Aida Priestess Costume Design

Spent 10 days in NYC buying fabric—mostly for a new 1950s Merchant of Venice I'm working on designing sets and costumes for. But also getting some fabric for a Cyrano costume and finishing up with Aida, the current monster project.

Here's one of my sketches for a priestess and then the garment mid-construction. I'm loving the pleating.

Aida Costume Research

Love the animal skins.

A big oops on the cartoon set in the background of the photo below. . . .

Here's some of the research I've been looking at as I finish up costume designs for Aida. Costumes must be completed soon since I head to NYC and Mood Fabric at the end of May to shop for the rest of the fabric for this last bunch of costumes.

Love the Fortuny pleats in the last photo, and our shop has really begun to master the art of a rough-hewn pleating in the last few years.

Aida Time

rendering (with swatches) for guard

shirt prototype—love seeing the vision take shape

Well, it's time I started posting more things about Aida, the 2014 monster opera I'm working on. This project is huge, and I've already been designing costumes for about a year.

Progress is being made, however. Lots of fabric was bought last summer (lots but not all; stay tuned—another fabric buying trip to come!), and now several prototypes and actual garments are being draped. Great work being down by our costume department!

The End of All

Yes, that's toilet paper. I use it to blot the water colors.

Well, Richard III: The Terrible Reign is over. "His knell is knolled" (from Macbeth).

Here is what I do to relax after a big production is completed—start on the next one. We mount the opera Aida in just 16 short months, so I'm working to get some painted renderings to the costume room this week. I've already been working on this show for about 9 months and made one trip to NYC for fabric. But this production will have over 200 new costumes, so I'll head to Mood Fabric again this January.

I will probably do some Richard debriefing here on this blog at some point, e.g., notes about the webcast last Friday (my wife was a chatter), things I'd do differently from a design/directorial, things I learned from this experience, etc. But for now, I have designs to work on. . . .

Sleep with Perturbations

Hastings (Ryan Meers) blesses Richmond (Philip Eoute)
in rehearsal for the ghost scene.

One of my favorite parts (of many) in Shakespeare's Richard III is the scene in which all of the people Richard has murdered (or had murdered) come to haunt him. King Richard (who is really losing it about now) is on the battlefield in his tent. As he sleeps, the ghosts appear and curse him (listen for the special sound effects/voice reverb) and then proceed to bless Richmond, who lies in his tent elsewhere on the battlefield.

Dr. Ryan Meers, chairperson of the division in which I teach, agreed to take on the role of Lord Hastings. He has developed his character well over the course of the rehearsal process—I love watching the characters grow throughout the rehearsal process. (And I think he's enjoying the whole spook thing a little too much.)

For this production, I decided to outfit the ghosts (there are 8 of them) in exact replicas of the clothing they wore in life—only in soft greys. The effect, some of which we saw for the first time last week, is absolutely stunning. The costume personnel really did some fine work on these pieces. My wife actually gasped when she saw these costumes.

Bold, Quick, Ingenious, Forward, Capable

King Edward IV (Philip Eoute)
& Queen Elizabeth (Anna Brown)

Just time for a quick post with a very blurry picture of King Edward IV (one of Richard's brothers) and his queen. Queen Elizabeth's dress is ruched silver metallic fabric with studded vertical strips and a flowing, gauzy skirt and sleeves. I wish you could see the back—there's a heavy-duty exposed silver zipper. Her hair is amazing, too, an intricate weave that Alicia Carr, our wigmaster dreamed up. Queen Elizabeth's look reminds me of some kind of Victorian steampunk Barbie. Anna pulls the whole thing off quite nicely. It's one of the most fashion fused pieces in the whole show. By "fashion fused," I mean the elements of 15th century, Victorian, and futuristic are each represented in this look.

I wanted to play up the contrasts between characters with this costume. One contrast is of this new queen (who had been a commoner) with the old queen, Mad Margaret, who is dressed very quaintly and a bit frayed around the edges (something that echos her character). Another obvious contrast is Elizabeth with her husband, who appears old-fashioned next to her. Her costume also gives her a sense of strength—again, as compared with those around her. She is edgy, a bit hard, and definitely fashion forward.

