Gowns, medieval outfits, and a pink
octopus costume will be available for the public to shop through the Saturday before
Halloween at the Bellingham Theatre Guild.
The theater is opening its surplus
of costumes that have accumulated from past shows.
Bellingham Theatre Guild President
John Purdie said, “We have decades of costumes that have piled up.” Founded in
1929, the guild has been putting on shows for 84 years and is entering its 85th
season.
World War II uniforms and real
wedding dresses have been donated in the past, Purdie said.
“It should be fun, it should be a
great place to find a costume. If you came with 10 bucks you’d probably be able
to find some good stuff,” said Kathy Murray, vice president of the guild.
The costume sale is October 26 at
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Lettered Streets Neighborhood, 1600 H Street.
The 110-year-old building is bright blue and
pink, and sticks out in the historical neighborhood that was once the edge of
town, as explained by volunteers at a behind-the-curtain tour of the theatre.
“If you want to be something
specific, there will be specialty type things. And there’s all different kinds of
hats and shoes,” Murray said, and the costume room is larger than Western
Washington University’s theatre costume room.
We won’t have fantasy characters
like Batman or monster costumes, Purdie said, but we have some things you can
make into other costumes.
Last year was the first time the
Bellingham Theatre Guild put on the costume sale.
“A part of it is to give people the
opportunity to come in and buy costumes,” Mike Schakel said, a member of the
board of directors.
It also gives the guild a chance to
clean house and make room for future shows Schakel said.
Money raised from the sale will go
towards future productions, volunteer recognition/appreciation, and the
facility.
In the past shoppers have been very
generous giving donations for the costumes, Schakel said.
Schakel became involved with the
theatre six years ago with his family when they moved from California.
His son and daughter were 10 and 12
years-old, and the opportunity this community had for children’s theatre was “so
lucky,” he said.
“The nice thing about theatre,
particularly here, is we get actors from all over,” Schakel said.
Doing a good job reaching outside
the guild, he said, the upcoming show ‘Inspecting Carol’ only has about 4
actors from the guild of the 12-13 in the show.
The ‘Sweeney Todd’ show was acted
out by a majority of Western students, Schakel said.
