Goodman Theatre is offering us all an inside view of its century of theater history with a costume shop sale taking place on Saturday, October 11, at the theater. Individual pieces are priced at 50¢ to $300 for modern and vintage clothing, accessories, jewelry, footwear and props from productions over six decades. Goodman hasn’t held such a sale since 2018. The free event is open to the public.
Some of the items included are the striped suit from An Italian Straw Hat (1964), a giant puppet from The Light in the Piazza (2004), the black-and-red gown worn by Emily Rohm in The Matchbox Magic Flute (2024), Tiny Tim’s (Ava Rose Doty) jacket from the 47th annual production of A Christmas Carol (2024).
In addition to dresses, suits, wigs, novelty costume pieces and other bespoke clothing for children and adults, the sale includes accessories, jewelry, footwear, craft supplies and props. Other notable items on offer include:
• A child’s pumpkin costume, an American flag dress and a corn dress—all with matching accessories—from The Music Man (2019)
• Prince Tamino, Papagena and Papageno costumes from The Matchbox Magic Flute (2024)
• Crumpet’s Elf costume from The Santaland Diaries (2018)
• Two elegant floor-length gowns from The Little Foxes (2015)
• A beaded, corseted red showgirl dress from Turn of the Century (2008)
Other productions showcased in the sale include A Little Night Music (1994), A Christmas Carol (2017-2019), A Winter’s Tale (2019), The Notebooks of Leonardo DaVinci (2022) and The Penelopiad (2024). Most available items were designed by Anna Kuzmanic, with others designed by Jenny Mannis, Heidi Sue McMath, Mara Blumenfeld, Donna Grenata, Rachel Lambert and Catherine Zuber.
Goodman Theatre, the oldest theater company in Chicago, was founded in 1925 with funding from Mr. and Mrs. William O. Goodman, who wanted to make the theater a tribute to their son, Chicago playwright Kenneth Sawyer Goodman, who died in the 1918 influenza epidemic. The Goodmans’ $250,000 donation established a professional repertory company and a school of drama at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where the theater company was located until its move into its Dearborn Street facility in 2000. The drama school became part of DePaul University in 1978.
The costume sale takes place Saturday, October 11, from 10am to 4pm (doors open at 9:30am) at the theater at 170 N. Dearborn. Bring your own shopping bags. Only credit/debit card payments will be accepted; all sales are final. Funds raised from the sale support Goodman Theatre programming. For more information, visit http://goodmantheatre.org/CostumeSale.
