Schedule

Behind the Scenes

The Author and Playwright

Kids Corner

A costume designer often starts with a book's original illustrations such as Kevin Henkes' illustrations for Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. You will notice that many of the colors and the types of clothing in the show look like the clothes in the book. The costume designer draws sketches of what he or she believes each character should look like. Then the costume designer chooses the types and colors of fabrics that will be used to make the costumes. The sketches and swatches of fabrics are used as instructions to make costumes that match the designer's ideas.

Everyone in Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse is a mouse. But how do you remind the audience that the characters are mice who have problems just like we do? Mr. Kurtz solved this problem by making the ears and tails of the mice out of bendable wire and plastic tubing. The materials made the tales and ears transparent or see-through, so they were there, but they weren't the most important part of the costume.