The Bob Jones Patriot Players performed their final local show of the The Axeman’s Requiem this Saturday, and this week, they will travel to Greensboro, North Carolina to represent Alabama at the Southeastern Theatre Conference.

Have you ever wondered where Drama gets their costumes from? Did you think that they bought them from a store? Well, there is actually a whole group of people that make the costumes. The costumers are not only students; there are adults that help out, too. Shari Kingsford and Heather Bailey are two amazing women that give up their free-time to help the student costumers.

aact.org defines costumer’s job as “the shapes, colors and textures that a costume designer chooses make an immediate and powerful visual statement to the audience. Creative collaboration among the costume designer, the director and the set and lighting designers ensures that the costumes are smoothly integrated into the production as a whole.’’

Costumer Samme Bailey stated, “I like costuming for the drama department, because when you design how a person dresses, it reflects their personality, the life they have lived, and just the different aspects of them. I have a weird fascination with the complexity of human lives so that makes it appealing, along with how it helps create the character.”

“It is the costume designer’s responsibility to draw up the costume plot. The costume plot is a list or chart that shows which characters appear in each scene, what they are wearing and their overall movement throughout the play. This helps track the specific costume needs of every character. It can also identify any potential costume challenges, such as very quick changes between scenes,” aact.org explains the process of designing a costume.

At the Trumbauer Festival for District One, Bob Jones High School won best costumes as well as best scenery, best supporting male actor, all star cast, and the one act was selected to move on to State. In the individual events (also known as i.e’s) Bob Jones brought back more than 70 awards.

Two of the costumers, Samantha Bailey and Yanzhi Lai, also decided to participate in the I.E’s and won superiors in the costume category. At the Trumbauer State competition, Yanzhi Lai’s I.e won second place in costume design novice. “I felt so thankful for Mrs. Shari who gave me so much useful advice and helped me, and the costume squad who comforted me every time I stressed out,” Yanzhi Lai confessed.

Along with the costumers JP DiPietro designs the makeup effects. “I like to do makeup because you are bringing your designs to life. I was inspired to do makeup by watching movies and seeing what other makeup artists have made.”

What do makeup artist do? According to Theatrical Makeup Artists, Makeup artists working in show business often apply makeup to reflect the setting, time period and situation of an actor’s role. For example, they may apply makeup to make an actor look younger or older. Sometimes their objective is to make the performer appear as attractive as possible or to hide blemishes. Makeup artists may also need to provide unusual physical characteristics which sometimes includes making rubber or plastic prostheses.

For anyone looking to get involved in Bob Jones theatre, check out the drama display during the upcoming curriculum fair.  Even if you don’t like the spotlight, there are many students behind the scenes who make the actors look great.