Kathleen Franco – Guest Reporter
Creighton University has a little known gem hidden away in the basement of the Lied Center for the Arts.
Inside the costume shop, among the numerous sewing machines, spools of thread, bolts of fabric and mannequins, there is a talented costume designer named Lindsay Pape.
Originally, Pape said she had no intention of going into costume design until she took her first costuming class at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, IA. A professor praised Pape for her work and encouraged her to pursue costuming further.
Pape continued taking design courses and eventually came to work as a graduate assistant at University of Nebraska at Omaha’s costume shop. From there, she enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to pursue a master’s degree in costume design.
After graduating, Pape and her husband, Paul, moved to Los Angeles to try to break into the film industry costume scene. However, they moved back to Omaha a year later because Paul was offered a job at UNO.
Shortly thereafter, one of Creighton’s theatrical designers, Bill Van Deest, called Pape in a panic. Creighton’s costume designer had left just weeks before a show opening, and Van Deest asked Pape to take over the position.
“Lindsay’s professionalism really showed in that first difficult show,” Van Deest said. “By the time she came on board, the costume shop was way behind. But instead of just taking over and doing things her way, which probably would have been faster, she tried to be true to the original designer’s work.”
“It was a royal mess,” Pape said. “It’s never good trying to finish another’s job, but it was still a show. It was a crazy way to start, but I thought if I could handle that, maybe they’d like to keep me.”
Afterward, Pape applied for the permanent costume designer position at Creighton and has been working here since.
“Lindsay is the queen of the work schedule,” Van Deest said. “She knows her limits and can plan a show to always be in budget and on time with minimal drama. Everyone in the department knows the costumes will be done, and they will be beautiful. The costume shop is a very efficient machine under Lindsay’s guidance.”
Backed by two bachelor’s degrees in theater and art from Cornell College, as well as a master’s degree in costume design from Carnegie Mellon, Pape has a very thorough understanding of the art of costuming.
For each production, whether it be dance or theater, Pape said for ideas she does extensive research on time periods and fashions of the era to make sure historical pieces are accurate.
After her research, she draws ideas for what the costumes might look like.
“Reality is always better than the drawings,” she said with a smile.
Pape’s approach to designing a show is fluid and adaptable, said Arts & Sciences junior Andrew Bakke. Bakke works with Pape in the costume shop.
“She is flexible with designs,” he said. “Sometimes the fabric provides the inspiration. Other times, inspiration drives fabric choices.”
Recently, Pape finished the costumes for Creighton’s production of”Godspell,” and she is looking forward to starting new projects.