{"id":32856,"date":"2019-11-13T10:15:27","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T15:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=32856"},"modified":"2024-07-02T17:13:07","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T17:13:07","slug":"a-stitch-in-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=32856","title":{"rendered":"A Stitch in Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Most of what you see at a theatrical performance can\u2019t be purchased in a store. Each piece is specifically designed, created, and modified for the actor who will wear it on stage. What does that involve? Just ask the team at the PlayMakers Repertory Company costume shop.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"A Stitch in Time\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/u6dl0TT2cAA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Lauren Woods holds her breath. She snips a thread and then pulls it out slowly, exhaling as she continues to disassemble the 1950s cheetah-skin coat. Working with real fur is tricky \u2014 made of protein, it deteriorates over time, and each additional stitch makes it more fragile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou could literally rip it in half if you aren\u2019t careful,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/dropr.com\/lwoodscostumes\">Woods<\/a>, a second-year graduate student in UNC\u2019s costume production program, explains. \u201cPatience and dexterity played a huge role in making that costume.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Woods transformed the vintage cape into a fitted crop top used for a costume in PlayMakers Repertory Company\u2019s fall production, \u201cNative Son.\u201d The story takes place in 1930s Chicago and follows Bigger Thomas, a black man who accidentally kills a wealthy white woman. This particular piece was designed for a classic bombshell blond character.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a jungle look that was based on Jane from the 1930s film \u2018Tarzan.\u2019 I had to go back and look at old posters from the movies that came out then and drape something that would coincide with it,\u201d Woods says.<\/p>\n<p>Research plays a huge role in creating the costumes for a production, Woods adds, especially when the show takes place in a different era.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStudents figure those things out by looking at the designer\u2019s sketch and vintage patterns or books that have patterns of dresses from the 1930s,\u201d says <a href=\"http:\/\/drama.unc.edu\/faculty-member\/triffin-morris\/\">Triffin Morris<\/a>, head of the costume production program in the Department of Dramatic Art and costume director for PlayMakers. \u201cWe also have a collection of actual vintage garments that have been donated over time that are resources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <em>costume designer<\/em> works in collaboration with the director to create drawings of the costumes for a show. The <em>draper<\/em> uses those images, along with fabrics selected by the designer and the measurements of the actors, to make the final product. \u201cWe\u2019re the engineers,\u201d Morris says. \u201cMost of what you see on stage can\u2019t be purchased in a store.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>From shop to stage <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The actors\u2019 movements on stage play just as big of a role in costume production as the era. The actress who wore the cheetah-skin costume, for example, had to twirl around and then jump onto a box. Her outfit needed to be loose enough to allow movement, but securely fitted as to not shift too much. And it had to be easy to take on and off in between scenes, which meant replacing delicate zippers and buttons with snaps.<\/p>\n<p>To make the Tarzan top more functional, Woods backed it with a heavy cotton for support and then added a zipper. For the bottom, Bobbi Owen \u2014 the costume designer \u2014 selected a wrap skirt, knowing the actress would have to playfully jump from one box to another on stage.<\/p>\n<p>Students who work in the costume shop already have a lot of know-how. \u201cThey arrive having worked in the costume field for several years,\u201d Morris says.<\/p>\n<p>The costumes are created using haute couture techniques, which means they are exquisitely detailed and made by hand \u2014 and \u201crequire a lot of patience,\u201d Woods says, chuckling. These skills include sewing, patterning, and draping, or placing fabric over a dress form and manipulating it into different shapes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really exciting to see your costume on stage,\u201d Woods adds. \u201cAnd it\u2019s kind of amazing how things can change from being on a dress form in the shop to being on someone\u2019s body on stage, under lights that are changing, with everybody else around, because it all has to work together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Lauren Woods is a master\u2019s student in the costume production program in the Department of Dramatic Art within the UNC College of Arts &amp; Sciences.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Triffin Morris is the costume director for PlayMakers Repertory Company and professor of the practice in the Department of Dramatic Art within the UNC College of Arts &amp; Sciences.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Post by <a href=\"https:\/\/endeavors.unc.edu\/a-stitch-in-time\/wp\">Alyssa LaFaro, Endeavors<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most of what you see at a theatrical performance can\u2019t be purchased in a store. Each piece is specifically designed, created, and modified for the actor who will wear it on stage. What does that involve? Just ask the team at the PlayMakers Repertory Company costume shop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":32861,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,15,21,34],"tags":[24,25,449,378],"class_list":["post-32856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-fine-arts-humanities","category-news","category-news-archive","tag-carolina","tag-college-of-arts-sciences","tag-dramatic-art","tag-innovation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49739,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32856\/revisions\/49739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}