Abel Herrera

Abel Herrera is a costume designer and graduate student at San Francisco State University’s School of Theatre & Dance. His most recent costume design credits at SF State include Rent (2023), Stupid F**cking Bird (2023), and an upcoming production of She Kills Monsters. Abel strives to tell stories that audiences can relate to and enjoy. Currently, Abel’s Creative Works Project focuses on using semiology, the study of signs, to represent historical styles within theatrical costumes. Abel argues that using “historically accurate” costuming, in terms of how these styles were traditionally worn, can inhibit the effectiveness of a production. To help support his argument of representation in theatrical costumes, he’s recreating “The Wishing Dress”, a blue Victorian bustle dress named after the song “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”, designed by Maria Björnson for the stage production of The Phantom of the Opera. Through the construction of this dress, Abel hopes to emphasize the importance of representing historical styles through semiology and establish the idea that historical accuracy doesn’t exist on stage.