Madeleine Pritner, head costume designer for Oklahoma State Theater, is the first student to have her work on display at the Wilham House, which is the home of OSU President Burns Hargis. Pritner has been bringing characters to life onstage with her designs for three years now. Pritner had fallen in love with theater at an early age and she grew up performing on stage. Once she got to college, she wanted to major in apparel design because she had always enjoyed sketching clothing designs. But after just one semester of college, she missed theater way too much—so she combined the two.
“Costume design is all about telling a story, and the challenge of designing a costume that an actor can put on and instantly feel closer to their character, and also visually tell the audience who they are is the most rewarding part of this craft,” Pritner said. Pritner has gotten the opportunity to work with real actors and said it is “very surreal” to work with people you see on TV. She also enjoys working with her OSU theater student friends and working behind the scenes with them.
“Theatre is generally a well-oiled machine,” Pritner said. Although it is usually calm and collected, anything can happen. During a showing of The Drowsy Chaperone, one her costume designs had a zipper break during a quick ten second change and the actress had to go onstage holding up the costume so it wouldn’t fall down in places. Pritner admits it can be extremely stressful, but it is always an adrenaline rush. Ironically, The Drowsy Chaperone, was also one of Pritner’s favorite costume designing experiences. “Everything was bright and vibrant in color. It was also one of the first shows I ever got to design, so I really enjoyed being a part of the process from start to finish,” she explained.
Currently, Pritner is taking a break from designing costumes and devoting this semester to finding a job before her upcoming May graduation. She has a summer internship as a costume shopper at the Glimmerglass Festival in central New York, where she hopes to eventually move to pursue a career in costume designing.