6 I The Blue Banner I 3282012
Theatre UNCA presents Moliere’s ‘Tartuffe’
Drama department welcomes award-winning
costume designer for spring production
Maisey Cooley
mdcooley@unca.edu - Co-A&F Editor
Photo by Beth Ellen - Staff Photographer
"Tartuffe" features 12 period piece costumes by Carol Blanchard and
some of the students in the drama department.
The UNC Asheville drama depart
ment presents costumes from an award
winning costume designer in its two-
week production of “Tartuffe.”
Carol Blanchard, guest costume de
signer in residence at UNCA, designs
commercially and internationally and
taught design in New York. She won
the Jeff Award, Chicago’s version of
the Tony Award, for her costume design
for “Amadeus,” a production involving
several hundred costumes.
“Carol is amazing. She’s just brilliant.
She’s got such an extensive knowledge
about the period of the play, and she
shares it with all of us while she works,”
said drama student James Sample.
Sample plays Madame Pemelle, an
elderly woman in “Tartuffe,” and wears
the costume that Blanchard said was the
most difficult to build.
“I’m so surprised they trusted me to
wear it. It took about an hour and 15
minutes all together to put the costume
on,” said Sample.
Sample originally auditioned with
out a part in mind, but he was chosen
specifically for the role of Madame Per-
nelle.
“T said, ‘Well, I’ve never played a
woman before, but OK.’ This is defi
nitely the most difficult costume I’ve
ever had to wear. But it’s also the best,”
Sample said.
The costume designs for “Tartuffe”
have been in the works since early
January, when Blanchard started her
sketches.
“I’ve had a great time down
here working with these students.
There’s some really talented ones
that have done a lot of great work on
things they’ve never done before,”
Blanchard said.
The period for the setting of “Tar
tuffe” lands in the beginning of the
1600s.
Blanchard studied and researched
the period before she began design
ing.
“This piece was set in the 1630s, so
there was a lot we had to learn about
the period while we were designing
and building,” Blanchard said. “It
was an easy period for students to
jump into as far as period piece cos
tume building goes, because if you go
earlier or later than that, you get into
high-corseting or long-bone bodices,
which are extremely difficult to learn
how to stitch.”
Junior costuming student Taylor
Pico built Madame Pemelle’s elabo
rate costume. “She wanted to un
dertake a portfolio project, so she
constructed the entire costume, from
beginning to end,” Blanchard said. “It
was one of the most difficult to build
partially because it was designed to
be from an older period, because Ma
dame Pemelle is an older lady and
would have been stuck in her ways.”
The costuming for “Tartuffe” is
comprised of 12 outfits, the most
complicated of which to wear, aside
from Pemelle’s, are the male cos
tumes, Blanchard said.
“All the guys have multiple piec
es to wear that they’re probably not
used to,” said Blanchard. “They all
have to wear tights because they’re
also wearing stockings. They also
See TARTUFFE on page 9
Alliance hosts annual Drag Ball, supports community
Jessica LaRue
jlarue@unca.edu - Co-A&F Editor
The annual Drag Ball, held last Thurs
day in Alumni Hall, brought together
students and non-students for a night of
drag, dancing and fundraising.
UNC Asheville’s Alliance hosts the
Drag Ball annually. DJ Bass Clef pro
vided the beats for the evening.
“The event was open to the commu
nity, so we had an array of age and ori
entations. It’s one of my favorite shows
of the year because it’s so theatrical,”
said Dimitri Savage, judge, performer
and winner of last year’s Drag Ball.
The night began with an introduction
by MC Brian Sparxxx, host for the eve
ning, and then went on to a performance
by a local professional.
Audience members danced and lit
tered the stage with dollar bills.
They were invited to give performers
money if they liked what they saw, and
all the tips for the evening went to Youth
Outright, a nonprofit organization dedi
cated to empowering LGBTQ youths.
“This is my fourth year participating
in Drag Ball. I started out doing group
performances. Then the second year.
old timey tunes like ‘Sharp Dressed
Man.’ The third year, I did a pop song.
This was a bold year for me, doing two
performances; one as female and one as
male,” said Savannah Seithel, junior
cellular and molecular biology stu
dent.
Performers were not afraid to show
See DRAG on page 9