From the Archives: A Look at the Costume Designs of Michael Krass

This week's From The Archives features original materials by costumer Michael Krass.

Mr. Krass (an Off-Broadway and Broadway costume designer who also heads the Design Program for the Playwrights Horizons Studio at New York University) has worked with Roundabout on 14 productions, beginning in 1991 with The Subject Was Roses, by Frank D. Gilroy. Roundabout's archives contain a significant amount of source materials such as these.

This selection includes costume sketches, research material, fabric swatches and a production still from Roundabout's 1996 production of Jean Anouilh's, The Rehearsal. The production was staged at one of Roundabout's earlier theatre houses, the Criterion Center Stage Right (1530 Broadway Street).

Costume sketches and other source materials provide us with a unique opportunity to look inside the creative minds whose visions define and form the production. Costumers work collaboratively with set designers, directors, and actors to create the look and feel of a production. In the materials below, sketches and attendant materials (fabric swatches and research montages) for the character Hortensia reveal not only clothing of the period but also potential character qualities – a costumer considers details such as social class and disposition when deciding on fabrics, adornment, and accessories all which help bring a stage character to life.