Tulsa Community College’s theatre department performs “Tartuffe” this weekend. “Tartuffe” is a French 17th century play with colorful costumes that lambasts religious hypocrisy and the wealthy.
TCC Assistant Professor of Theatre Emily Westerfield designed the outfits. She says one of the dresses in the play took over 27 hours to design.
Westerfield said she’s never worked on costumes like this before at TCC.
“It’s a very detailed time period and so there’s lots of trim and there’s lots of hand pleating,” Westerfield said.
Westerfield, along with a handful of paid helpers and volunteers, make sure the costumes are historically accurate.
The group has had a little more than one month to complete the intricate costumes for the play. TCC student Madison Benjamin said one dress she and Westerfield worked on really changed over time.
“As we started to construct it and think about the character, and especially as Emily started to think more about the character, we started to make it our own thing,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin said she enjoys how over-the-top and melodramatic the play is. Westerfield used the word “raunchy.”
The raunchy melodrama with costumes fit for kings and queens starts Thursday at the VanTrease Pace Theatre on TCC’s southeast campus.
