Sudbury Theatre Centre to sell excess costumes and props

After almost 45 years of putting on productions, the Sudbury Theatre Centre has collected a lot of costumes, props and furniture.

"We were busting at the seams,"artistic director Caleb Marshall said.

"Certainly we try to reuse, recycle and reduce as much waste as possible, but it doesgetto the point where you've probable not culled or purged in a long time".

Production staff has been going through items to determine what to keep and not to keep. The latter items will be up for sale at the STC event onSaturday, at the theatre's Shaughnessy Street site.

Marshall said the purpose of the sale isto make room backstage, andimprove organization and accessibility.

He said the head of wardrobe went throughalltheir costumes,and found items she didn't even know they had items thatcould have used over the years.

"[The purge isabout] being able to make the most use of the stock wehave," said Marshall.

800 costumes

All the costumes to be sold at the stage sale are now hanging on the theatre's lighting pipes, backstage. Marshall said heestimates they have about 800 pieces of costumes up for grabs, including dozens of fur coats.

He says the wardrobeitems are goodfor anyone who likes vintage clothing,or someone who wants toget a head start on a Halloween costume.

The STC decided tokeep30 suitcases invarious styles and colours, but 60 other suitcaseswill be tagged to go inthesale.

Antique furniture

Marshall says they have a lot of antiquefurniture pieces that will be up forsale. He says some of themare just toobigor toounique for the STC to keep.

"A lot of these items are just tucked away,gatheringdust and really should be with somebody who would appreciate them more and showcase them more," says Marshall.

Every item will have a price at the sale, but Marshall saidanyone who would like to barter is welcome to do so.

The theatre centre has contacted all the drama departments at localeducational institutions to see if they'd like to add to their stock.

There are two areas to which proceeds will go.

Marshall says right now, thehistory of theSTC ison display backstage. He'd like to use some of the money raised tomove the display out to the lobbyand lounge,where itwould bevisible to the public.

In addition,the production department will see some of the money for future productions.

The Sudbury Theatre Centre will markits 45thseason this fall.