M I LWAUKEE
You Made This?!? From What?!? Behind the Seams Look at Costume Design for Salomé By Dawn Molly Dewane
Theater companies tend to accumulate costume inventory. Well-meaning patrons donate old clothing; costumes are made for shows. Period costuming presents challenges for a small theater company because fabric and trim are expensive. Volunteers who sew are not common – as are volunteers who are able to design costumes. For Salomé, the costume budget was zero because, to be blunt, the pandemic has hit Village Playhouse hard; there simply was no budget. What does a small theater do? It gets creative. The design concept for Salomé is the seven deadly sins. Herod, Herodias and Salomé’s costumes were created in this color palette using fabrics with texture and sheen:
The play’s other characters’ costumes were made of cotton and cotton blend fabrics in more muted colors and textures. Most of these were pulled from existing costume stock. Getting creative meant “cannibalizing” garments in costume stock unlikely to ever be used or in poor condition plus repurposing curtains, tablecloths and sheets. This 1980s blazer was made of a metallic fabric with a peacock motif. Dawn Molly Dewane and Rebecca Reyes, our costume team, turned it into trim and two belts. Dewane said, “A blazer like this is unlikely to be used so why waste good fabric? We also found a blue velvet 1980s prom dress that was falling apart on the hanger, so we used that, too.” 14 | artsscene
