Costume Design: clothing, body, context (DRA4387.01)

Tilly Grimes

We will follow a “page to stage” process on a Broadway Premiere: I Need That  by Theresa Rebeck, starring Danny and Lucy Devito at The American Airlines Theatre. Logistics permitting, the course will include a field trip to watch technical rehearsals or a preview performance in New York.

In response to reading the play, observing a design meeting and a technical rehearsal, and participating in a question and answer session with the production’s director and designer, students will develop two additional paper projects around similar themes. One will be a self steered design project creating a family portrait through costumes, the other will be a more traditional paper project designing costumes for Lorca’s play The House Of Bernarda Alba

We will explore how the human body lives inside clothes and how the relationship of body, to clothes, to context supports the eliciting of a response from the audience in service of the play/text/stimulus. Students should be confident or curious about expressing ideas in a graphic platform and medium. Work will be shared weekly and will often involve discussion and critique..

Please note: this is not a garment construction class. Several class sessions in the middle of the term will meet remotely on zoom.




Learning Outcomes:
Improved research skills
Enhanced design skills and understanding of design elements for stage
Improved graphic communication skills.
Enhanced ability to develop and communicate visual ideas



Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Prerequisites: Submission of a brief statement regarding interest in the course and relevant skills to Richard MacPike (contact: rmacpike@bennington.edu).
Corequisites: Dance-Drama lab.
Course Level: 4000-level
Credits: 4
M 8:30AM - 12:10PM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 12
Course Frequency: One time only

Categories: 4000 , All courses , Drama , Four Credit , Fully In-Person , Updates
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