Costume Design

A Senior Project in Theater and Performance Studies for Jeffrey Steele

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Based on Dael Orlandersmith’s conversations with young boys in a shelter, Black N Blue Boys / Broken Men places us with six men across New York disclosing the traumatic events that led them to becoming the men that they are. The narratives they share are complicated, nuanced, and raw. By dealing with a range of abuse including physical, sexual, and neglect, we confront the drastic impacts on these events have on boys and lead to cycles of violence. The piece ultimately wrestles with how do we heal our bruises and keep moving forward. 

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Black N Blue Boys / Broken Men was a interesting project to take on, as I was no longer a student at Yale. This show actually helped solidify my passion for costuming, taking the act from an extracurricular to a viable career pathway. While most of the show features cast in identical gray jumpsuits, I took care in adding personal touches to each character’s look in order to reflect their arcs throughout. This included lots of crafting of accessories, which included making a Cuban link chain necklace, a Celtic Knot necklace, a hand-sculpted Class Ring, and pinback buttons that featured hand-drawn designs.

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It isn’t until the bows that each character sheds their jumpsuit and reveals their true self. Despite this moment only lasting a couple of minutes, I tried to give each character a distinctive aesthetic and color palette. This process also included the making of two graphic shirts shown below, which reference behind-the-scenes chats held with the actors to see how they interpreted their characters. One thought he liked hiking and the outdoors, and the other is really into poetry, so I reflected their ages and styles with cute cartoons and a quote from the poem “The Orange” by Wendy Cope.

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Performed November 9-11, 2023.