Players Centre hosts costume sale before move

Theatrical productions are complicated, to say the least. There can be what feels like hundreds of details that need to be considered and lined up, from pacing to performance — and that’s not even counting the visuals. 

The Players Centre for Performing Arts has put on hundreds of plays in its 90 years of operation, and each of those plays has needed appropriate props and costumes. Vintage clothing, period-appropriate props, colorful costumes for fantasy shows like the Wizard of Oz — all of it has to be acquired or created before the big show.

Those pieces accumulate. As the theater’s many plays have come and gone, many of the props and costumes have stayed behind.

Staff has put many of those props and costumes on sale starting on Aug. 14 and ending September 26.

“We have a lot of (costumes and props) and we don't have a great place to help this all safely so (we decided) let's put it out to the community,” production manager Alyssa Gaudy said.

Staff is planning for its move to a temporary location in October, where it will hold performances before eventually starting on construction on a new theater complex in Lakewood Ranch before July 2023.

In the meantime, the theater hundreds upon hundreds of articles of clothes and props that have been donated from community members or sought out by staff that need to be moved. Gaudy specializes in seeking out props and making sure the productions feel authentic and lived-in as possible. If she can’t find a prop she needs, she makes it — one of her favorite creations is a turkey dinner for “A Christmas Story” made of two T-Rex foam masks that were glued together and recolored. 

Something she’s noticed in her time working with the company is how many modern, or vintage, shows require luggage. The back room of the Players Centre has a wall of carefully assembled luggage that’s all used eventually.

The clothing and props dating back to the 1940s, and although staff can’t even remember what productions the clothing were originally used for, they still have their uses. Last season’s “Follies” production has split between 1940s and 1970s, and showcased a number of vintage attire. 

“Every now and then, there are these scenes that you know we can go vintage and really show off the magnificence of the clothes,” Gaudy says. “But I will say those are few and far between, especially in musical theater.”

Some costumes are better as decorative pieces than being worn on multiple occasions. Gaudy says many of the Centre’s costumes from the ‘40s and ‘50s are fragile from the many decades. Other clothing is intricate and difficult to put on and take off. 

“(It’s) beautiful and it’s vintage but The second you put an actor in it, sweating on stage, under hot lights in the Florida heat it starts to disintegrate," she says "… Sometimes you have to get in and out of dresses quickly. A lot of 1940s and 1950s dresses and even to the '60s and '70s, they’re not rigged for that.”

Deciding what stays and goes in the sale falls to Georgina Willmott, the costumer at the theater for the last couple years. 

Willmott has been looking at how often pieces have been used in the last few decades, and whether they can be adapted to be used for a new setting, when deciding whether to keep something or let it go.  While she has a deep appreciation for the vintage attire that has stood the test of time due to its quality craftsmanship, she admits many are too small to be used by performers. 

“In the 1950s 1960s, everyone was shaped like Nancy Reagan, according to our inventory,” Willmott says. 

It’s not an easy job parsing through the many items and the arts collector says it’s been hard killing — or in this case, selling — her darlings.  

“I can’t let them go,” Willmott says. “The vintage clothing is so beautiful to have survived this long … I hope everything goes on to a home that enjoys them. It’s a way of passing them on to caring hands.”

One caring party is Gayle Foster, an occasional performer with the Players Centre for 16 years. Foster started performing with the theater after her daughter became interested, and now does around three plays a year. One of her performances was as the "Martini & Rossi" character, part of the chorus in the play "La Cage Aux Folles" in 2016. When she heard the company was moving and offloading props and costumes, she made sure to pick up the changing screen from the show. 

(The Players Centre) is important to me, it's a big part of my life," Foster says. "It was a great show and I felt like (the changing screen) should stay in the family, it shouldn't just go away."

SIDEBAR: If You Go: Costume Sale

Where: The Players Centre for Performing Arts

When: Through Sept. 26, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday

Contact: (941) 365-2494