By Tom McHenry
Staff Writer

The theatre department's lesser known classes are not only responsible for bringing Ancient Greece back to life, but also for some of the finest looking gunshot wounds on a college campus.

The classes, though little known, are a definite source of variety from the mundane.

Joel Ebarb, assistant professor of theater, said, "We're this kind of hidden treasure here at Purdue." A hidden treasure that includes courses in both costume and makeup design. Though Ebarb normally teaches both courses, this semester Kristina Tollefson, a graduate student in theater, is teaching the makeup course.

Costume design is open to both graduates and undergraduates, and teaches students how to display their costume ideas as renderings in a wide variety of mediums. "That rendering is just a tool, a step along the way to having the costume on the stage," Ebarb said.

Each project for the course begins when Ebarb assigns characters from a play to his students. Then students research the time period and different styles to obtain a proper feel.

"It's very much an art class, but its also a history class and a design class," Ebarb.

Ebarb said that many think the class is a lot like fashion design, when in fact the two are quite different. Costume design is more period work, and clothes for the stage are usually much different from regular clothes

The makeup class teaches students how to apply makeup to themselves and to others. Many of the students taking the class are actors because as Ebarb said, "An actor has to be really, really big before someone else puts it on for you."

Tollefson said that the class is divided into 10 project sections. The assignments range from making students look extremely stout, to making them look aged with the application of wigs and facial hair. One of the assignments is also special-effects makeup with cuts and gunshot wounds.

Tollefson said that the makeup class requires no book, but students purchase a makeup kit with required materials. Though the cost of the kit is around $75, Ebarb said that the long life and high quality of much of the materials will make it useful long after the class is over.

Tollefson teaches the class as a demonstration of the techniques to be used. During the second session that week, they employ those techniques to do the same project on themselves. This lab format causes more students to hurt their grades with a lack of attendance than anything else does, Tollefson said.

"They have to enjoy history, art and lots and lots of research," Ebarb said.

Ebarb said students working in costume design and makeup have many opportunities for work after college with Chicago and Indianapolis both within a close proximity to Purdue. Their strong theatrical programs allow students to both witness the quality of professional work and possible future opportunities for work,

Ebarb said of the theater department's more specialized courses.