Just in time for Halloween, Goodman Theatre puts its costumes up for sale

Chicagoans this weekend have a rare opportunity to acquire Halloween getups from the acclaimed costume shop of the Goodman Theatre.

The costumers are offering more than 100 items, handmade for a wide range of plays, at a sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the theater at 170 N. Dearborn.

The available items, priced from $1 to more than $300, include hats from the 2004 gospel musical “Crowns” and its 2012 revival, military uniforms from “King Lear” (2006) and a majorette outfit from “Sweet Bird of Youth” (2012). No presale previews will be offered.

Heidi McMath, manager of the Goodman costume shop, has been working at the theater for 31 years and said letting go of wardrobe is always a nostalgic moment for the staff.

“We’re hoping to pass these things to a new life, and that actually feels better to us than it go in a landfill,” she said.

Some items were used in many shows and some in just one. “We have a lot of, say, ’40s and ’50s dresses that are coming from a range of shows, a range of things that we built, a range of vintage dresses,” McMath said.

This sale, the first in six years, is happening because storage space is running out. It’s timed to give people an opportunity to find their perfect Halloween costumes.

“We also love helping them decide what to put together,” McMath said. “Sometimes they’re only looking for a few pieces to finish off a costume: ‘Hey, let me figure out something.’ ”

Theaters around the city also attend the sale to look for costumes for their shows.

“Smaller theaters that don’t have a costume shop and will have more difficulty coming up with period costumes, if they know what shows they’re doing, they will come and look at things for those shows,” McMath said. “And we really are happy when that happens because we do like to share our resources with other theaters in town that don’t have as much money to spend on costumes.”

At previous sales there have been lines in the morning, and costumes that aren’t sold by the end of the day will be donated to Goodwill or Salvation Army.

“We have found, when we’ve done the sale before, that they’re really fun for us to do, even though they’re a lot of work,” McMath said. “We love seeing the public comment on what we’ve done. It makes us proud.”