Vintage: Hendrix Theatre costumes get care
There is a hidden treasure in the basement of arts Trieschmann beautiful building in Hendrix College.
It has been lying untouched for years, gathering dust and perhaps a moth or two.
But Dr. Connie Campbell took on the project of cataloging vintage clothes - hundreds of pieces, most of the donations - which was resting in boxes and on shelves.
Campbell is visiting assistant professor of Theatre Arts and Dance at Hendrix, where she teaches costume design and makeup for students in the Department of Theatre for four years.
Much of the clothing is in a fragile condition having been forgotten and tucked away in attics and trunks before arriving at Hendrix.
Many of the dresses are too small for today’s figures, but because of Campbell’s expertise, they can be used for teaching, for research and for making patterns for fitting today’s taller frames.
It’s a labor of love for Campbell, who is hoping to finish the major portion of the project by summer’s end.
Each dress, suit, uniform will be wrapped in acid-free tissue and packed in acid-free boxes or hung on wooden hangers and covered with untreated muslin.
She will win the war against dust and age.
“I’m pretty passionate about this,” she said Wednesday, as she went down the rows of hanging garments, tsk-tsk-tsking when she noticed a fur coat from the 1940s made from the pelt of an unidentified critter. The coat had lost a battle with an army of moths.
The love of the costume shop is an extension of her love of Hendrix College.
“This is the first place that appreciated my background,” she said.
Her undergraduate studies were in Latin and Greek and classical archeology.
She taught high school Latin for 20 years at a school that produced three theatrical shows a year, including one play by Shakespeare.
She was so taken with the theatre that she returned to college to get an MFA and a PhD in costume design. She taught at the University of Alabama, Prairie View A&M in Texas, Northwest Missouri State and the University of Richmond. Some of those colleges had amazing collections of costumes with great historical significance.
She’s finding that Hendrix’s closet has some great pieces, too. She’s found a set of knit wool underwear from World War II, and someone donated an 19th century top hat from Scotland, made of a beaver pelt.
“As time passes, our collection will grow in importance,” she said. “Some things — even from the 1980s and 1990s — may not seem old now, but 50 or 100 years from now, someone will appreciate what we have saved.
Greek Theatre Costumes - News
The love of the costume shop is an extension of her love of Hendrix College. “This is the first place that appreciated my background,” she said. Her undergraduate studies were in Latin and Greek and classical archeology. She taught high school Latin
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Ancient Greek Fashion: Theater Costumes « A Brief History of Fashion
I'm a fan of cinema. I love going to the theater and musicals. I used to even put on my own pieces when I was a kid. I owe to the Greeks. The Greeks were the first to establish the theater. They played during the holiday honoring their many gods. The theaters were massive and they were built on hills. The theaters were built as lecture halls to increase the sound of the small stage.
The theater was so great in fact that acting was a bit of a challenge for the actors. Ancient Greek actors had to move much so that the whole audience could see and hear. Their costumes were also exaggerated.
The players even had to wear masks! The actors had to wear masks for several reasons. First, the people in the back row very necessary to be able to see the expression of the actor, and the masks had exaggerated expressions (tragedy masks were all sad comedies had masks that were smiling). Second, the players have played more than one party, while they wore masks to distinguish between the parties. Third, the shape of the mouth on the mask acts like a microphone and a sort of amplified the actor when he spoke.
Kind of creepy, and I am sure that this mask did the trick as well.
So the history of modern theater has its roots in ancient Greece and much of the Greek theater is associated with these masks.
Sources:
Fashion Encyclopedia
http://www.arlymasks.com/timeline.
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Greek Theater Costumes & Accessories | Costumzee.com
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Ancient Greece and Environs Costume Links
Collection of links to web sites about the clothes and dress of Ancient Greece.