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Costume Design for the Theater >> Content Detail



Assignments



Assignments

There are three major assignments for this course.

Hat Project: The Renaissance Hat project is your first sewing lesson. For this project you will need a yard or more of hat fabric (velveteen, canvas, denim, velvet, brocade or another trouser-weight fabric), and one half yard of a heaving interfacing. You will also need a piece of heavy weight paper like poster board, and whatever trims you decide on.

Skirt/Trouser Project: Your Skirt/Trouser Project is the second sewing project you will do. (I suggest you begin to hunt for suitable fabric as soon as possible.) You will be drafting out a simple skirt/trouser sloper which you will then redesign/re-work, adding godets, ruffles, trim, pleats, pockets, zippers or whatever your creativity dictates.

Final Project: Your Final Project will be a complete costume designed and made by you from a finished rendering. It will be made from scratch and can be for any type of character you've always wanted to "be", or can be made for a show you are doing, a friend, a child, etc. Previous students have done some wild stuff. I highly recommend starting with a commercial pattern.

LEC #TOPICSASSIGNMENTS
1First Day of Class. Who am I and Who are you?

Introductions

Discuss Supplies List

Discuss Play Project #1 - Single Rendering from On the Harm of Tobacco by Anton Chekhov

Discuss Hat Project

Remedial Figure Drawing - Paper Dolls and Stencils

Handouts - Paper Doll and Stencil Renderings; Costume Measurements
Write an introduction about yourself to the group and post it to the class list. Include answers to the following questions:

(1) What color would you be?

(2) If you were an animated Disney character, who would you be?

Theatrical costume design is primarily (although not exclusively) concerned with supporting the actor in his/her interpretation of character. Read the monologue play On the Harm of Tobacco by Anton Chekhov (1886). (Download a version of this text online.) Ask yourself the following actor-type questions about the man who makes this speech:

(1) If this man were a car, what kind of car would he be? Expand, i.e., old, dented, color, interiors, etc.

(2) If this man was an animal, which would he be?

(3) What do you think he has in his pockets?

(4) If he were a women in the present time (!) how would she dress?

(5) If he could choose to kill himself or kill his wife, which would he do?

(6) What present day store does he shop in for clothes?

Write up your answers and post to the class list. Then do a rendering of your ideas to bring to class on Lecture 3.
2Lecture - Elements of Design and Psychology of ClothesBring pads and pencils to next class.

Start gathering hat materials.
3Sewing Tutorial - Show all Machines

Drawing Lab - Play with Art Material
Gather all materials for Hat Project.

Do sketch of hat.
4Learning to use Machines, Shop Language, Patterns
5Watch Mel Gibson Hamlet Movie

Talk About "Concept"
Read Heiner Müller's Hamlet Machine (1979) and work on concept and/or sketches for characters. Bring magazine pictures, Xeroxes or any other inspirational material to class next time. (Download a version of this text online.)
6Guest Lecturer on Developing ConceptMask rendering in color for one Hamlet Machine character due on Lecture 7. Three complete color costume renderings due two days after Lecture 8.
7Discuss Concept Ideas

Mask Lab
8Mask Lab (cont.)
9Begin Discussion of Final Project

Discuss Skirt/Trouser Project - Drafting, Manipulating Patterns, Fittings
Do skirt/trouser rendering and swatch.
10Begin Drafting Skirt/Trouser SloperAcquire skirt/trouser fabric.
11Skirt/Trouser Lab - Prof. Held Does Fittings on Students
12Fabric Character Analysis Exercise

Skirt/Trouser Lab - Once Skirt/Trousers Fit, How Do You Manipulate it to Make it the Right Design?
Read Augustus Does His Bit by George Bernard Shaw. (Download a version of this text from Project Gutenberg.)
13Lecture - Research

Show and Tell About Your Final Projects, and Get Input on How to Make Them Happen
Research 1917. Bring research Xeroxes for Augustus to the next class.
14Look at Augustus Research

Discussion of Historical vs. Theatrical Demands, i.e., Differences Between Historical vs. Current Concepts of "Beauty," and How to be True to a Historical Period, But Also Make the Design Work

Impossible Clothing, and the Joys of Garbage - Finding Inspiration in Places Besides a Fabric Store

Open Shop to Finish Hat and Skirt/Trouser Projects
Read Tara Maginnis's Kiosk Man (1994). (Read this script online.) Doodle ideas for the "impossible" kiosk costumes contained therein.

Color renderings for Augustus due on Lecture 17.

Bring in materials acquired for Final Project.
15Discuss Garbage Project - Exploring Materials Creatively, Make a Piece of Clothing Out of Found ObjectsDo 4 color drawings for Kiosk Man.
16Open Shop for Final Projects
17Newspaper Day

Improvisational, Creative, Problem-solving

Make a Piece of Clothing Using a Pile of Newspaper, Scotch Tape and Scissors, in 20 Minutes
18Discuss Thrift Store Project - Budgeting Smash and Crash

Open Shop
Spending only $15 on thrift store materials, create a costume that resembles the "Mid-15th Century Female".

Materials due.
19Thrift Store Lab
20Discuss garbage project
21Open Shop (cont.)
22Open Shop (cont.)
23Open Shop (cont.)
24Final Project Presentation

 








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