A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare is a comedy about love’s challenges, dreams and magic. The play was presented in the Thurber Theatre located in the Drake Performance and Events Center at The Ohio State University with performances that ran November 15 through 22, 2019. This production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was directed by Associate Professor Kevin McClatchy, with scenic design by MFA Design candidate Cade Sikora, lighting design by undergraduate Andrew Pla, and sound design by Program 60 student Lee Williams. McClatchy decided to place the play in the 1920s because he wished to emphasize the societal changes following World War I. Important themes of post-war World War I were: women becoming more educated, the Jazz Age exploding, a persisting division of classes, and rising surrealism in the visual arts exemplified by artists such as Gustav Klimt, Georgia O’Keeffe and Henri Matisse.
My costume design process began in March 2019. My research focus identified the mid-1920s, particularly 1925 America, as a point of reference that aligned with the director’s concept. The four distinct groups of characters and their costumes — the lovers, the upper-class, the fairies and the rude mechanicals — have roots in historical accuracy through the clothing patterns, fabric choices and treatments I have made. My research for the two pairs of lovers and the rude mechanicals concentrated on clothing pictured in historical photographs as well as clothing documented in vintage mail order catalogs and department store advertisements. Inspiration for the fairies came from fashion, costume and graphic designers such as Erte and Alphonse Mucha. Additional inspiration came from art and architecture of the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements. In my accompanying thesis, I will discuss the play and its historical importance, the director’s concept, overall design concept, character analysis, a description of the production process and a self-evaluation of the final design.