Student Designs Costumes for Hartford Play
Trinity College senior Elina Khindova crafts historical attire for the HartBeat Ensemble production A Lesson from Aloes.
Updated on Oct. 27, 2026 in Dance
Trinity College student Elina Khindova is behind the costume design for the HartBeat Ensemble production of A Lesson from Aloes. The play takes place in 1960s Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Why it matters
The costume design work aims to help the audience connect with the characters on a human level during the historical drama. Khindova developed the look by collecting visual references and collaborating closely with the show's cast and director.
Elina Khindova, an Art History major expected to graduate in 2027, previously designed costumes for the Trinity College production The Wolves in fall 2025. She also served as a Costume Shop Assistant at the Austin Arts Center.
The players
Elina Khindova
She is an Art History major and Writing, Rhetoric and Media Studies minor at Trinity College who serves as the student coordinator of the costume department.
HartBeat Ensemble
This is a Hartford-based theater organization that produces contemporary and socially relevant plays.
Trinity College
Located in Hartford, this private liberal arts college maintains an active arts program including the Austin Arts Center.
The details
Khindova focused on how costume colors interact with the stage lighting and set design to convey the atmosphere of 1960s South Africa. As a student coordinator of the costume department at Trinity College, she applied her academic training to meet the requirements of this professional-level ensemble play.
Timeline
The play A Lesson from Aloes is set in the 1960s.
Elina Khindova designed the costumes for the production The Wolves in fall 2025.
Industry Dynamics
The collaboration reflects a broader trend of regional theater companies leveraging local academic talent to enhance production quality. This partnership mirrors the integration between Trinity College's theater arts program and professional stages in the city of Hartford.
Theatergoers in the Hartford area can now access the HartBeat Ensemble production to view the result of this student-led design work. Ticket holders will experience how the visual choices reflect the 1960s setting of the play.
The takeaway
Effective costume design requires deep collaboration between designers and directors to ground historical narratives in visual reality. Audiences can look for these subtle color choices to better understand character dynamics on stage.
Further reading
Learn more about the local arts scene by visiting the Hartford Dance section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Trinitytripod.
