The Art of Costuming Young Actors on a Practically Non-Existent Budget
So you've chosen the script, auditioned the actors, cast the show and begun rehearsals.
Things are going along nicely, the children in the show are excited and learning their lines and their blocking and you begin to relax as the semi-organized chaos known as The Creative Process begins to flow.
And then it happens.
A shiny faced little actor looks up at you and asks, "When do we get our costumes?" Ok, remain calm.
Just because you had finally begun to be able to sleep well again does not mean that the little cherub's question should now throw you into a tail spin.
You have arrived at a very large but not insurmountable task: the costuming portion of the production process.
Now in the perfect world of the theatre, for each production there is a costume designer, a costume building staff, a well prepared costume shop stocked with years worth of costumes from a multitude of different plays, glorious fabrics and trims and all the patterns and equipment and all thebudget money you could hope for.
Please let that delightful image go, dear.
This is youth theatre world, and in this case, there is probably just the director (that would be you) with a vague idea of what you'd like the costumes to look like, almost no money in the costume budget, and a box of those garish satin prom dresses from the 80's that somebody's mother donated when they heard you were looking to costume a play.
So what is the director of a shoestring budgeted youth theatre to do when faced with the costuming of 50 or so young ducks, cowboys and fairy princesses? There is a well kept secret in youth theatre, and you are about to become privy to it.
The secret is this: under no circumstances will the parents of young actors want their children to look anything but delightful onstage.
So that is why the first order of business is always: Appeal To The Parents.
Now this is not to imply that you must ask the parents of your actors to rush out and buy everything their child needs to wear in the play.
As a matter of fact it is usually the first order of business to tell the parents that you do not want them to feel that they have to buy anything.
There should be no expectation of financial commitment for the families of the actors beyond whatever production fee the kids pay to be in the show, and the price (and this can be significant for young families) of the tickets that they will have to buy for their family members to see the performances.
What works very well is to make a list of object and garments you are looking for to costume the actors and email it to the entire cast, noting what colors you are looking for, approximately how many you need and what sizes you need them in.
This is also a good time to establish a rapport with your cast's families, a reputation for being friendly, for hoping to spare them any extra expense and for generally being an approachable director.
It is practically guaranteed that the families will come up with many things you despaired of finding.
It is amazing what people have in the back of their closets! And they are almost always more than glad let you borrow the items and be able clean out their closets at the same time.
But probably, to be realistic, you are not going to find everything you need this way.
There will be certain items that no one will be able to find on dusty shelf in the corner of the attic, and you will have to move on to inexpensive gold mine of the youth theatre costuming crew: The Thrift Shop.
Thrift shops are absolutely essential when searching out costume pieces, and even if your budget is very small you can usually make it stretch nicely with what you find in your neighborhood thrift shop.
Need a bright orange button down shirt for the father duck in your show? There will be one among the myriad of would be cast offs in the rows upon rows of second hand clothing at the thrift store.
In fact, it is a well known fact among costumers that the more unusual the color or design of the garment you need, the more likely it is to be waiting for you at the Mission or the Salvation Army store.
That is, after all, where all very strange and unbearably garish garments go to die.
Save a garment! Costume a play! A few things will of course have to be - and this can be terrifying for a director - made, mended or fitted.
Do not fear! Here again the wonderful power of email is the director's friend.
Send out another friendly note to the families of the cast, asking if there are any parents among them who might be able to do this sewing for you.
It is very likely that there will be a parent available to help you this way, and in the event that no cast member's parent is up for the job, a doting grandmother will surface soon and your troubles will be solved.
There are always parents who claim to be unable to sew on buttons or even hem.
Don't let this deter you.
Parents can easily be taught the secrets of the costume making trade that preclude even the ability to use scissors safely.
Many a hem has been held up onstage with a discreet application of tiny rectangles of carefully placed duct tape.
And every director of youth theatre learns early to carry in his or her pocket a collection of variously sized safety pins for those annoying tails and wings that always decide to fall off exactly 30 seconds before the curtain goes up.
And don't forget to keep the stapler on hand backstage, for those necessary last minutes adjustment to the monkey ears that you suddenly realize aren't set quite jauntily enough, or to reattach those wretched but oh so important feathers that are threatening to cascade to the floor and leave your thanksgiving day play turkey gobbling with embarrassment instead of pride.
So you see, there is nothing to fear from the task of costuming your young actors.
With the help of the loving families of the cast, the eclectic and never endingly variable and originally outcast but perfect for a play garments you can find at the thrift stores, and the use of some common household adhesives and fasteners, you can pretty much be assured of a cast full of costumes that will thrill your audience and the young actors wearing them.
And even if what you create does not seem to have turned out to resemble exactly what you had in mind, don't worry that the job you have done is less than stellar, and have no fear.
The mere fact that the closest audience member will probably be at lest 10 feet away from the stage can make up for a surprisingly large number of costume design ills.
No one will ever see those staples sticking out of the ears of your littlest monkey at the end of the line on stage right, because not only will the audience members be too far away to see the spiky little fasteners, but the enormous amount of love that will be radiating from the proud parents in the audience and swirling around that performance space will insure that costume imperfections of any kind will be the last thing on anybody's mind.
No, it's true.
