For twenty-nine seasons, Mr. Kaplan has been the Resident Costume Designer for the Sarasota Opera Association, where he has designed over 100 productions including Barber of Seville, The Crucible, Italian Girl in Algiers, Giovanna D’Arco, The Magic Flute, Mice and Men, Hansel and Gretel, Teifland and Pearl Fishers.

His recent endeavors include designing the costumes for Amadeus for Cleveland Playhouse ;Tales of Hoffman, Don Pasquale, and Candide for Opera Tampa;  Sherlock Holmes and the American Problem, Mamma Mia, Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, Tarzan the Musical, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Three Musketeers and Ring of Fire for Barter Theatre; Barber of Seville, Werther, Cosi Fan Tutte, Eugene Onegin and The Consul for Florida Grand Opera;Le Comte Ory for the Des Moine Metro Opera; and Miss Bennet, Christmas at Pemberly,Jersey Boys, Blithe Spirit, Once, and Sherlock Carol for the Barter Theatre.

Design credits include twelve years as the principal designer for Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Clown College; THE MIKADO at Pittsburgh Public Theatre directed by Ted Pappas ; a futuristic production of MADAMA BUTTERFLY for San Antonio Opera directed by John Delancie; MAN OF LA MANCHA for the Olney Theatre for which he was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award; PIRATES OF PENZANCE for Malabar Limited-Toronto; The World Premiere of SNAPSHOTS, music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz for The Virginia Stage Comp; THE CONSTANT WIFE and THREE DAYS OF RAIN for The Westport Playhouse, both directed by Joanne Woodward.

He was a resident designer for both The Alley Theatre, where he designed over 25 productions including the American Premiere of...HENCEFORWARD, written and directed by Alan Ayckborn; and The Asolo Center for the Performing Arts where he created the costumes for over 20 productions including A TALE OF TWO CITIES, and the World Premiere of Horton Foote’s' TALKING PICTURES.

Articles about his work have appeared in Theatre Crafts, American Theatre, Opera News, Style, Sarasota Magazine and The New Yorker Magazine. His renderings are featured in the textbook Costume Design by Barbara and Cletus Anderson, published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

EXHIBITIONS: From September 2003 - January 2004, The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, St. Bonaventure, New York featured his work as part of an exhibit of “Working Artists”. In September 2016 he was named Master Artist of the Year. A retrospect of his career was displayed in their gallery. The exhibit consisted of 50 renderings from his theatre, opera, and circus projects; and an assortment of costumes, hand props and masks. His clown renderings are part of the permanent display of circus design and history at The Ringling Museum of Art - Sarasota, Florida; and Circus World Museum– Baraboo, Wisconsin. His work has toured as part of an exhibit of circus arts to The New Jersey Transit Authority, and museums in New Haven, Seattle, Washington DC, New York City, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Salt Lake City.

The productions designed for Sarasota Opera have been critically lauded and many are available for rental.

For more information, please email:
[email protected]

"I just want to say again how wonderful the costumes from Sarasota Opera Costume Rental were for the Capital Rep production of THE LEHMAN TRILOGY. The entire process was so easy - the staff incredibly friendly and entirely professional - and the cost reasonable and worth every penny. Thank you for helping our show to look first rate!"

- Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill, Producing Artistic Director, Capital Repertory Theatre

"We were so thrilled to connect with you all on L'Amico Fritz. Howard, you gave us a lovely show."

- Cindy M Kubu, Costume Shop Manager, Performing Arts at The University of Iowa

"I cannot begin to say how pleased I was with the costumes, the way they were delivered, their quality and look, the timeliness in which they arrived, etc. I hope to work with you again soon."

-William Shomos, Director Opera, University of Nebraska- Lincoln (Costumes for Dialogue of the Carmelites)

"It was really wonderful, and your costumes made such a fantastic impact visually."

- Cassie Goldback, Assistant Vice President of Artistic Administration & Operations, Cleveland Institute of Music (Costumes for Don Giovanni)

"The costumes were GORGEOUS! Thank you."

- Sarah Beckham-Turner, Assistant Professor, College of Fine Arts and Humanities, West Texas A& M University (Costumes for Albert Herring)