Best Rocky Horror costumes

The Company: NoExit Performance

Designer: Michael Burke

Idea: Get thrifty with clever use of cardboard.

NoExit Performance leaves no detail of the creative vision behind, including the clothing design. Resident costume artist Michael Burke generally has a very thrift-store chic style, but he had to think outside the box - literally - to bring Alice vs. Wonderland to life within as a video game. Using cardboard, Burke's collaborators Beverly Roche and Lukas Felix Schooler made the characters look as if they were part of a pixelated old-school video game. Combining their boxes with Burke's fabric costumes, the end result looked remarkable.

• Daniel Axler
• Jen and Rob Johansen rise to the occasion in Jen/Con.

The Company: Shadow Ape Theatre Company

The Designer: Rob and Jen Johansen with Delia Neylon Robertson

The Idea: Elevate costume’s Wow! factor with stilts

Aside from Halloween, the most prominent time of the year for costumes, especially in Indy, is in August during Gen Con, the largest convention known to gamers. Suitably during this year’s Gen Con, Shadow Ape Theatre Co. performed Jen/Con, a play that explored the difficulties of being married to a gamer. Through expert costuming, Rob Johansen transformed from a slacker gamer to an evil dark lord, while Jen Johansen ruled supreme. Both characters were elevated over the action on cleverly concealed stilts.

• Freddie Kelvin
• Barry Doss’ tribal dance costumes in Carmina Burana would be "wildly" popular at a Halloween party.

The Company: Dance Kaleidoscope

The Designer: Barry Doss

The Idea: Show up as a tribal dancer

Dance Kaleidoscope's performance attire often entails form-fitting, brightly colored spandex numbers, but last week’s performance of Carmina Burana required an array of transformative costumes to tell the story. The piece began with striking gold warrior garments that mostly obscured the dancers’ identity. My favorite, though, was the men’s furry warrior pants that mad them look as if they were wearing the lower half of Chewbacca, but they were held up by suspenders. I can’t imagine the heat involved with dancing in those. If you create your own tribal warrior getup, perhaps you should opt for a more breathable, raffia-type grass skirt instead. Just sayin’ ...

• Zach Rosing
• Daniel Klingler reimagines the Rocky Horror Picture Show.