Costume design workshop ahead of “Bakkhai”

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.

Levison is a costume designer and writer living in Vermont. She has costumed and designed over 200 shows for high schools, summer camps, enrichment centers for adults and youth with special needs, and regional theatre companies. Her first production with Yoh Theatre was Under Milkwood in 2008. Favorite productions include Mamma Mia, Anne Carson’s Bakkhai (played in Woodstock and at the 2018 Edinbrugh Fringe Festival), 1776, Working, Once On This Island, Hair, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, Fish Tales, The Secret Garden, Under Milkwood, Seussical, and Scrooge. She has also loved working with words her entire life, in the form of writing plays, speeches, essays, memoirs, and stories. There have even been multiple moments of putting words on fabric while creating healing quilts. Her love of combining theatre and alchemy runs deep and continues.