timeliness of information crucial to my job') 6) What specifically is the best type of diet to follow when dealing with stress or lack of sleep') (We knoll' coffee. Coca-Cola. qoughnuts. and cigarettes are not the correct response.) 7) What type of exercise can I do to relax and reenergize at the same time') What type of exercise can improve posture and muscle tone') 8) Why does lack of sleep make me feel cold and nauseous') 9) Ho\\' can I best preserve my eyesight') 10) What steps can I take to better balance my love life with my work life and not feel this constant incompatible pull between one and the other') Certainly. questions of this kind merit attention. In many cases. a little reading and observation can provide answers. However. as the year progressed. it became evident that our inquiry was based on the assumption that stress in costume-related fields was like the weather or the common cold. Since it was here to stay. our approach was defensive in nature and focussed on the symptoms rather than on the origin of stress. An article. "The Addictive Personality" by Lewis Burke Frumkes makes us wonder whether it is the type of work we do that makes us what we are. or what we already are that makes us gravitate to the work J Yet we have already conceded that we tend to be miserable as a group, in spite of our devotion to a profession which needs workaholics and therefore tends to cripple those demonstrating these tendencies. The clue to the weakness of our approach was that we had confused the profession itself with the current state of the profession. Therefore. stress in costume-related fields is not so much a personal issue as it is a political one. We should instead compare the situation to that of colonialism in America and act accordingly: When a situation collectively reaches the breaking point. remaining energy should be channeled toward a new order of operation. with improvements in mind. This belief was reenforced barely a week before the conference when I attended a Stress Seminar presented by the campus health center in which psychologist Darlys Alford stated that one of the greatest factors in creating stress 12 Theatre Design & Technology was the perception of hopelessness in the face of a particular situation. It would seem. therefore. that by dealing with this problem of stress in costumerelated fields with a defensive rather than an offensive posture. we are unwittingly perpetuating additional stress rather than working towards alleviating it. Originally. we had resolved to define our topic. to gather data relating to it. and to then suggest remedies for dealing with the situation. It was found that the topic could only be defined by first collecting data. and no one was certain how to go about it. Gathering information seemed in turn difficult without a clearly defined topic. Fortunately. our own environment provided the solution. One of the rewards of academia is the cross-pollination of ideas that occurs in a multi-disciplinary environment. Although many avenues outside the realm of educational theatre were pursued. it was within the university that my immediate group stumbled upon an exercise which unexpectedly facilitated our search. Pam Huth. a graduate assistant in costume design at California State University-Fresno. suggested that our costume shop staff participate in an exercise originally assigned in one of her dance classes. that of keeping a daily log. The purpose of the dance log was to document one's growing awareness of dance experience. Originally. the intent of our log was to study and monitor work management. and though it did function in just that way. the surprising result was the realization that the stress response was not in reality so much an individual problem as it was the inevitable response to an astonishing as well as ever increasing demand upon finite human resourses. Clearly identifying the source of stress served to alleviate much of the stress experience. In those instances where the log indicated patterns of inefficiency. they were well enough defined to ameliorate ..J Furthermore. the log stimulated individual creative responses through the material collected. Various observations. too numerous to explore at this time. were made with regard to creative and executive processes. The exercise is a potential source of new topics for discussion in the field of costuming. Documentation can provide many helpful insights. As a novice educator. for instance. I had previously conceived of my position as a 50'7c teaching. 50'7c production responsibility. The log dem- onstrated that a more realistic understanding of the work involved was a 30'7c teaching. 30'7c production. 30'7c administrative load. Therefore. failing to meet certain personal production objectives by 5:00 PM one day because our own production schedule was preempted by unforeseen administrative duties made guilt feelings a dispensible commodity. (This insight reduced anxiety. and thus increased self-esteem. which in turn increased productivity.) Of course. it might require investing an additional eight-hour working day at the expense of needed rest to avoid irreversible setbacks in the construction schedule. During the course of the semester's experiment. the collective response toward the stress situation evolved from one of anxiety and frustration. to astonishment. to healthy indignation. Samples from the log illustrate the work load of two staff members: Costume Designer / Teacher Tuesday, 3/17 7:00 AM ยท9:45 AM: 1) alter mock-ups for 6-woman dance piece (upcoming dance concert) 2) alter original butcher paper pattern & grade to 2 sizes for actual costumes 3) construct wrist and ankle elastics for all 6 rehearsal mock-ups & pin in 4) update shop work list 9:45 AM - 11:15 AM: 1) supervise Introduction to Costuming class in studio session 2) grade class work 11:30 AM -12:00 PM: 1) lunch with graduate assistant: give notes for ordering of tuxedos for upcoming musical 12:00 . 1:00 PM: 1) Iibrary: research tuxedo question 2) bookstore: purchase rendering supplies 1:00 PM - 1:45 PM: 1) write construction instructions for 6-woman dance piece 2) write construction instructions for 8-mixed piece 1:45 PM -1:55 PM: xerox all day's notes to distribute accordingly 1:55 PM - 2:15 PM: tuxedo rental cleared through front office USITT Fall. 198;