Fat Shaming in the Performing Arts

As costumers we see any and every kind of body shape/size/etc. The numbers we see on our tape measure only tell us how to best fit a costume to a performer. 

I was taught early in my costuming career that the size of a performer does not matter. They are talented, chosen for their role, and it's my job to make them a costume as beautiful, distressed, flowy, flamboyant, etc. as the director's concept and script describe. 

The other day I was reading through my Facebook feed when I came across an article posted by Mason Gross School of the Arts (my new home for the next 3.5 years). It was entitled: In 2014, The Classical World Still Can't Stop Fat Shaming Women and was linked to NPR's original posting. Being a fairly modern woman I have heard the fat shaming that happens in Hollywood, but I had never heard of it in the live theatre realm. I read the article. 

What greeted me was the picture of a curvaceously beautiful mezzo with a beautiful opera voice. Then came the "reviews" of her performance by critics. Some barely touched on her talent and performance, instead making comments like,  "Tara Erraught's Octavian is a chubby bundle of puppy-fat." Other critics were "shocked" at the casting choice. I myself was "shocked" at the shallow phrases being masqueraded as insight into this talented performer's debut. I'm no opera critic, but I believe when describing a performance one normally speaks about THE PERFORMANCE (ie: the melodic tone of voice, how the mistro chose to interpret phrasings, etc.)

Theatre, throughout history has always influenced and been influenced by cultural trends. Sadly, the cultural trend that is currently affecting theatre is our western obsession with body size.