This April at Chelsea High School, the CHS Theatre Guild has put on yet another spring play: Almost, Maine, a story of love and loss set in the town of Almost, Maine. Among the students who helped this play come to life on the stage and behind the scenes is junior Zosia Bendena. Bendena has been the lead student costume manager for many productions, and she brings years of experience and many skills to the CHS theatre costuming department, considering many important facets such as how a character's personality reflects their costume.
“When we're putting together an outfit, we do color coding,” Bendena said, “[We consider] socioeconomic status, their general personality, whether they would be more masculine or feminine—there's a lot of factors to take into consideration.”
Sophomore Claire Hatch—a member of the CHS Theatre Guild—thinks Bendena contributes to a positive environment within theater, and that she is very organized in her role of being costume manager.
“Zoey is such a nice person, and she always tries to make sure that everyone is feeling okay, especially during fittings. And if you're just, like, talking to her in general, she's one of the sweetest people I know,” Hatch said.
While finding joy in theatre, whether a scene is set in a casual or formal setting, Bendena thinks that costuming makes a remarkable significance in bringing together a production.
“A sense of time and place would really be lost,” Bendena said, “It really helps to sell the scene because the actors do a phenomenal job, but everyone comes together: scenic, hair and makeup, costumes, lights, sounds, props. All of it to really sell the audience that like, ‘this is where we are, this is what's happening’, [which] raises the believability.”
Hatch agrees that costumes are crucial to a visual representation of the setting, and really help bring the story to life. She also agrees that each story on the stage is never the same, and sometimes stories require special attention to the smaller details, such as clothing choices.
“I think it would be very hard to visualize the show and especially in the past for White Christmas, there were special costumes that we had to have [from] the dialog,” Hatch said.
When everything comes together, a production can be a phenomenal experience. Costuming provides a sense of where the story is taking place, and managing costumes is no easy task.
“It's a lot more of a time commitment,” Bendena said.“It can be a lot sometimes, because it's a lot to organize, a lot to keep track of. There's a bunch of people doing different things.”
While keeping track of costumes, where people leave them, and quick changes, Bendena has the final say in what is used and what is not. But before any costume is put on the “keep” rack, it has to be decided where the clothes will be pulled from. Whether the costume will be sewn from scratch, or pulled from previous shows, she makes sure that the clothes are fitting to the scene and character.
“A lot of our costuming, stocks and catalog isn't modern. A lot of modern clothes are already in our wardrobe. So I relied a lot on my own clothes, donations, pass-ons, but it's very rewarding. I love sewing. I love being in charge of things. It is really nice when I do a costume justice for a character,” Bendena said.
