Fiber Optics x TAPS 232 | Costume Design: Open Session

Please join us for an open session of TAPS 232: Costume Design taught by Professsor Becky Bodurtha, where we will shadow advanced students training in pattern making and learn over their shoulders about the fiber composition and structure of textiles, their relationship to the “hand” of fabric, measuring the human body and translating measurements to account for movement, etc. This session will serve as a helpful primer for participants interested in learning how to sew for human bodies, the politics of the art/craft division within academia, and the stakes of “reskilling” and increasing fiber literacy, among other topics central to our research workshop mission. 

About the Instructor

Becky Bodurtha is a professional costume designer with regional, international and New York City credits. Recent credits include Drowing in Cairo (Potrero Stage), Felix Starro (Theatre Ma-Yi), Open (The Tank), 1000 Nights and One Day (Prospect Theatre Company), and Mr. Burns (NYU Gallatin). Other credits: Constellations (Wilma), The Strangest (East 4th Street), Among the Dead (Theatre Ma-Yi) Passover (Cherry Lane), The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra, Go! (Theatre Ma-Yi), Livin’ La Vida Imelda (Theatre Ma-Yi), and This Lingering Life (HERE Arts). International credits include Anna in the Tropics (Repertory Philippines), Movement for Humanity and Africa’s Hope for the Ubumuntu Festival in Kigali, Rwanda. Becky is the resident costume designer for Vermont Shakespeare Festival where she recently designed Taming of the Shrew and Julius Caesar. She has served as an assistant costume designer on Broadway as well as on feature film. Alongside her professional design work, Ms. Bodurtha has been an educator with 15 years of experience in teaching the new generation collaborative design and theatre making. She received her MFA in Theatre Design from University of Iowa.

Sponsored by the Stanford Humanities Center and made possible by support from an anonymous donor honoring the Directorship of former SHC Director John Bender, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities