Texas Renaissance Festival Costume Contest

On Tuesday, November 1st, Crystal Sea Drama Company students had the exciting opportunity to once again compete at the Texas Renaissance Festival. Students, with various levels of experience, got to compete in a trebuchet competition and several acting competitions. Some actors performed monologues while others completed duets or group scenes. We even had two CSCD students enter the Texas Renaissance Festival Student Days Costume Contest.

This costume contest rules state that each costume be “historical, literary (of the period), or fantasy based”. The costumes must also be at least 50% student made and the contestant must turn in a portfolio with specific information about their costume, such as how they made the costume and when it would be worn. Needless to say, students put a lot of work into these costumes.

Grace Lamberson and Hanna Stratton were our two students that participated in the Costume Contest this year. Hanna has been involved at CSDC for about three years, and Grace has been here for about six years! Grace is pretty familiar with costuming. She’s taken a few sewing classes, she was the assistant costumer during Crystal’s performance of Godspell in 2014, and she was the head costumer for a summer camp last year. However, Hanna has very little experience and has only completed a few minor sewing projects over the past couple years. There were a lot of fun things about making a costume, such as getting to use creativity and seeing the costume come together. Even so, both girls admitted that there were parts of making their costume that were really challenging. Sometimes they had to work with tough material, and other times they would realize that they had make a mistake and they would have to go back and fix it. Luckily, Mrs. Lisa Lamberson took both of these girls under her wing. She was there to give them advice, guidance and sometimes a much-needed confidence boost so that they could create their wonderful creations! These girls have been working on their projects for a very long time (about 3 months), and should be extremely proud of what they’ve accomplished.

Both of the outfits could be worn around the 1400s and 1500s. Hanna’s costume is perfect for the character of a young unmarried merchant’s daughter. Grace’s costume is for the character of Margaret in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

Students that take part in this competition come away with a strong appreciation for costumers and understand the value of a good quality costume. There is so much time and effort that goes into making a costume, or even just adjusting and fitting them, but the final product adds so much to a performance or an event.

This year we are proud to say that Grace Lamberson placed 2nd and Hanna Stratton placed 3rd in the Texas Renaissance Festival Student Days Costume Contest!