INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / OCTOBER 16, 1990

 

 

Douglas College
Theatre Department

 

Using
Second-hand
articles for theatre
costumes

The Theatre’s Costume Depart-
ment makes extensive use of
second-hand materials:

1. To help stay within costume
budget limitations.

2. To save time sewing entire
garments “from scratch”.

3. To make use of ready-made
tailored garments (often men’s)
which may be too complicated
and time-consuming to properly
fit and sew.

Useful second-hand items include:
* Garments made with large amounts
of fabric, such as long, gathered

skirts and dresses.

* Draperies, bedspreads, sheets, and
cut pieces of fabric.

* Unusual or one-of-a-kind garments.
(Often these give us good costume
ideas.)

* A “set” of garments all the same or
similar to each other.

¢ Fad garments currently out of style,
which are particularly repre-
sentative of a period, decade or
year.

* Garments made from a particular
fabric, or having an interesting tex-
ture or weave (velvets, brocades,
satins, laces, good woolens, tartans,
plaids, tweeds, burlap, sheers, etc.)

¢ Men’s dressy suits (unusual
colours, satin lapels, formal vests,
pants with ribboned outseams, if
they’re under $20). Other suits in
good condition, if inexpensive.

* Coats and overcoats of good quality
(under $10) and made in decorative
fabrics.

¢ Garments with large amounts of
decorative trim which can be easily
removed for re-use.

 

 

From Valerie Kates, Humorologist

 

Ten Ways To Humorize Your Classroom

1. Spice up correspondence: Humorize inter-office memos, notices and
announcements by exaggerating, turning things around and making
stuff up! Send inter-office/class singing telegrams!

2. Keep a humour file: Set up a bulletin board where students and
teachers can pin up funny cartoons, pictures and poems. Every week
clear the board and set them aside in a humour file, accessible to all,
Use the cartoons as overheads. When a student has “one of those
days”, find an appropriate contribution and pin it on his/her forehead!

3. Expose yourself: Ask the teachers, principal and everyone on staff to
bring in their old baby pictures and pin them on the wall. Students can
guess which baby is which teacher.

4. Take a humour break: Set aside time each week to share funny stories,
embarrassing moments, jokes or anecdotes with your students. Help
your students develop healthy senses of humour!

5. Learn to juggle: Bring three oranges to lunch and juggle them before
you eat them. Not only is juggling fun, it demands your complete
attention, diverting it away from your problems. Give your mind and
body a break! Then. . teach your students to juggle!

6. Abolish “bored” meetings: Start off your meetings with a round of
stories. What was this week’s best excuse for being late? The strangest
question? Worst parent complaint? It’s a fun way to break down
barriers and feelings of isolation!

7. Bend and stretch: Reach for the stars! When your class is losing
energy, get them up, play “head and shoulders” or “Simon says”. A
five minute break can bring life to any classroom. If students become
too hyper, calm them down with some deep breathing exercises.

8. Laugh in the face of stress: When you are stressed out, take a breath
and think of something that makes you smile. Step out of your
immediate situation for a moment to gain perspective. Bring retrospect
to the present!

9. Develop comic vision: Stop assuming. Look for the unusual. Make a
conscious effort to look for incongruities in your course content. Enjoy
your embarrassing moments!

10. Do something silly: Surprise your class.; Make a silly face. Putona
wig. How ‘bout a fake moustache? Have some fun wit: your students!
Set a humour quotient. Plan to do at least one silly thiiig per day or
have one major belly laugh every four hours. @

 

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