The Williamstown Fashionista Project 2024
In December 2023 arts-based researchers Tara Goldstein from Gailey Road Productions in Canada and Donna Jackson from Hubcap Productions in Australia began creating a multi-media verbatim theatre piece called The Love Booth: Revealing 60 Years of Queer Love.
The Love Booth was performed three times at Williamstown Town Hall on March 8 and 9 2024.
The production included the work of six youth costume designers who explored their experiences of queer identity and gender expression through costumes they created for the performances. Each of the designers participated in a ten-week costume design workshop led by Jackson. They then wrote artist statements for their creations, which were recorded and then played as voice overs as they presented their costumes during the performances of the play in the role of Fashionistas. For the performances, Jackson grouped the six designers/Fashionistas into groups of two, and each pair presented their costumes as a distinct scene in the play. The three Fashionista scenes were placed towards the beginning, middle and end of the play.
Photos by Cas Bukor @casbukor
Photos of the six designers/Fashionistas in their costumes can be seen in a photo essay written by The Love Booth Williamstown project team. Each photo is preceded by the artist statement each Fashionista wrote about their design. Following the photos and artist statements is discussion of how the arts-based research method of designing costumes for The Love Booth enabled each designer to say something important about their evolving queer and gender identities. The discussion, based on interviews that Goldstein undertook with each of the designers during rehearsals for the show, will also share what the youth had to say about their experience as performers in the Williamstown production of The Love Booth.