Elizabeth Whiting
{{Short description|New Zealand costume designer}}
{{en-NZ|date=August 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Elizabeth Whiting
| image = 2016 Magic Flute Rehearsal • NZ Opera • 060516 • 041 (cropped).jpg
| alt = Elizabeth Whiting at a rehearsal for NZ Opera's 2016 production The Magic Flute
| caption = Whiting at a rehearsal for NZ Opera's 2016 production The Magic Flute
| other_names =
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Wellington, New Zealand
| death_date =
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| nationality = New Zealand (Pākehā)
| occupation = Costume designer
| years_active = Late 1970s – current
| known_for =
| notable_works = Chapman Tripp Theatre Award (2010) Costume Design – The Arrival, Red Leap Theatre
}}
Elizabeth Whiting is a stage costume designer from New Zealand.
Career
Whiting trained under designer Eve Schlup at Auckland's Theatre Corporate.{{Cite web|last=|first=|title=Period Costumes|url=https://www.atc.co.nz/about-atc/archive/period-costumes/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-14|website=Auckland Theatre Company|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200116233915/https://www.atc.co.nz/about-atc/archive/period-costumes/ |archive-date=16 January 2020 }} Her first costume designs were for Limbs Dance Company (late 1970s to mid-1980s) and she has costumed New Zealand Opera since 1995.{{Cite web|title=Dressing for success|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/dressing-for-success/XQHKSGFPDEBUF7RJ2TIRWV3PVM/|access-date=2021-08-14|website=The New Zealand Herald |language=en-NZ}}
Whiting has designed costumes for Auckland Theatre Company, Silo Theatre, Black Grace, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Pop-Up Theatre London for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and six years of World of Wearable Art.{{Cite web|last=|first=|title=Elizabeth Whiting|url=https://www.atc.co.nz/auckland-theatre-company/people/elizabeth-whiting/?pageId=2913|access-date=2021-08-14|website=Auckland Theatre Company|language=en}} Theatre shows Whiting has worked on include Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and directed by Raymond Hawthorne at the Sky City Theatre, Auckland (2000),{{Cite web|title=Elizabeth Whiting|url=https://tadb.otago.ac.nz/theatre/Web/WebSearch.php?Session=Guest-X-116483449|access-date=2021-08-14|website=Theatre Aotearoa database|publisher=University of Otago}} My Name is Gary Cooper by Victor Rodger at the Maidment Theatre, Auckland, (2007) and Angels in America by Tony Kushner and directed by Shane Bosher at Q Theatre, Auckland (2014).{{Cite web|last=McAllister|first=Janet|date=2014|title=Theatre review: Angels in America Part 2: Perestroika, Q Theatre|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/theatre-review-angels-in-america-part-2-perestroika-q-theatre/XUL6I3HDZAKZM2MF4O7XFVCF4M/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-14|website=The New Zealand Herald |language=en-NZ|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814072417/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/theatre-review-angels-in-america-part-2-perestroika-q-theatre/XUL6I3HDZAKZM2MF4O7XFVCF4M/ |archive-date=14 August 2021 }}
In 2018 Whiting designed costumes for La bohème (New Zealand Opera), The Cherry Orchard and Shortland Street – The Musical (Auckland Theatre Company) and Here Lies Love (Silo Theatre).{{Cite web|title=Elizabeth Whiting|url=https://nzdc.org.nz/our-team/elizabeth-whiting|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-19|website=New Zealand Dance Company|language=en-NZ|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223041338/https://nzdc.org.nz/our-team/elizabeth-whiting |archive-date=23 December 2019 }}{{Cite web|last=Baker|first=Matt|title=REVIEW: Shortland Street – The Musical (Auckland Theatre Company)|url=http://www.theatrescenes.co.nz/review-shortland-street-the-musical-auckland-theatre-company/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-19|website=Theatre Scenes: Auckland Theatre Blog|language=en-NZ|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181207174105/http://www.theatrescenes.co.nz:80/review-shortland-street-the-musical-auckland-theatre-company/ |archive-date=7 December 2018 }}
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.{{Cite web|last=Bruce|first=Greg|date=2016-09-03|title=A brief encounter with costume designer Elizabeth Whiting|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/a-brief-encounter-with-costume-designer-elizabeth-whiting/JQ4SOKYLBRCPJLC7K6GEHZ5ROE/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-19|website=The New Zealand Herald |language=en-NZ|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819063552/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/a-brief-encounter-with-costume-designer-elizabeth-whiting/JQ4SOKYLBRCPJLC7K6GEHZ5ROE/ |archive-date=19 August 2021 }}
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 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.{{Cite web|last=Freeman|first=Lynn|date=2021-07-25|title=Theatre costume designer Elizabeth Whiting|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/standing-room-only/audio/2018805429/theatre-costume-designer-elizabeth-whiting|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-14|website=RNZ |language=en-nz|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814013503/https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/standing-room-only/audio/2018805429/theatre-costume-designer-elizabeth-whiting |archive-date=14 August 2021 }}{{Cite web|title=Five Theatre Practitioners Awarded Out of the Limelight Theatre Award |date= 8 Jul 2021 |url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/news/news.php?id=1743|url-status=dead |access-date=2021-08-19|website=Theatreview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711044727/https://www.theatreview.org.nz/news/news.php?id=1743 |archive-date=11 July 2021 }}
References
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Category:New Zealand theatre people
Category:New Zealand theatre designers
Category:New Zealand costume designers