Working as a volunteer mom, and later a paid costumer, Cheryl Bender spent years driving to theaters and fabric stores to scrape together enough costumes for her daughters’ school plays. Buying materials to make costumes was expensive and time-consuming, while rental options were often impossible on her limited budget. Many times, she would end up borrowing costumes from fellow costumers who worked at local theaters.
Gradually, she noticed how every theater organization and school had a collection of costumes and accessories stored away. Most sat in boxes, or were hung in storage closets, rarely to be used again. Directors, actors, teachers, students and parents would come and go, leaving so many amazing pieces behind. She constantly said, “It would be so smart to have all these pieces in one place. Then it could be a resource for all of the costumers in Arizona.” In 2011, Cheryl finally got “smart!”
She started with a single costume collection. The inventory process began with the help of a tech mom in Northern California, who had created an inventory database for her daughter’s ballet studio. On the advice of Arizona theater community leaders and a nonprofit attorney, Cheryl established Costume Connection as a 501c3 nonprofit organization in 2014. Today, it is open to nonprofit theaters, schools, churches and synagogues, who pay an annual membership fee to access the collection.
Cheryl is grateful to the many organizations, costumers and designers who have entrusted their collections to Costume Connection. Thanks to them, the pieces can be reused, recycled and repurposed by many thankful directors, actors, teachers, students, costumers, designers and volunteer parents each year. The shop is artfully managed by Melissa Lane and Josh Morris, who work daily to connect the costumes to the Arizona theater community.