Questions you should ask yourself after reading the play script:
What is this play about in literal terms?
What is this play about in general or metaphorical terms (see Dramatic Metaphor and Concept below)?
What is the style of the play?
This page contains my opinions that I posted many years ago to a thread on The Costumer’s Manifesto eGroup about salary and respect issues for costumers. To see other posts by people on this thread, go to the eGroup:
No one seems to have mentioned the key to the low salaries for costumers and other stitchers: It is “Women’s Work”.
The bottom paid job in every country in the world is that of seamstress, and as costuming relates closely to stitching, and is done by a workforce that is 95% female, it is often paid in a similar fashion.
You can look in theatre departments across the US and you will also find that the costume designer is usually the lowest paid faculty, and in many cases is lower paid “staff” when all other positions are tenured faculty. It is rather unusual for the costume designer to feel she is taken as seriously as an artist by directors or other designers. It isn’t unheard of for a costume designer to be rated as an equal, and I’m happy to say UAF is one place where we (the theatre faculty) all agree this is the proper way to do things, but even at UAF, once the level goes up a rung to administration, it isn’t necessarily the case. I’m the only faculty in Theatre with a Ph.D., and yet I’m still lowest paid of those who came in when I did, because our former dean set our incoming salaries when we were hired. Magically, a female costumer was “worth” substantially less than either male stage director, a salary differential that widened as time wore on.
There are lots of things costumers do, even in faculty positions that encourage colleagues to think less of their design skills however. Some things to remember if you want more respect:
Continue reading Salary and Respect Issues in CostumingPlease note, if you are getting this out of context, this essay was written as part of a Costumer’s self-help book of advice back in January 1995
“I, MYSELF, AM STRANGE AND UNUSUAL”: Just because I’m giving out advice, please do not assume I am in any way “well-adjusted” or (God forbid) “normal.” I am, and have been, to my earliest memories, one of life’s outcasts. The Weird One. Born as one of those crazy artist people who is oh-so-creative but really, cannot possibly deal with the real world. I do not mean to say I am helpless. Quite the contrary. Being strange and unusual means you are pretty much on your own most of the time, and you get very good in dealing with problems from moving to finances to flat tires on your own. But I am the sort of person who decides to enliven a dull day by going out in a false mustache, monocle and frock coat for the evening. I’ll sit at home, watching the same videotaped TV show over and over while I paint giant twisted faces on canvas night after night. Or write this book in my flat for days, when I should go out shopping, because I think “another day of using newspaper for the toilet won’t be so bad.” So I’m giving advice, not as one of those superior “cured” people, who has found Jesus, or is listening to Prozac or whatever, but as one of the sick crazy people, who wants to remain a costumer, remain strange, remain unusual, because, really, art (self-expression) is more important to me than toilet paper.
Continue reading The Costumer WithinIDEA STEALING: Ideas rarely, if ever, flow spontaneously forth in original brilliance from a mind untouched by outside influences. God does not, in costume design, tap lightly on your shoulder and tell you the All New Perfect And Inspired Way to design Miss Julie for your graduate design seminar. Some people’s designs may look like She did, but She didn’t. Design is a process that works out of, and through, many pieces of information, from costume history, to cultural perceptions of color, to actor’s body proportions, to budget realities, and more. Trying to design costumes without being influenced by outside factors is therefore, pointless.
Continue reading Idea StealingNON SPONTANEOUS CREATIVITY: Sounds like an oxymoron, right? Wrong. All the methods described in the previous chapter can be used to induce creative thought, as well as save creative thoughts acquired earlier. Besides which there are other more active things you can do to get your mind working.
DRAWING ON THE CREATIVE IMAGINATION: Betty Edwards, the author best known for her ground breaking book of drawing instruction: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, wrote another great but lesser-known book called Drawing on the Creative Imagination. This book is full of practical exercises for developing creativity, easy to follow by anyone over the age of seven. I recommend you buy it an d read it ASAP. In addition, reading her work has suggested to me a number of crazy ways to tap into your subconscious design talents. They are:
Remember please, these are brain-flexing exercises so they will be strange sounding. Many of these ideas can be done by whole classes or groups at once.
Continue reading Flex Your Head Mental Aerobics: Exercises for Inducing Creativity Non-SpontaneouslyFaking It: Probably the most important set of skills for a costumer are those various means of faking things, from the simple means of letting gold paint and hot glue pass for embroidery, to the complex means of “faking” creativity. The latter, is probably the most important skill in a costumer’s art and life since she [Sorry I’m being sexist, yes, guys make great costumer’s too, I’ve just had a problem with generically using “he” as a personal pronoun since 7th grade English.] has to create on demand, and can’t wait for her mood or muse to strike.
Continue reading Faking CreativityA Book of General Advice for Costumers
Tara Maginnis started writing the original version of The Costumer’s Manifesto web site in August 1996. Many portions of The Manifesto began as published and unpublished articles written by Tara while on leave in Russia during 1994-95.
Tara is also the author/performer of Theatrical Makeup Design Interactive, a DVD-ROM/Streaming Video series for teaching or learning Theatrical Makeup application and design. She is currently a Costume Designer and Instructor working in Northern California at Diablo Valley College. Previously she was a Professor of Theatre at the University of Alaska Fairbanks from 1990-2007. Tara was awarded her Doctorate in Drama (Theatre History) at the University of Georgia in 1991, Her M.A. in Drama (Theatrical Design) from California State University Fresno in 1985, and her B.A. in History (European) from San Francisco State University in 1981. Tara was born and raised in Northern California. You can see her portfolio & resume at TaraMaginnis.com
Tara has written numerous articles (a selection of which you can also see at TaraMaginnis.com) for Theatre Design and Technology, the Journal of The United States Institute of Theatre Technology and The Virtual Costumer, journal of the Silicon Web Costumer’s Guild. Tara also was the computer columnist for The Costume Research Journal, the former quarterly publication of the USITT Costume Commission. Tara has published articles in Costume, Theatre Crafts (now TCI), and The Ladies’ Gallery as well as other magazines and newsletters. She is also a member of The Costume Society of America, (and a former member of the Region V board), The Costume Society (UK), The International Costumer’s Guild, Greater Bay Area Costumer’s Guild and Costumer’s Guild West.
Tara also gives workshops and presentations on Costume Distressing, Instant Onstage Costume Changes, Beginning Thermoplastics, Advanced Hot Glue Work, Theatrical Makeup, Photographing Stage Makeup, Costume Rendering, Banyans, and more at Costume College, Costume Con, USITT, KCACTF, etc.
