A $100 grant from USITT to the Appalachian State University Student Chapter allowed the group to buy fabric and make costumes for its annual Halloween sale. The early support helped make the event an even greater success than in past years.
The sale is the chapter's major fundraiser to help students attend the USITT Annual Conference & Stage Expo. This year, members raised $1,000. The chapter sells the tired, worn out rejects from Appalachian Stage's costume stock and the costume stocks in a few other theatres it works with, along with some unusual donations.
Recently, chapter members have created costumes specifically for the sale, trying to be prepared with some of the items that students always request. "While we have the labor for these endeavors, we are challenged by finding enough fabric for them," said Alice Neff, Chapter Co-Sponsor.
Last year, Bob Thurston gave away velour at USITT Southeast and students made beautiful hooded capes which sold "like mad" for $50 each. This year "we were thrilled to have $100 cash to spend on fabric, and bought not only faux crushed velvet for more capes, but also several fabrics for fairy and witch costumes, two more of our most requested items," said Ms. Neff.
After making the first round of costumes for the sale one weekend, the clever costume students gathered up all the scraps and put them together into more magical merchandise. Appalachian State had 11 students flying to Phoenix for the 2007 Annual Conference & Stage Expo. "We are all so grateful for the help in making that trip happen," Ms. Neff commented.
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