BROWN OPERA PRODUCTIONS:
2007 COSTUME DESIGNER APPLICATION
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name: _________________________________________________________________________
School: _____________________ Year: ___________ Major: ____________________________
Phone Number: __________________ Email Address: __________________________________
Goyescas opens on Friday, April 13, 2007, with performances at 8pm April 13th, 8pm April 14th, and 2pm
April 15th. Tech week will be the week of April 7-13. Costumes must be completely finished by April 9. If
chosen as costume designer, you will be responsible for manufacturing the costumes. In total, 15 costumes
need to be assembled. Note that many of these costumes need not be hand-made, but can be assembled from
used clothing, previously worn costumes, scraps of cloth, etc.
* Please describe for us your previous design experience.
*Please describe for us your experience with opera, with music and (or) with theatre.
PORTFOLIO
Please submit a portfolio or a representative sample of your work in design. If you wish to submit
slides, please present 10.
SKETCH PROBLEMS
Please read the Goyescas libretto, which can be found at www.brown.edu/Students/BOP. In
addition, please listen to the three tracks from the opera also available on this website.
Goyescas takes place in Madrid at the end of the 18th century. The music and libretto are inspired by
the paintings of Francisco Goya. It is likely that composer Enrique Granados drew much of his
inspiration from Goya’s early paintings, which depict majas and majos, the brightly-dressed, lower-
class artists, merchants, prostitutes, and duelists of Madrid. Additionally, since some of the
characters in Goyescas are of nobility, Goya’s portraits of the upper-class are also helpful. The
following are examples of such paintings:
Images available at www.artchive.com
The Blind Guitarist (guitarist surrounded by majas, majos, and a nobleman in a yellow jacket)
Majas on a balcony (with gentleman behind)
Marquesa de la Solana (portrait of an upper-class woman)
Countess of Chinchon
Isabel de Porcel (portrait of an upper-class woman)
Images available at www.artunframed.com/goya
Picnic on the Banks of the Manzanares (showing majas and majos)
The Maja and the Masked Men
Portrait of the Dutchess of Alba (portrait of an upper-class woman)
19th century historians have described the majo as “a low fellow who dresses sprucely, affects the
walk of a gentleman, looks blunt and menacing, and endeavors after dry wit upon every occasion.”
Similarly, it has been said of the maja that “language, attitudes, walk, all have in them a perfect air
of effrontery and licentiousness; but if you are not overly scrupulous […] you may find in them the
most seductive priestesses that ever attended the altar of venus; their alluring charms inflame the
senses of the wisest, and promise at least pleasure if they do not inspire love.”
Sketch Problem 1: Please sketch two costumes, one for a maja and one for a majo. Assume a
budget of $30 for each costume. If necessary, you may assume that cast members will be able to
provide common articles of clothing, such as dark shoes or a white shirt.
Sketch Problem 2: Please sketch two costumes for the lady Rosario. (1) The costume she wears in
the first Tableau during her trip to the Florida meadow, and (2) the costume she wears in the last
Tableau in the moonlit garden. Be sensitive to Rosario’s character and to the mood of each
Tableau. Assume a budget of $50 for each costume. Again, you may assume that cast members will
be able to provide common articles of clothing.
Please return this application electronically to brownoperaproductions@gmail.com by MIDNIGHT
the night of FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16th. If you wish to submit a hardcopy of your portfolio and
sketch problems, please contact Nicholas_Leiserson@brown.edu (for Brown students) or Emily
Dunne, edunne@risd.edu (for RISD students) by February 14th. You may be contacted for an
interview. If you have any questions, please email Nicholas_Leiserson@brown.edu
THANK YOU!