Valerie L. Cavooris

I began my graduate school curriculum in Theatre in the Fall 2010 semester, and I had no idea where my focus would lie.  Luckily, Villanova's M.A. in Theatre program allows a student to take courses in everything from acting to directing and playwrighting to design.  Costume design had never even crossed my mind.  I did find, though, that I had a knack for the visual in my Script Analysis course, where we had to draw the set as described in each play we read.  The following year, I took a course in directing.  One of my favorite things about the class (outside of reading some great plays) was deciding what my actors would wear for my final scene.  It sounds like such a small detail, but I discovered that what a character wears is as important in conveying who the character is, as the acting or the directing.  It was there and then that I realized I could combine my love for fashion with my love for theatre.

Having struggled with what discipline in which to complete my thesis project, I finally decided to do so in costume design.  I spoke with the department's costume shop manager, and she was a bit taken aback as I had literally no experience in costume design.  I assured her of my new-found passion and willingness to learn, and she welcomed me aboard as an assistant in the costume shop.  Along the way, I also served as an assistant stage manager and stage manager, learning the detailed inner-workings of the theatrical process before I took the reigns as costume designer.

Click on an image below to see more photos and information for that production.

The Odd Couple (Female Version)

by Neil Simon

Directed by Prof. Nathan Magee, M.F.A.

Mount Aloysius College