A new exhibit at the Design Museum of Chicago pushes visitors through the theater’s proverbial fourth wall and onto the scaffolded backstages of some of the cities most storied theaters.
“The idea when you walk into the space is that it feels like you’re walking backstage,” says Woodford. “We’ve left exposed studwork, really built out the grid in a way that you can add things to it very quickly, and then as objects from theaters come in we’re displaying them on that grid.”
“Visually, we’re trying to express drama,” says Woodford. “Curatorially and conceptually, we’re trying to be inclusive. We’re taking all of these theaters that are different sizes and we’re putting them on the same level. We’re not doing a big section for big theaters and a small section for small theaters.”
For the rest of July, designer Joshua Allard will be exhibiting the entirety of his 175-piece costume collection created in just three weeks for Idle Muse Theatre Company’s recent production of Best for Winter. Allard’s sketches are hung from strings among the garments themselves, exactly the way the designer presents them when pitching concepts for any production. Allard will periodically be visiting the Design Museum’s stage to teach visitors how to weave, a skill he picked up when creating the costumes for Best for Winter.
Through 1/5/2020: Mon-Sat 10 AM-6 PM, Sun 11 AM-4 PM, Design Museum of Chicago, 72 E. Randolph, 312-894-6263, designchicago.org, $5 suggested donation.
