The Kenai Performers are introducing new programming to the schedule this year: workshops.

The first Saturday of the month will be dedicated to educating people about different aspects of theater, member Jodene McAuliffe said Friday.

Through June, the workshops will be dedicated to different elements of costume creation.

“Part of the Kenai Performers’ mission statement is to educate about live theater,” McAuliffe said. “So one of our main perspectives is to get more people who would be interested in being involved.”

She and Terri Burdick, another member of the Kenai Performers, will be leading the workshops on costuming. McAuliffe said one month’s session will focus on wig maintenance, another might be makeup, and another might be sewing.

Many of the Kenai Performers’ costumes are donated, and the rest are funded through donations and ticket sales, McAuliffe said.

They don’t have all the details worked out for each workshop yet, she said, but are willing to expand on anything participants are interested in.

“If people who have been involved with the workshops are interested in a particular topic, we’re happy to incorporate that in a future one,” McAuliffe said.

One of the things people often don’t think about when it comes to costume design, McAuliffe said, is how long it needs to last.

“The plan for a costume is not for it to live for 50 years; the plan for a costume is to get somebody through a couple weeks,” she said. “And so the attention to detail is different than if you were making something that you were going to wear and launder for years and years.”

She said the precision used to make the costume isn’t nearly as important as how it portrays a character.

“It’s just the overall impression of a queen or the impression of a child or the impression of a wolf,” McAuliffe.

The next workshop will be on Feb. 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Kenai Performers building at 44045 Kalifornsky Beach Road in Soldotna behind Subway.

To learn more, email kenaiperformers@gmail.com.

Reach reporter Camille Botello at camille.botello@peninsulaclarion.com.