A win-win situation

What do you get when you mix seven racks of costumes, a few boxes of hats and a generous group of Lehigh students, faculty and staff? Late last month, it all added to $1,200 for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley, Inc.
A few months ago, Erica Hoelscher, associate professor of theatre, and Pam Richey, costume coordinator, realized that they had a problem. They were running low on valuable storage space in Zoellner Arts Center for the Department of Theatre’s stock of costumes. And with the department’s fall production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream looming just around the corner, complete with fairies, lovers and a donkey’s head, they knew that they were going to need to make some room.
Lehigh’s Mustard and Cheese Drama Society (M&C) had a solution--a costume sale for students, faculty, staff and community members just in time for Halloween with the proceeds to go to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley’s Support Group.
M&C serves to not only uphold the traditions and principles on which it was founded--to serve, support and promote theatrical activity at Lehigh University--but also to create, support and encourage projects in the theatre arts. Their goals include reaching out to the student body as well as members of the surrounding community, bringing theater into their lives and sparking their interest and participation in theater at Lehigh.
To that end, M&C saw a way that they could not only help other local theaters looking for costumes for upcoming productions, and assist the community with their Halloween costumes, but also raise money for a local organization.
Richey worked with Thom Lepley, professor of practice in graphic design, who used the event to create assignments for his classes. Twenty students in his Graphic Design 1 class created postcards that were sent out to schools and theaters in the area to notify them about the event. The Graphic Design 3 class designed posters that were hung up to advertise the sale on campus.
The sale was held over the course of two days, Oct. 23 and 26, in the Zoellner lobby. Seven wardrobe racks and several bins--more than 1,000 items--were gathered together for the sale. M&C estimates that more than 100 people attended.
The sale served as the ultimate win-win situation. Not only was it deemed a success for raising $1,200 for the foundation, but also because there is now space for all of the costumes from this semester’s productions to be stored.
“We hope that while the costume sale might not be an annual event, that every year M&C can hold an event with the proceeds going to a local organization,” M&C events coordinator Corinne Hawxhurst says.
--Jessica Bien