color into every campus production

Maxine K. Wheelock and Marie-Florence Koikou ’16 prepare fabric.
Maxine K. Wheelock and Marie-Florence Koikou ’16 prepare fabric.

By Vicki-Ann Downing

For Valerie Chase ’14 (Charlton, Mass.), who is majoring in both public and community service studies and French, learning to sew was an unexpected bonus of a Providence College education.

The new skill came courtesy of the Costume Shop in the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Film, where Chase has been a student worker for four years.

“I hemmed my dress this summer,” said Chase. “And I’ve learned how to put a collection together — what goes with what.”

“I do that now, too,” said Marie-Florence Koikou ’16 (Abidjan, Ivory Coast), a finance major who has worked in the Costume Shop for a year.

Marisa Urgo ’14 models a costume.
Marisa Urgo ’14 models a costume.

The Costume Shop, on the ground level of the Smith Center for the Arts, is a room like no other. It contains a cutting table, a steam press, five sewing machines, six dress forms, yards of fabric, and jars of beads, buttons, and baubles. One floor below, thousands of costumes hang on racks, grouped by decade or historical period, men’s or women’s, and color and size.

Maxine K. Wheelock, who has been supervisor of the Costume Shop for seven years, outfits performers for theatre productions in October, February, and April; dance presentations in November and April; and student-produced shows each semester.

She begins with sketches from the show’s designer, collects costumes and accessories, makes necessary alterations, and follows the process through dress rehearsal. She has outfitted nuns, saloon girls, and 18th-century men; covered dancers’ bodysuits with red, yellow, and orange fabric to resemble flame; and decorated a child’s costume with balloons. Once, she was called on to dress a dead body — a fake one, of course.

Last fall’s performance of The Good Doctor had 27 different “looks.”

“The designer bought a lot, we rented, we purchased, we built, and we pulled from inventory,” said Wheelock.

Five students are paid to work in the Costume Shop for about 8-10 hours each week. Few arrive with the necessary skills, but “as long as they’re willing to learn,” Wheelock teaches them.

Alexandra Bartholomew ’14 (Westwood, Mass.), a marketing major with a dance minor, works in the Costume Shop to obtain the “crew credits” required of dance students. She would like to have her own dance studio one day.

Anastasia “Stacie” Krawiecki ’14 (Cherry Hill, N.J.), who is majoring in vocal performance, saw the Costume Shop during her first tour of campus and vowed to work there. Last year. she sewed her own costume for her first show, Curtains.

“It’s a cool way to be involved in the theatre department,” said Krawiecki.

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