Orsino: Costume Design for “Twelfth Night”

Although cast as Viola/Cesario in our production of Twelfth Night, my past experience with costumes made me the “go-to” for first-time designers and crew working on the production.

While I have both designed and acted in past community theatre productions, I purposely stayed away from this show’s design discussions out of respect for the team selected to bring the haute couture vision to life.

I knew my role was to wear the costumes, not design them.

And, as a theatre “BIG” mentor to underclassmen in the program, I wanted to empower younger students to make decisions in order to build the department bench of capable technicians.

However, as we entered the last night of tech week, the costume crew needed help. Out of ideas for Count Orsino, they asked me to step in.

Inspiration: Masculine Glam

Color Palette Pastels

My Process: Rough Sketch to Working Design

Knowing the Director’s vision, the character’s essence, his blocking, and the overall theme of our production, I was able to produce a sketch for approval within minutes.

With less than a week before opening night, I knew my sewing skills would also be needed.

READ ON: Orsino: Cape Construction