In the theater world, there are many aspects of plays and performances that bring a show together. One of the most crucial aspects is costuming. This year Xavier’s theater department put on the musical “Hadestown,” and the costumes were unlike any others they had used before.
Xavier’s theater department is known to put on shows with costumes that are very charming. This production’s aesthetic “had a very different vibe,” said director Sarah White. “We had to mix together a modern look with a Medieval look,” which was something they had never done before.
The process of finding costumes for the production begins with White making a lookbook for the adult costume lead, Laurena Kerber. As the adult costume lead, Kerber is in charge of gathering different pieces and clothing for the costumes.
“The lookbook is what Mrs. Kerber used to base her designs off of,” said White. The “Hadestown” lookbook consisted of photos or pieces of clothing with a grungy and vintage aesthetic.
“Laurena Kerber gets most of our costumes from our own costumes, from a valley-wide renting place called Costume Connections, or from thrift stores,” said the co-head of costuming Emily Kodicek ‘27. This gives the costume crew a large selection of clothing to portray different characters.
Costumes tell the audience a lot about the different characters and environments of a play, making every detail important.
The “Hadestown” costumes had to set the tone of the mythical and dark musical. The adult lead of costumes and the costume crew achieved this through using dark colors including lots of black pieces, and even dirt in costumes throughout the play.
In addition to the base of each costume for “Hadestown,” Xavier’s costume crew made tie aprons that workers wore throughout the play, put snake designs on the back of Hades’ vest to bring out his intimidating characteristics and added dead flowers to the Fates’ costumes.
Aside from the creation of the costumes, the costume crew and co-heads of costuming put significant work into sizing each costume to the actor, organizing the quick costume changes and prepping each costume to be worn before every performance. “The process can be very stressful,” said co-head of costuming Piper Mercer ‘27.
The costume crew ironed most of the costumes before each show and helped the actors with quick changes. “Hadestown” was notably challenging when it came to the amount of costume changes the actors made during the musical.
There were two times during the play where almost every cast member had a quick change at the same time. The costume crew for “Hadestown” was large compared to other productions, making the quick changes possible, but it was not easy.
The dedicated “Hadestown” costume crew played a huge role in bringing the musical to life. Behind the scenes the crew worked tirelessly to highlight the traits of every character and the setting of the play through the clothing.
