TOWAMENCIN – Students sit, watch, and listen to different programs and presentations in the auditorium throughout all three years in North Penn High School, but have any turned around in the balcony to notice two unassuming doors at the back wall? Behind these doors is an expansive room overflowing with the costumes, props, and set pieces from performances of years past.

Called the costume loft by the cast and crew of North Penn Theatre, the room serves as storage space for old costumes and inspiration for new ones. At eye level are rows and rows of costumes, ranging from wedding gowns to naval suits, band uniforms to mermaid costumes. Above them are carefully organized – though it might not look that way at first glance – stacks of props. Both are transformed or reused throughout the years depending on what the show of the season calls for.

Senior Sarah Wittman, costume coordinator for Thespian Troupe, is consistently sent up to the costume loft to find specific pieces to use in the shows, commenting that “it’s really helping with pulling out creativity when you’re surrounded by costumes.”

Wittman, costume crew member Alex Stec, and Thespian Troupe backstage coordinators Courtney Jirsa and Caroline Ford are all mainly responsible for maintaining the loft and keeping it organized. On the process of sorting through props and costumes, Ford commented, “There are so many props in the [room] that have been there for years, and it is really cool to go through them and see things from shows that happened years ago. You never know what you might find.”

Past shows are represented throughout the room, including Grease, The Sound of Music, Anything Goes, Zombie Prom, and Once on This Island. Miscellaneous props are scattered across the shelves, including a shrunken baby doll head, an abundance of trees, a dragon head, and a genuine scroll of Old English.

The costume loft emphasizes main values in theatre: creativity, innovation, and organization. To the seasoned North Penn performer, the room is filled with memories of past performances, and to rising students, the room holds potential for all they could be in their high school theatre career.