Designing yesterday's costumes for actors today
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Karen Gilmer, who has developed a love for historical costumes, has created pieces for Seton Hill University's production of "The Way of the World."
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Penn Hills native Karen Gilmer said she learned to love costumes during her childhood, when her mother, singer Hatti Taylor, designed her own outfits for the stage.
"Mom sometimes sewed her own outfits, too," recalled Ms. Gilmer, 42, who is now an assistant professor of theater and costume design at Susquehanna University. "So very early on, costume and sewing were a part of my world."
Ms. Gilmer's costumes can be seen this week in Seton Hill University's production of William Congreve's comedy "The Way of the World." Show time is 8 p.m. tonight, Friday and Saturday in the William Granger Ryan Theatre in Seton Hill's Performing Arts Center, 100 Harrison Ave., Greensburg.
In 2009, Ms. Gilmer won Pittsburgh's African American Council on the Arts Onyx Award for Best Costume Design, for Pittsburgh Playwrights' production of "Seven Guitars."
She was invited by Seton Hill to be a guest costume designer for the production, which features accurate period dress. The play was written in 1700. A classic of Restoration comedy, it is a romantic comedy set in London among the leisure classes.
Ms. Gilmer said she had become fascinated by the period, and was partly inspired in her designs by the 2008 film "The Duchess," which starred Keira Knightley as the 18th century Duchess of Devonshire.
Her research didn't produce just the costumes worn in the production, but has resulted in the foundation of a scholarly paper on 18th century fashions that Ms. Gilmer hopes to present in Boston next year.
"In my heart I am an historical costume designer," she said. "I go back in time and look at the clothes, the music, the art. I like for my costumes to tell a story."
Ms. Gilmer has her own story, which has taken her from her graduation from Penn Hills High School in 1986 to a career in which she's worked with Pittsburgh Playwrights, Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, Open Door Theatre in Boston, Mass., and many others.
She entered West Chester University of Pennsylvania in 1988 and graduated in 1992 with a degree in technical theater. While she was there, a professor advised her to concentrate on costume design because she had a gift for it.
First Published November 18, 2010 5:48 am
