Elizabeth Whiting is a stage costume designer from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Career

Whiting trained under designer Eve Schlup at Auckland's Theatre Corporate. Her first costume designs were for

Limbs Dance Company The Limbs Dance Company was formed in Auckland, New Zealand in May 1977 and disbanded in Wellington in September 1989. Limbs was "the first contemporary dance company in New Zealand to win a general following", and performed alongside notable New Z ...

(late 1970s to mid-1980s) and she has costumed

New Zealand Opera New Zealand Opera is New Zealand's only full-time professional opera company, formed in 2000 from the merger of companies in Auckland and Wellington (and later Christchurch). New Zealand Opera is headquartered in Parnell, Auckland, stages severa ...

since 1995. Whiting has designed costumes for

Auckland Theatre Company Auckland Theatre Company (ATC) is a professional theatre company in Auckland. It was founded in 1992 and since 2016 has been based in ASB Waterfront Theatre in the Wynyard Quarter in central Auckland. History Auckland Theatre Company (ATC) wa ...

Silo Theatre Silo Theatre is a theatre production company based in Auckland, and was established in 1997. Background Silo Theatre started out as a 'boutique underground theatre' in a venue off Queen Street in central Auckland in 1997. Silo moved out in 2 ...

Black Grace Black Grace is one of New Zealand's leading contemporary dance companies. Founded by Neil Ieremia in 1995, Ieremia draws from his Samoan and New Zealand roots to create innovative dance works that reach across social, cultural and generational ...

Royal New Zealand Ballet The Royal New Zealand Ballet is a ballet company based in Wellington, New Zealand. It was originally known as The New Zealand Ballet Company. History New Zealand Ballet was established in 1953 as an independent charitable trust by Royal Danish ...

, Pop-Up Theatre London for the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

and six years of

World of Wearable Art World of WearableArt (WOW) is an internationally recognised design competition, attracting entries from more than 40 countries each year. The competition features wearable art entries, which are judged on durability, the safety and comfort of t ...

. Theatre shows Whiting has worked on include ''

Into the Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story ...

'' by

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with sho ...

and directed by

Raymond Hawthorne Raymond Benjamin Thomas Hawthorne (born 3 May 1936) is a New Zealand theatre director, and is regarded as one of the country's most senior performing arts practitioners. Background Hawthorne grew up in Hawkes Bay. He used to ride a horse to ...

at the Sky City Theatre, Auckland (2000), ''My Name is Gary Cooper'' by Victor Rodger at the Maidment Theatre, Auckland, (2007) and ''

Angels in America ''Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes'' is a two-part play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The work won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play, and the Drama Desk Award for O ...

'' by

Tony Kushner Anthony Robert Kushner (born July 16, 1956) is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Lauded for his work on stage he's most known for his seminal work ''Angels in America'' which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award. At the turn ...

and directed by Shane Bosher at

Q Theatre The Q Theatre was a British theatre located near Kew Bridge in Brentford, west London, which operated between 1924 and 1958. It was built on the site of the former Kew Bridge Studios. The theatre, seating 490 in 25 rows with a central aisle, wa ...

, Auckland (2014). In 2018 Whiting designed costumes for ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions ''quadri'', ''tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe G ...

'' (New Zealand Opera), ''

The Cherry Orchard ''The Cherry Orchard'' (russian: Вишнёвый сад, translit=Vishnyovyi sad) is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by ''Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate edition ...

'' and ''Shortland Street – The Musical (''Auckland Theatre Company) and ''Here Lies Love'' (Silo Theatre). In 2019 Whiting designed costumes for ''Delicious Oblivion'' (Auckland Live Cabaret Season), ''Joan'' and ''The Daylight Atheist'' (Auckland Theatre Company), and ''The Fibonacci,'' choreographed by Victoria Columbus for The New Zealand Dance Company). Of costume design Whiting says:

A good costume clarifies the nature of the play and helps tell the story underlining the themes, setting, social status of the characters and particular quirks they may have concerning their clothing.

Awards and recognition

Whiting won the 2010 Chapman Tripp Theatre Award Costume Design Award (for The Arrival, at Red Leap Theatre) and represented New Zealand at the

Prague Quadrennial Held in Prague once every four years since 1967, the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space or Prague Quadrennial is the world's largest event in the field of scenography, consisting of a competitive presentation of contemporary work in ...

of Performance Design and Space in 2003 and 2007. In 2021 Whiting won an inaugural Out of the Limelight Theatre Award, from the Sir Roger Hall Theatre Fund and managed by the

Arts Foundation of New Zealand 'The Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi is a New Zealand arts organisation that supports artistic excellence and facilitates private philanthropy through raising funds for the arts and allocating it to New Zealand artists. The concept ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiting, Elizabeth 1952 births Living people New Zealand theatre people New Zealand theatre designers New Zealand costume designers Women costume designers Women theatre designers