DePaul University Art Museum and The Theatre School at DePaul University will host an exhibit of costume sketches from award-winning costume designer Theoni V. Aldredge, March 27-May 16, 2006. The exhibit, entitled “Theoni V. Aldredge: Broadway and Beyond,” details the career of the Broadway (A Chorus Line, Annie, La Cage Aux Folles), film (The Great Gastby), ballet, and opera designer.
“The process of conceptualization and transformation is abundantly evident in the work of the designer Theoni V. Aldredge,” says Louise Lincoln, director, DePaul University Art Museum. “The sketches included in this exhibition, drawn from across her long theatrical career, are striking in many ways, but perhaps most strongly for their distinctiveness. Each play, film, ballet, or opera has its own character, its own tone, its clear identity…. Aldredge’s fame rests on her ability to express, on paper, in fabric, and finally in motion on stage, the character and spirit of the production.”
Aldredge, a 1952 graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University (formerly Goodman School of Drama), received her first Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design (black and white) for Never On Sunday (1960), followed by numerous Emmy, Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, British Film Academy nominations and awards over the next 40 years. She received an Academy Award for The Great Gatsby in 1974, designed the original A Chorus Line costumes in 1975, as well as for Annie in 1977, 42nd Street in 1980, and La Cage Aux Folles in 1984. Aldredge was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 1990, and also received the Costume Designers Guild Career Achievement Award in 2000. In 1984, she worked with Jane Fonda to develop more than 200 designs for the original line of Jane Fonda Workout Wear. She currently lives in New York City.
An opening reception will be held April 6, 2006, 5 – 7pm at DePaul University Art Museum, 2350 N. Kenmore Ave., Chicago, IL 60614. Curators for the exhibit are Janet C. Messmer, professor and head of the Costume Technology Program, and Nan Cibula-Jenkins, professor and head of the Costume Design Program, at The Theatre School.
For more information about the Theoni V. Aldredge: Broadway and Beyond exhibit visit http://museums.depaul.edu.