"Know'st me not by my clothes?"*
The University Theatre Costume Collection
* Cymbeline, Act IV, sc. 2
June 18 – Sept. 3, 2008
Memorial Union Concourse Gallery
Curators: Charlotte Headrick & Barbara Mason
Gallery info.: (541) 747-6371

For information about the University Theatre and their up-coming summer productions,
Contact: (541) 737-2853
website: http://oregonstate.edu/dept/theatre/

Since the founding of the University Theatre, donations have been made to the costume shop. The gallery cases contain costume pieces that have been constructed or built (theatre parlance for making and sewing a costume) and “real” clothing that has been donated to the OSU Theatre Department over the decades. Oftentimes, an item is too fragile to put on stage, but they can use the original item as a template for a design. In this display, there are clothing items (aka “real clothes”) that date back to the turn of the nineteenth century. Costume history is a part of the discipline known as Social History--what people wore, their furniture, architecture, and amusements including literature and going to the theatre. The history of clothing is the history of a society.