Production unit
A unit which includes Year 12 students, Year 13s, cats and chooks? It may sound chaotic, but it's just part of the Production unit Wendy Webb's students worked on in 2007, when each class developed costumes for a stage production: Year 13 for the musical 'Cats' and Year 12 for the New Zealand short play 'Chook Chook'.
The school can only offer a senior Textiles programme in a composite class but Wendy notes that there are some advantages to this: Year 12 students have the opportunity to observe what the Year 13s are doing, and ask them for advice or help with their own projects.
Costumes from the 'Cats' unit
(click to enlarge)
Cats
Year 13 students were asked to create costumes for the drama department mini-production of 'Cats'. A class of eight meant that each had a 'main' cat, whose character they had to interpret through clothing.
Their client, HOD Drama Gary File, had worked with Wendy on previous productions and at this stage "just let them go for it". Students first researched the specialist field of theatre costume and learnt about the particular costume requirements of singers/dancers – durability, comfort, stretchability and ease of movement.
Students were allocated $25 each for materials. They first investigated suitable fabrics, and how they would look under stage lighting, and then considered how a similar effect could be achieved by substituting cheaper or recycled materials. In the construction phase, for example, they felted old jerseys and used that cloth to make leggings.
As Gisborne has a limited number of shops selling textiles, the students sourced cheap lycra for the leotards by faxing letters to suppliers. The class also put a 'wanted' advertisement in the local newspaper requesting donations of fabric and old clothes, which proved highly successful.
After further discussion with Gary, students started working on their concept designs. Each cat would wear a leotard under an individual costume, each in a different main colour to emphasise the varied look he wanted. The design had to incorporate a Victorian/Edwardian theme, which required students to think about how costumes might be distressed to give a 'working class cat' appearance.
A theatre costume designer visited to talk about her work, and suggested some techniques students could apply to the garments, such as the use of wire for a tail. She also demonstrated the process of making a velcro-fastened headpiece – from pattern drafting to mock-up.
After looking at the concept designs Gary asked for a more uniform look, suggesting the cats wear a scarf and have the same head, claws, paws, and tail. The girls worked in pairs to develop a prototype for each piece. Gary viewed the mock-ups and made a final choice for each – the cats would wear a hood (with attached 'hair') headpiece, armbands, mittens and matching leggings.
With the overall specifications of the costumes established, the students completed their individual designs and started developing their outcomes. Wendy says that she didn't tell them what to do, but referred them back to their Year 12 folders "and they just got on with things themselves; they dyed possum pelts and felted scarves... they had no hesitation in trying a whole lot of different ways to get their end product".
When the costumes were almost finished the actors tested them for comfort, ease of movement, and to ensure they didn't fall off in use! The class developed a questionnaire on the suitability of the costumes for each actor to complete. They also asked their client to comment on the look, use and overall success of the costumes.
Wendy says that the girls had confidence in their work and didn't hesitate to work with a make-up artist, each developing make-up to complement their cat's costume, which they trialled on Year 10 models.
"The costumes were spectacular and were really well received. One thing that stood out for me, was that the students who had done the fabric manipulation project last year had so much more in their toolkit to tackle it when they were challenged with a project".
Chooks
The four Year 12 students designed costumes for the four chooks in the play 'Chook Chook'. They had been going to make two costumes, as the chooks drop their outfits to become Las Vegas showgirls, but a tight deadline meant they could only complete one. While the students researched and designed the showgirl dresses, Wendy finished making them. "Next year I'll be a bit more measured in what they are expected to do".
The girls drafted a helmet for the chooks – similar to the Cats headpieces, so one of the girls worked with the Year 13s to learn how to make them. They modified an existing pattern for the outfit then had to work out how to attach the feathers and tail. Keeping the tail upright proved a real challenge and involved experiments with different ways of anchoring it – such as suspending it with thread and using velcro, both of which required a light-weight stuffing.
The costume designer, who had worked with the Cats team, later suggested that they could have looked at boning up or framing up the garments. Wendy is keen to explore ways of strengthening a garment so that things can hang off it, so that next year's class is able to use these techniques – "The kids are very accepting now that we can all learn together".
"I'm starting to see, in the work of my Year 12/13 students, things coming through that we'd tried out in Year 9, and developed a bit in Year 10. This has helped me become clearer about where I want to be going."
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