Creating Delightful Characters through Costume Design

Beaver Bauer, a theatrical costume designer, discusses her creative process and the delight she finds in creating characters through costume design. She emphasizes the importance of getting to know the performers and helping them develop their characters. Bauer shares a specific example of her collaboration with Frank Ferrante, a performer in Teatro ZinZanni, where they developed a lounge lizard character named Caesar. She describes the process of sketching and collaborating with a costume maker, highlighting the importance of flexibility and responsiveness. Bauer also discusses the unique aspects of working in a circus-like environment, where the performers interact with the audience and the costumes need to be functional and durable. She expresses her joy in transforming performers and creating costumes that appropriately reflect the characters and contribute to the storytelling.