Seamless Collaboration: Costume Shop Brings Student Designs to Life

With a needle, thread, and ruler in hand, Heidi Keithahn ’26 meticulously measures and alters costumes for an upcoming Emerson Stage production.

Keithahn, a Theatrical Design and Production major, is one of 16 student workers putting their skills to work in Emerson’s Costume Shop this semester. The students and four staff members work collaboratively, costuming all Emerson Stage shows.

“I really like practicing my sewing skills and I get to use a lot of really nice material that I would not get to interact with normally,” said Keithahn . “I get to learn a lot about the correct ways to make costumes and create stuff, and then take those skills and use them on other projects.”

One of Keithahn’s coolest creations, one that impressed her classmates and staff, was a tiny straw hat for a toy bunny in Emerson Stage’s production of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Along with the tiny hat, Keithahn and other students constructed miniature costumes for toy bunnies that, of course, needed a hole for tails.

As the show’s wardrobe supervisor, Keithahn directed very quick clothing changes for the bunnies during performances. She said working in the costume shop is an experience that will serve her well for her desired future career as a wardrobe designer for a theatrecompany.

“I really appreciate the professional caliber of the [Costume Shop]. It feels very luxurious to have access to all this help and materials. A lot of commercial theatre companies have very small costume shops,” said Keithahn.

Keithahn and other students learn under the tutelage of Richelle Devereaux Murray ’00, who’s worked at the shop for 19 years. Murray worked at Emerson’s costume shop in Beacon Hill for a few years before the current facility opened in the Tufte Performance and Production Center in 2003.

“[In the Costume Shop] they learn more technical skills on how to get it done – the proper way to cut fabric and what different types of stitches to do,” said Murray. “They learn how to use darts, pleats, and how to make fabric go around the human body in an attractive fashion.

“Sometimes it’s, ‘How do we do this?’”

How to do things like attach wings to a costume’s arms so they spread out when the arms are raised. Velcro was not an option because it makes noise. Then, while watching the Paralympics, Devereaux saw outfits that used special zippers made to use one-handed, and the problem was solved.

Costumes can be made from scratch, made to order, bought, or altered from costumes used in prior shows. “Sometimes, but rarely, we rent costumes or borrow from other costume shops. We don’t have a gorilla suit, so we borrowed one when we did Cabaret,” said Murray.

Along with learning stitching techniques, students also learn the costuming process from staff members like Becky Pieroth ’16, assistant supervisor of the costume shop, who previously worked in the Boston Ballet’s costume department. As Pieroth can attest, it’s not just – put this on and get out on stage. Murray and Pieroth work with student designers on how to budget each show, buy and acquire all costumes, and alter costumes.

The design process starts with Performing Arts students working with professional cutter/draper Lauren Bramhall, who patterns costumes from student designer’s sketches. Bramhall makes mock-up costumes, which are kind of like the shell of a costume, for test runs.

Then students and staff see how the mock-ups fit actors, take notes for alterations, figure out trims and fabrics, and finally make the real costumes. Those costumes are then altered until they’re as perfect as can be.

“I like working with the students,” said Murray. “You build a [metaphorical] sand castle, something beautiful, and then it’s gone.”

Murray said learning costume construction through an undergraduate design program is a rarity for colleges, as is Emerson’s sizable multi-room shop.

The main room includes nine domestic sewing machines, some industrial sewing machines, one leather machine, and a serger which helps finish sewn edges. Along a wall are buckets of fabric scraps from previous shows stored in containers with labels like pizzazz and sparkles.

An adjacent craft room includes a strong air vent for when the doors are closed for masked students and staff to dye and spraypaint fabric. There’s the fitting room with mirrors for actors to try on costumes. The stock closet, which probably is a lot bigger than your closet, contains loads of clothes, shoes, jackets, accessories, and more that were used in Emerson Stage performances.  

“There is a lot of measuring and learning the importance of being very precise,” said Keithahn. “Everything that you do matters for the final product. So many things I’ve learned here are helpful and indispensable. If you iron something it turns out to be something much, much better.”

Like Keithahn, Anna Ten Eyck ’26 loves the camaraderie with students and staff. Ten Eyck was the costume designer for Edward Tulane, and her portfolio includes her designs side-by-side with actors wearing costumes from the performance. The designs include the aforementioned toy bunny costumes, as well as corduroy chaps for an actor dressed as a dog.

“Every show is different. We get to try so many different things. We’re getting so much experience in so many different areas of alterations. It’s such a worthwhile experience to work at the Costume Shop as a Costume Design student,” said Eyck.

On a recent day, Keithahn, Eyck, and Parker Fedak ’28, were altering track suits for Emerson Stage’s I Love XXX. Murray was showing students how to fold the fabric, how far to sew, how to line the costumes up, and other details. Murray was using research and development that Pieroth had done on the best ways to hem sweatpants that needed to be shortened. They looked at several different methods they could use to determine which one looked the best and which was most efficient.

“For a lot of us, it’s our first chance to work in a shop like this,” said Madeline Henry ’25. “They’ve been great mentors and taught us to make things come to life. Design is important and it’s essential in productions to be able collaborate.”