Rey from Rogue One (2016)- Cosplay by Denise Chukhina. Photo by Dmitriy Chukhin. ers and can use that role to create social change and promote body positivity in their costume shops. Costume professionals and educators are facing difficult discussions regarding the way we speak about bodies in fittings, production meetings, costume shops, and casting rooms. These complex conversations are creating an awareness of faults in our past practices and vocabularies and are leading to solutions that can create positive change. Creating art is a vulnerable process and the message that everybody and "every body" should feel open, accepted and safe in the theatre both on stage and off is timely. Beyond a Subculture We live in an exciting time of change and with increased exposure, cosplay is becoming much more than a subculture. Theatre artists like Hofmann, Fehlner, and Chukhina are self-appointed ambassadors of cosplay with the responsibility to prove that it is more than "a bunch of nerds running around in wizard hats with swords," Hofmann jokes. "I've seen a marked change in the MFA ACTING COSTUME PRODUCTION TECHNICAL PRODUCTION THEATRE AS REAL AS REAL LIFE. FIND YOUR EDGE. drama.unc.edu playmakersrep.org 48 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | WINTER 2018 Shanelle Nicole Leonard '19 Intimate Apparel Photo by Jon Gardiner.http://drama.unc.edu http://www.playmakersrep.org