Olivia Hershey has always been a creative person. "I think I've been designing for most of my life," she said. "I used to have those fashion drawing books that I remember having stickers or cut-outs to use and I would just ignore them so I could design what I wanted to make."
For the past few years, she's been putting that creativity to use as a costume designer. Olivia, who grew up in Elizabethtown, is a senior at Bloomsburg University, where she recently wrapped up a role as costume designer with the BU Players for "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
"I have served as costume designer on a couple of shows," Olivia stated, noting that one of her favorite shows was "Project F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C.A.L.," a student-driven production that was created, written, directed and designed by herself and two other students.
Olivia, who is the daughter of David and Megan Hershey of Elizabethtown, is double majoring in theater and communication studies, with a minor in business management. Serving as a costume designer provided opportunities to indulge her creative side while also honing her research skills, she said.
"Being a costume designer entails a lot of different things," she explained. "At a base level, my job is to make sure people have clothes on. Then from there, you look at the show you're doing, you read and analyze the script, you have discussions with the director ... and the other designers and try to understand the aesthetics and themes of the story everyone is trying to tell. Then, at least in my process, there's a lot of looking for inspiration and researching." She noted that she conducts research through everything from Pinterest to music videos.
The most challenging part of designing a show begins when her job is finished, she said. When it's time for rehearsals and performances, the wardrobe crew takes over where she left off. "I take a lot of ownership over my designs and my costumes," she stated, noting that she served on wardrobe crew every semester she's been in college and has really enjoyed it. "So, the idea that I have to give them to someone else during the show because I, as the designer, am not backstage, has been a major challenge for me, because I want to be backstage helping."
As she prepares to graduate and is finalizing her plans after college, Olivia is certain of one thing: She's proud of the job she's done with the BU Players, and she hopes people will acknowledge the hard work of costumers. "I feel like costuming in general is an area that ... the general public (overlooks), because they're just clothes, right?" she said. "However, costume designers make so many choices. From the hats on people's heads to, oftentimes, what socks they're wearing, those are all choices to tell you more about the story or about characters."
To see some of Olivia's work, search for the BU Players' YouTube channel.
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