Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Flakne, April

Area of Concentration

Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the design and creation of costumes for Cabaret the Musical and the research it takes to fully realize the concept. The first part describes the time in which the musical takes place to ground the play historically and explores the concept of gender as performance, focusing on the works of Judith Butler and Siegfried Kracauer. Delving into the expression of gender through dress, action, and performance allowed me to better understand the characters I costumed and aided in the design process. The second part of my thesis focuses on designing, constructing, fitting, styling and documenting a selection of costumes from the show. I limited my practical design and construction work to four costumes: the Emcee during ‘Willkommen’(Act 1 Scene 1), Lulu during “Don't Tell Mama”(Act 1 Scene), Helga during the ‘Kickline’(Act 2 Scene ) and Sally Bowles during ‘Cabaret’ (Act 2 Scene ). These costumes and characters were chosen specifically because they best visually showcase the underlying themes of LGBTQ+ characters and spaces that existed in 1930’s Berlin, Germany. I wanted each character to have a specific relationship with gender and the Kit Kat Club and these four characters gave me a diverse group to work with. Through costumes I wanted to express how each character fit into the world of the play while also enhancing the underlying gay representation that would have been far more obvious during the 1930’s. I wanted to emphasize historical queerness to better portray the tragedy that theplay represents: the distruction and murder of the gay community by the Nazis.

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