The Costume Shop: Making it Work

Fashion design has certainly made a name for itself within the past few years. Shows like Project Runway have drawn attention to not only big name designers and up-and-coming designers, but also the art of designing and creating clothes. Locally, Omaha Fashion Week, which just completed it's third year, has highlighted Omaha's fashion scene and the craft masters within it.

But we've been creating designs far longer than Tim Gunn's signature phrase "Make it work" appeared on our television sets.



Our costume department consists of five full-time employees, multiple part-time employees and an array of volunteers. This group not only creates costumes for all the actors in our regular season productions, but they also create the costumes for A Christmas Carol and the touring groups.



There are many ways to get involved in the costume shop. Volunteer options include:

STITCHER: A stitcher requires a basic knowledge of sewing skills. Depending on the skill of the volunteer, the jobs range from buttons, hems and trim to the actual construction of a garment.

CRAFTS PERSON: The crafts person works with accessories for costumes: jewelry; shoes; hats; feathers; buttons; lace; ribbon; etc.

SHOP ASSISTANT: The shop assistant helps in setting up dressing rooms, returning costumes to stock and doing laundry for current shows.

DRESSER: A dresser assists performers with costume and wig changes during the performance.




It's true that you won't see Heidi Klum on our stage, but you'll see a variety of world-class performances, and you could be a part of it all. To volunteer in the costume shop in the nation's largest community theatre, contact the Costume Shop Supervisor at (402) 553-4890, ext. 150.

You could help us "make it work".