During your first year of the Costume Technology concentration, your focused coursework will include theatrical patterning and construction; a shop practice course, which will be instrumental in learning machine operation, organization and safety; and a costume design course to learn the principles of costume design. Supporting coursework may include costume design, digital media, sculpture, stage properties, wigs and makeup. The production class is designed to partner with your formal classroom studies to enable you to put the skills and concepts into practice on the school’s 15-20 student designed and produced productions each academic year. As your abilities grow, you will take on increasingly larger loads, more complex projects and bigger teams to manage.

More courses in costume shop management will be offered in your second year, as well as progressively more challenging technology courses covering advanced problem-solving skills, and pattern development (flat patterning, draping, and drafting), construction techniques (theatrical tailoring, dancewear, corsetry, historical mens and womenswear, finishing and handwork), and costume crafts (millinery, fabric modification, molding/casting, prosthetics and wig styling). You will continue to spend much of your time in the laboratory working on actual productions, and your responsibilities for each production will continue to grow.

Courses in the final year emphasize preparation of each student’s individual portfolio for entry into the job market. Projects are tailored to best prepare them for the segment of the market they wish to pursue. The Costume Technology thesis tasks students to serve as the Costume Shop Manager for one term. Students are responsible with the daily management of the shop, labor distribution and calculation, interfacing with stage management and design teams, assuring the flow of costume elements is on target throughout the build and tech schedule, and communication. Following their assignment, students create a written document that reflects on their experience, and also includes physical records of the productions they shepherded through the shops.

A summary of your personal management style.

Specific examples of personnel issues and how they were resolved, team building, and working with peers and or colleagues.

Costume Shop Management

• A brief overview of your approach to team creation, labor allocation and estimation, and project planning with subsequent paperwork produced
• Team member assignments
• Build and Alteration Labor Estimates for each look
• Team Labor Allocations
• The production calendar indicating the following internal and external deadlines:
  • Final design package due to the shop
  • Fabrics due to the shop
  • Team Lead Meetings
  • First Fittings
  • Final Fittings
  • First Dress and subsequent dress rehearsals, previews, performance dates, and strike.
• Sample paperwork produced or used
  • Daily Call
  • Fitting Schedule
• Team Management
  • A brief overview of your approach to team organization, labor management, and project execution with subsequent paperwork
  • Build Calendar

A self-evaluation devoted to analyzing the degree of your success and effectiveness in carrying out the duties of each of your production assignments. It is appropriate to discuss problems that arose, how you dealt with them, and their outcomes with suggestions on how you might handle the situation differently. Also discuss any barriers and obstacles, whether or not they are institutional, and with suggestions to breakdown those barriers and obstacles.

• Sketches, rendering, and research supporting the pattern development for realized designs
• Working sketches, additional sketches, and working fitting photos
• Fitting photos of the mockups, fashion fittings, and final stage production
• Yardage estimates, notions and trim estimates

Representation of the scope of your work with stage photos and or fitting photos.

• Title block with credits
• Time frame
• Challenges
• Team