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Stage Management: Other / Re: Help Organizing costumes...
« on: Jun 15, 2015, 10:00 am »
My Hat is off to you Ma'm! You are handling so much work! Costumes with Dancers and kids?! Merde Merde Merde
We have only one full time costume director and one part time costume assistant - and I don't know how they do it. I can't imagine trying to handle costumes and company/stage manage.
I think all of these responses sound great. Shows that share items are really common here too. We have shows that share scenery, props and costumes.
-Taking photos once the dancer is in the costume is a great way to create a visual inventory and reference.
- I helped my costume directory create a "map" of the costume storage area, so that when she does have helping hands, they can more easily find what needs to be pulled.
- Inventory by show - by character. I find it's important for my artistic directors to know (when doing casting) how many corps costumes we have for certain numbers. Especially if we are running 2nd or 3rd casts with indirect character crossovers. Additionally, dancers are all shapes and sizes. We've gone from a "short" company to a taller one over 8 years, and things that used to fit no problem have to be reconsidered during casting if we don't want to re-build. So I sometimes have to remind the directors, that yes, we technically have 18 costumes, but 2 of them were MADE for much shorter girls, so no matter how hard we try...that bodice is not going to sit correctly on a larger body, and we may need to cut the corps number or consider budget for a new build.
- what about coding the known crossover items by sex/top or bottom/color/ size? regardless of their "original show" category or storage group, you could have an extra code on the tag that indicates it has multiple use?
- Have you thought of looking for interns? They are great for building inventories. Do you have any local theatre departments with costume students that you could reach out to? A lot of time these students are in need of stipend hours or work experience hours and we have been able to work with their department chairs to create some course credit for them working with us.
Joelle
We have only one full time costume director and one part time costume assistant - and I don't know how they do it. I can't imagine trying to handle costumes and company/stage manage.
I think all of these responses sound great. Shows that share items are really common here too. We have shows that share scenery, props and costumes.
-Taking photos once the dancer is in the costume is a great way to create a visual inventory and reference.
- I helped my costume directory create a "map" of the costume storage area, so that when she does have helping hands, they can more easily find what needs to be pulled.
- Inventory by show - by character. I find it's important for my artistic directors to know (when doing casting) how many corps costumes we have for certain numbers. Especially if we are running 2nd or 3rd casts with indirect character crossovers. Additionally, dancers are all shapes and sizes. We've gone from a "short" company to a taller one over 8 years, and things that used to fit no problem have to be reconsidered during casting if we don't want to re-build. So I sometimes have to remind the directors, that yes, we technically have 18 costumes, but 2 of them were MADE for much shorter girls, so no matter how hard we try...that bodice is not going to sit correctly on a larger body, and we may need to cut the corps number or consider budget for a new build.
- what about coding the known crossover items by sex/top or bottom/color/ size? regardless of their "original show" category or storage group, you could have an extra code on the tag that indicates it has multiple use?
- Have you thought of looking for interns? They are great for building inventories. Do you have any local theatre departments with costume students that you could reach out to? A lot of time these students are in need of stipend hours or work experience hours and we have been able to work with their department chairs to create some course credit for them working with us.
Joelle