Athena Lawton is our resident Costume Designer. They have been costuming B. Dunn Movement since before we were even a company! Those who attended our latest workshop had the pleasure of viewing and witnessing their work in action.
To shed light on the foundation of ECHO: Immersive Experience, we wanted to share some of the first iterations of our costumes. Below you'll find Athena's sketches for the ensemble and solo characters in ECHO and how they translated to live performance.
Excerpts from B. Dunn Movement's residency at Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center in Boston, MA
Those who attended our second workshop met company member Brance Souza. Set to play "The Messenger", a character in development, he improvised and made choices heavily informed by costume pieces. Here are his thoughts on what it's like working with Athena:
BS: There are so many things that are thrilling about working with Athena. They have such a beautiful, exquisite, creative brain. Athena really does their research and makes the costumes speak to whomever is wearing their creation. It's literally like wearing a second skin...I'm not just wearing a costume to wear a costume, but it really transforms me into another character and pulls me into the world that we are trying to portray. More so, Athena really listens and isn't married to what's in their brain. I've never worked with a costume designer before that takes their performers into such careful consideration. The way I move in it, the way it makes me feel, even down to the sizing and matching skin tones... Athena really is the whole entire package.
Our next blog post will focus on the development of the Messenger–
Stay tuned to see and hear more from Brance and Athena!
More about ATHENA:
Athena is a costume designer, stylist and illustrator interested in interrogating the relationship between identity and the body. They received their BFA in Costume Design from the California Institute of the Arts in 2015. In their work they explore the way that the influences of emotion, thought, power dynamics, gender, sexuality, race, and cultural heritage manifest themselves in anatomy and through bodily adornment. Obsessed with collaboration, they work very closely with their colleagues to achieve a final design that is informed by the performers and every aspect of the production. They are always seeking how humanity shines through the darkest parts of life.