Saying 14 year's of costumes and group memorabilia are irreplaceable, Dance and Drama Department Chairwoman Barbara Grossman has apologized to the Traveling Treasure Trunk for discarding its entire stock of performance wares, which were later incinerated.
The misunderstanding took place earlier this semester when the department's artist-in-residence, Anthony Cornish, approached the department's chair, Barbara Grossman, about an unclaimed pile of costumes strewn in front of a fire door on the upper level of Aidekman Arts Center.
When Grossman asked Cornish if the costumes belonged to Trunk, Cornish said that a member of the group had told him at the end of last semester that they did not. Grossman also contacted representatives of Magic Circle, Tufts' summer theater program for children, and the Leonard Carmichael Society, which uses costumes for its annual Kids' Day, but neither organization claimed the costumes.
Grossman had already made sure the costumes did not belong to Torn Ticket II or Pen, Paint, and Pretzels, two other campus drama groups. Since no one claimed the costumes, she decided to throw them away, and on Oct. 25, they were incinerated by Facilities.
The following morning, Grossman realized her mistake when she received a voicemail from Trunk member Andrew Sokol. He said the group's costumes were missing from "their usual storage space," she said. "I deeply regret the misunderstanding that caused the loss of these costumes," Grossman said. "We all feel just terrible about this."
"We acted in a way that we thought was based on accurate and truthful information, and clearly there was a huge misunderstanding with unfortunate, irrevocable consequences," she said. As chair of the department, Grossman claimed full responsibility for the mistake.
Last week, she apologized to Trunk members during a group meeting and wrote the group a letter. Grossman also promised to compensate Trunk with a "sizeable" personal check, to avoid further strains on Tufts finances.
"As a theater historian, I know how precious documents about the past are," Grossman said, adding that no amount of money could replace 14 years of costumes and memorabilia.
Trunk members declined to comment on the disappearance. To rebuild its collection, the theatre troupe, which performs for children in area schools, hospitals and day care centers, might hold an alumni weekend so that previous members of the performance group can donate their memorabilia.
But a lasting solution, say those involved, would be to increase Aidekman's storage space. Members of Traveling Treasure Trunk and the Department of Drama and Dance are looking for new places to store costumes to avoid future misunderstandings, but as of yesterday, the drama department was still looking for a permanent place where Trunk can keep its costumes.
