Explore Parent Committees
Preshow
Show Week
Costumes
Whether you can sew or not, there's always room for more.
The Impact of Costumes
Costumes engage the audience’s imagination and are an important part of storytelling in a production. But not only that, a costume helps a young actor transform themselves into the character that they are performing. Serving on the costumes committee is a rewarding opportunity to be part of that transformation.
Before Auditions
CPT shows have a costumer who takes the lead in designing the show’s costumes. The costumer often serves as a costume committee co-chair. The costumer works with the directors and the costume committee chair (or co-chairs) weeks ahead of auditions to prepare to costume the show. They evaluate the show’s script, the show’s characters, the inventory in CPT’s costume shop, and develop a plan for costuming the full cast.
What's it like being on costumes?
Preshow Costume Committee
Parent volunteers assigned to the costume committee will assist the costumer in locating and creating costume pieces, hand and machine sew, label, and organize costume pieces. Although our costume committee needs some volunteers with prior sewing expertise, this isn’t required.
The costume committee meets during every rehearsal (Friday evening and Saturday) at Church at the Cross in the costume shop. There they work together in creating, selecting, and customizing costumes for cast members. Some costume volunteers take home pieces to sew at home during the week.
Each CPT show relies on both parent and community volunteers to sew and make the many, many costumes for a CPT show. We couldn’t do it without our costume volunteers!
Parents assigned to the costume committee should plan to serve their volunteer hours in person during rehearsals and they should also plan to be available for the show’s Costume Parade.
Show Week Costume Committee
Parent volunteers assigned to the show week Costume Committee have unique responsibilities. During the show, costume volunteers repair costumes, direct fitting of costumes and quick changes, set up and tear down the costume room, and help launder and return all costumes to appropriate places.
Serving on the Costume Committee during show week puts parent volunteers into the heart of back-of-house activity. Volunteers work directly with the cast, keep an eye on the show on the costume room video monitor, and have opportunities to be an encouragement to the cast.
