Today is the last day to buy costumes for the annual Appalachian Technical Theatre Club Halloween costume sale.
Handmade costumes are available for purchase at the Valborg Theatre, located between Chapel Wilson and the Turchin Center, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Maddi Pleasant, senior technical theatre major and employee in the costume shop, said each item is donated to the club. Members take old costumes and everyday clothing articles and refurbish them into costumes for the Halloween season.
President of the technical theatre club, David Sabbagh, said the money raised from the costume sale will go to fund the club’s trip to the United State Institute of Theatre Technology in Salt Lake City for their conference in March.
“USITT gives design and tech majors the opportunity to attend professional workshops and network with theatre companies and grad schools,” Sabbagh said. “It’s a great learning opportunity and there are employment opportunities there as well.
According to Pleasant, the club will offer many different types of costumes, including pirates, fairies, and renaissance pieces. Costumes will range in price between $1 and $100.
“One of the costumes we made is a Tinker Bell one, and we have a very nice Peter Pan costume as well,” Pleasant said. “We have a lot of Disney stuff this year, and I think we are going to pull out a lot of steampunk stuff.”
What makes the costume sale unique, she said, is that club members are there to help students put together pieces into the costumes they want.
“Although we have some specific costumes, including Disney characters and cosplay costumes, my favorite thing about the sale is that we’ll help you piece together different items to create a new costume right there at the sale based on what you want,” Sabbagh said. “So even if we don’t have something specifically made for what you want, we can probably still make it happen.”
Sophomore theatre major Noel Harrold said the event is one of the most unique on campus.
Harrold said apparel designers on campus are not given the high level of recognition they deserve.
“Sewing and costume creation is a really hard practice,” she said, “and every student needs to take advantage of this – you will not get this quality elsewhere.”
Story by: Molly Flinchum, Intern A&E Reporter