Playwright: Marcus Gardley
Costume Design: KT Farmer
Theoretical design project for Theatre VCU’s Costume Design class.
First place winner of SETC’s 2021 Undergrad Costume Design Competition.
The story of “The House That Will Not Stand” by Marcus Gardley is much more than just a mother’s struggle to maintain control of her house and family. Set in 1830’s New Orleans, Beartrice Albans, the placée of the recently deceased Lazare Albans is a free woman of color living in a magnificent but deteriorating manor in the Tremé. Taking place after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, over the course of the story we see the social effects of the transition from the semi-autonomous French Creole society to America’s more binary racial social structures. Beartrice, her three daughters, her arch-enemy, and her sister help tell a realistic story of race, freedom, and the decomposition of wealth that is relevant even today. Utilizing hand painted textures and patterned fabrics, I brought both the decadence and the decay of the Albans’ home into the characters’ clothes to reflect how the house haunts and entraps those who live there.
research and swatching Samples
All images except for original renderings are not my own and are used for educational and research purposes
