Taming of the Shrew
Costumes

Alexander Jones
Costume design for Bianca
Costume design for Grumio
Costume design for Curtis
Watercolor with fabric attachments
The Taming of the Shrew, New York City, 1938
Federal Theatre Project Collection
Music Division (20, 20.1, 21.1)

One of the New Deal programs of the Depression era, the Federal Theatre Project (FTP), part of the Works Progress Administration, was active from 1935 to 1939. The FTP attempted to sustain the American theater by employing actors, producers, designers, and other personnel. It nurtured new talent and made stage performances available at low cost to millions of Americans who had never seen live theater. These drawings are costume designs for a production of The Taming of the Shrew in New York City in 1938. They depict Bianca, the younger sister of the shrew Katharina, Bianca's suitor Lucentio, and Grumio and Curtis, servants of the lead male character, Petruchio. From the costume, Curtis seems to have been a female character rather than the usual male in this production.

John Glidden
Costume design for Lucentio
The Taming of the Shrew, New York City, 1938
Watercolor with fabric attachments
Federal Theatre Project Collection
Music Division (21)