And now you know the best and most well kept youth theatre costuming secret of all.
Things are going along nicely, the children in the show are excited and learning their lines and their blocking and you begin to relax as the semi-organized chaos known as The Creative Process begins to flow.
And then it happens.
A shiny faced little actor looks up at you and asks, "When do we get our costumes?" Ok, remain calm.
Just because you had finally begun to be able to sleep well again does not mean that the little cherub's question should now throw you into a tail spin.
You have arrived at a very large but not insurmountable task: the costuming portion of the production process.
Now in the perfect world of the theatre, for each production there is a costume designer, a costume building staff, a well prepared costume shop stocked with years worth of costumes from a multitude of different plays, glorious fabrics and trims and all the patterns and equipment and all thebudget money you could hope for.
Please let that delightful image go, dear.
This is youth theatre world, and in this case, there is probably just the director (that would be you) with a vague idea of what you'd like the costumes to look like, almost no money in the costume budget, and a box of those garish satin prom dresses from the 80's that somebody's mother donated when they heard you were looking to costume a play.
So what is the director of a shoestring budgeted youth theatre to do when faced with the costuming of 50 or so young ducks, cowboys and fairy princesses? There is a well kept secret in youth theatre, and you are about to become privy to it.
The secret is this: under no circumstances will the parents of young actors want their children to look anything but delightful onstage.
So that is why the first order of business is always: Appeal To The Parents.
Now this is not to imply that you must ask the parents of your actors to rush out and buy everything their child needs to wear in the play.
As a matter of fact it is usually the first order of business to tell the parents that you do not want them to feel that they have to buy anything.
There should be no expectation of financial commitment for the families of the actors beyond whatever production fee the kids pay to be in the show, and the price (and this can be significant for young families) of the tickets that they will have to buy for their family members to see the performances.
What works very well is to make a list of object and garments you are looking for to costume the actors and email it to the entire cast, noting what colors you are looking for, approximately how many you need and what sizes you need them in.
This is also a good time to establish a rapport with your cast's families, a reputation for being friendly, for hoping to spare them any extra expense and for generally being an approachable director.
It is practically guaranteed that the families will come up with many things you despaired of finding.
It is amazing what people have in the back of their closets! And they are almost always more than glad let you borrow the items and be able clean out their closets at the same time.
But probably, to be realistic, you are not going to find everything you need this way.
There will be certain items that no one will be able to find on dusty shelf in the corner of the attic, and you will have to move on to inexpensive gold mine of the youth theatre costuming crew: The Thrift Shop.
Thrift shops are absolutely essential when searching out costume pieces, and even if your budget is very small you can usually make it stretch nicely with what you find in your neighborhood thrift shop.
Need a bright orange button down shirt for the father duck in your show? There will be one among the myriad of would be cast offs in the rows upon rows of second hand clothing at the thrift store.
In fact, it is a well known fact among costumers that the more unusual the color or design of the garment you need, the more likely it is to be waiting for you at the Mission or the Salvation Army store.
That is, after all, where all very strange and unbearably garish garments go to die.
Save a garment! Costume a play! A few things will of course have to be - and this can be terrifying for a director - made, mended or fitted.
Do not fear! Here again the wonderful power of email is the director's friend.
Send out another friendly note to the families of the cast, asking if there are any parents among them who might be able to do this sewing for you.
It is very likely that there will be a parent available to help you this way, and in the event that no cast member's parent is up for the job, a doting grandmother will surface soon and your troubles will be solved.
There are always parents who claim to be unable to sew on buttons or even hem.
Don't let this deter you.
Parents can easily be taught the secrets of the costume making trade that preclude even the ability to use scissors safely.
Many a hem has been held up onstage with a discreet application of tiny rectangles of carefully placed duct tape.
And every director of youth theatre learns early to carry in his or her pocket a collection of variously sized safety pins for those annoying tails and wings that always decide to fall off exactly 30 seconds before the curtain goes up.
And don't forget to keep the stapler on hand backstage, for those necessary last minutes adjustment to the monkey ears that you suddenly realize aren't set quite jauntily enough, or to reattach those wretched but oh so important feathers that are threatening to cascade to the floor and leave your thanksgiving day play turkey gobbling with embarrassment instead of pride.
So you see, there is nothing to fear from the task of costuming your young actors.
With the help of the loving families of the cast, the eclectic and never endingly variable and originally outcast but perfect for a play garments you can find at the thrift stores, and the use of some common household adhesives and fasteners, you can pretty much be assured of a cast full of costumes that will thrill your audience and the young actors wearing them.
And even if what you create does not seem to have turned out to resemble exactly what you had in mind, don't worry that the job you have done is less than stellar, and have no fear.
The mere fact that the closest audience member will probably be at lest 10 feet away from the stage can make up for a surprisingly large number of costume design ills.
No one will ever see those staples sticking out of the ears of your littlest monkey at the end of the line on stage right, because not only will the audience members be too far away to see the spiky little fasteners, but the enormous amount of love that will be radiating from the proud parents in the audience and swirling around that performance space will insure that costume imperfections of any kind will be the last thing on anybody's mind.
No, it's true.
And now you know the best and most well kept youth theatre costuming secret of all.
Source...