Costume Design

In January-March 2018, in conjunction with the Yoh production of Bakkhai, longtime Yoh costume designer Holly Levison taught students some basics of her process as a designer. She shared her own experience as a professional, then took several small groups of students with her to show them the process that she goes through whenever she’s preparing to costume a new show.

Students were tasked with choosing a time period, doing research on the clothing that people actually wore during that time period, and then coming up with ideas for how to costume Bakkhai if it were set in their chosen time period. Holly was able to find many costume pieces that resembled the design inspirations of the students, and different groups of students performed scenes from the play while wearing costumes from different time periods.

This workshop helped students gain practical experience in costume design, and also helped students think about how what people wear on stage can affect the way an audience interacts with a theatrical production.