Seven to 10 students can be found stitching and creating costumes for McLeod Theater productions. The upcoming show, Sweeney Todd, requires 19 costumes to be created in the small basement shop.

Reagan-DuVau, a graduate student in theater from Carterville, is in charge of creating the costumes and making sure all the costumes are ready for opening night April 9. The Costume Shop has been working on creating the costumes for the show since January.

Creating a costume requires research, extensive communication and creativity on the part of all who are part of the production. For Sweeney Todd, a musical about a 19th century mass murderer in England, Reagan-DuVau spends day after day making sure all the costumes are authentic.

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I always research the period of the show, he said. I like to be very accurate. When I have my ideas, I talk to the director and see what they want the audience to get out of the production.

The challenges that Reagan-DuVau faces in researching is similar to what Deborah Lynn Scott faced when she recreated early 20th century costumes for the movie Titanic.

It was a challenge to find and recreate the extravagant clothes of the wealthy and the plain and simple clothes of the poor, but the biggest challenge was bringing the aftermath of the sinking alive. Many Titanic passengers died of hypothermia while they were waiting to be rescued. Victims shown in the water had a bluish tint added to their faces and icicles in their hair. Scott was responsible for creating those effects as well. Scott and her staff won an Academy Award for costume design last week.

There are a variety of Costume Shop positions including a designer, cutters and drapers, and stitchers. Each position requires a certain type of skill and dedication to make the designer’s vision a reality.

Julie Lentczner, a graduate student in costume design from Bloomsburg, Pa., said the abilities to work together and communicate are important to have while working in the Costume Shop.

With the number of actors, keeping organized is very important, she said. We know who is getting what costume. It’s very important to keep organized and be there for the fitting.

The Costume Shop keeps all of the costumes from each production thousands of articles fill a huge closet nearby. Some items are sold or reused for other productions.

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Student workers, undergraduate and graduate students are the forces behind the Costume Shop. They spend 18 hours a week creating, detailing and tailoring the costumes to fit the actors and actresses.

Sylshina London, a junior in theater from Chicago, is working in the Costume Shop as a theater class requirement.

We always see the way a costume looks on stage, she said. It looks so simple, but being backstage is so much hard work.

But for London, the most rewarding part of working in the Costume Shop is opening night.

After I see it go up on stage and see that I had to be part of it, London said, it is so exciting knowing that I helped to be part of what they are creating.