By Gracie Yielding | Special to the Herald

Set and costume directors detail what it’s like behind the scenes of ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ Arkansas State University’s first play of the spring semester. 

Claire Abernathy is a professor for the theater department. She teaches Costume Construction and Stage Makeup Design, while also overseeing the costume shop. One of her responsibilities includes sending out ‘rehearsal garments’ once rehearsals start. These are temporary costumes that resemble the type of clothing or shoes that the actors will be wearing on opening night. Rehearsal garments allow for actors to get used to what they will be wearing while their actual costumes are designed and put together. For this specific play, the rehearsal period is four weeks. 

When designing costumes, certain things have to be considered. ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ is referred to as a very active play, so the costumes can’t be constricting. In a play like this, actors are often playing many different characters, which results in costume changes. 

Abernathy said one challenge that comes with costume changes is storage. For ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’, the actors all have a base costume with key pieces for each character. This allows for more costumes to be on the stage and for changes to happen quicker. Abernathy’s favorite part of creating costumes for the department is seeing all the parts come together at the first dress rehearsal. 

“You have all the various pieces… it’s all kind of independent, but then on that first dress rehearsal you see everything all together,” Abernathy said. 

The sets are another part of the behind the scenes process of a play. Jeff McLaughlin is also a professor for Arkansas State’s theater department. He oversees the designs of the sets for plays. Meetings for designs started all the way back in November. 

They can meet anywhere from once every two weeks to multiple times a week depending on progress and the amount of ideas flowing. Designing a set involves researching the play, what’s typical for that play and what’s been done before. They then come up with a strong unified concept before putting the ideas to action. To make the designs a reality, theater majors take lab classes where they help in the creation of the set. 

‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ is a lively retelling of Peter Pan. According to the designers, it is a very exposed play. Set and costume changes will happen right in front of the audience. “The show relies so heavily on the creativity of the director and the company,” McLaughlin said. 

The play will be performed at the Fowler Center on Feb. 17-18 and 24-25. Arkansas State students receive free administration with their student ID.

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