Shorewood High School Drama is gearing up for its production called “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.” We’ll be shining the spotlight on the Costume Department. As the head of costumes, my responsibilities include designing or sourcing costumes, fittings, and making any adjustments to ensure everything fits comfortably. We have nine weeks to ensure that everything is finalized and ready for the last day of dress rehearsal.
On the first day of the costume meeting, I would normally give a tour of the costume’s basement, around the theater and I would also talk about the conflict calendar where we could put our absences and important dates on the calendar which is when our department will meet up. As we finish up the tour, we would begin taking actors’ measurements so we could send them off to Stu and Mel Johnson who are costume designers.
Even though it sounds boring to have costume designers find costumes for us, we do find backup costumes because many of the costumes are old and would sometimes rip during the middle of a scene and we also get to use costumes from the basement, which is awesome for my crew and I because we love finding costumes from the basement and we have so much fun.
So, I started the process of planning out the costumes for “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.” The first step is to read the script several times or we have a tech read-through and take notes on quick changes, accessories, and other things that are responsible for our department to find. If we don’t have accessories I would make a list of costume supplies for my director to purchase.
On the second day of costume meeting, we often take more measurements since some actors might have missed the first session. While measurements are being completed, my crew and I begin working on a vision board or pulling out dress shoes. This is a source we use where we gather reference photos from each character and brainstorm.
The vision board helps us what characters would wear, and we want to capture their personality by seeing what costumes they wear. We begin pulling out backup costumes because having backup costumes ensures us that we’re ready for any unexpected damage.
As the head of costumes, I am responsible for ensuring that every costume is polished by the time we reach opening night. We have five dress rehearsals to address and resolve any issues during the show, including quick changes and costume adjustments. The first dress rehearsal can be challenging because you don’t know what to expect. During dress rehearsal week my primary focus is to communicate with actors to ensure that everything runs smoothly as possible. Also, we discuss where they exit the stage for their quick changes. Even after I worked on four other shows, I still find myself feeling stressed out when it comes to quick changes. Quick changes are one of the most nerve-wracking and unpredictable aspects I’ve ever dealt with, no matter how much experience I gained, there’s always a feeling of anxiety.
Managing quick changes is pretty straightforward. It becomes a skill when you have lots of practice; you need to learn the sound cues, follow the actors’ lines by memory because reading it off from the script can be difficult, and have everything set up backstage. I tell myself that mistakes and challenges are part of the process and it’s very important to keep in mind that perfection isn’t always immediate and make sure you’re having fun.
