The storytelling that happens on stage goes beyond an actor's performance — it begins in the very fabric of their costumes. At the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, costume design and production students use fabric, design and their imaginations to visually enhance an on-stage performance.
Tucked away in a corner on the third floor of the Purnell Center is Carnegie Mellon's Costume Studio, where nearly two dozen undergraduate and graduate students study costume design and production. Tiia Torchia Lager serves as the studio's manager. Lager managed professional theater shops in New York for 17 years, most recently New York's Public Theater.
"I'm here to help guide [the students] through the process, which many of them have never been through before," Lager said. "I teach them how to take a show from drawings and ideas to an actual 3D performance on stage in front of an audience."
The School of Drama presents more than a dozen productions each year and, along with professional theater productions in town and student-driven events, students find ample opportunities to create professional portfolios that establish them in fast-paced careers in regional and national theaters, studios and shops.