Sons of Edward

Richard, Duke of York (Shelley Redlinger)
& Edward, Prince of Wales (Katrina Case)

One of the most despicable things Richard does (of many) in Shakespeare's play Richard III is to have his two young nephews, Edward and Richard, imprisoned in the Tower of London and subsequently killed. However,  history is not so definitive on this matter as is our playwright. 

The historical facts seem to be that after Richard, Duke of Gloucester (our bad guy, future King Richard III, and title character), had Queen Elizabeth's (Woodville—a commoner) marriage to his dead brother Edward IV declared illegitimate, Richard then seized the throne. He had the 12-year-old Edward (the heir apparent) sent to the tower where his brother joined him. The two princes disappeared just a month after Richard was crowned, and rumors of the day said that Richard had had the boys murdered.

Shakespeare's play leaves no doubt as to the boys' demise. In our streamlined adaptation, they are brutally killed by a character named Catesby, one of Richard's young thug-lords. Check this guy out:

KING RICHARD. Dar'st thou resolve to kill a friend of mine?
CATESBY. Please you;
    But I had rather kill two enemies.
KING RICHARD. Why, then thou hast it. Two deep enemies,
    Foes to my rest, and my sweet sleep's disturbers,
    Are they that I would have thee deal upon.
    Catesby, I mean those bastards in the Tower.
CATESBY. Let me have open means to come to them,
    And soon I'll rid you from the fear of them.
KING RICHARD. Thou sing'st sweet music.

Siblings: Princess Elizabeth of York (Margaret Stegall)
with Princes Edward & Richard

For our Richard III: The Terrible Reign, I decided to cast college girls as the young princes. Katrina and Shelley are doing a great job learning to act like pre-teen boys. They really are lovely young ladies, but you can't tell it from these pictures! I love the way Edward the prince's fur collar turned out. The boys' costumes have a strong Victorian feel. The simple golden crown leans toward the 15th century though.

The Thrall of Margaret

Beneth Jones as Queen Margaret
with me as pleased costume designer

Detail of Margaret's ruff, bodice, sleeve, & Starbucks

Mad Queen Margaret is one of Shakespeare's most interesting females (not that there are that many). She is the widow of King Henry VI, who has, like so many, been killed off by our title character Richard. Margaret's son Edward was also killed by Richard. (Before you feel too sorry for Margaret, you should know that in the Henry VI plays, Margaret was not only involved in the murder of Richard's younger brother, Rutland, but she also flaunted it by waving a napkin drenched in Rutland's blood in Richard's face.) So Margaret haunts the castle at the mercy of the York family, who she believes destroyed her life. She proceeds to curse a number of characters in the play. At first everyone ignores her rantings as those of a crazy woman and a "hateful, bitter hag," but when the curses start to come true, Richard and others have to pay attention to her. Mad Margaret's big scene in Act I, Scene 3, is emotionally charged and a challenge for any actor.

Beneth Jones is taking on this role, and I'm so excited to be working with her. Get a load of the hair, makeup (thank you, Alicia & Dan), and this incredible costume (thanks, costume room stitchers). I am thrilled with the sparkly, cobwebby material I found in Atlanta and the wonderfully gauzy fabric on the ruff. Margaret's costume is a mix of styles—the ruched sleeves come down over the edge of the hand reminiscent of the 15th century; the high-necked ruff smacks of the Victorian era, and the metal straps and buckles on the bodice seem to be from a future time. 

Like an Angel, with Bright Hair

Alicia puts extensions in Marg's hair

Dan works on the lips

Elizabeth, the future Queen

Three photos on this one. I just couldn't resist. And still so many more to post from the photo shoot earlier this week. These are of my daughter Margaret (now you see why I couldn't resist), who will be playing the part of young Elizabeth.

She doesn't have any lines in the play—just walks in, stands around, and has a great costume. Check out that shimmering, sequined, wine-colored fabric from Mood. It's fantastic. And the folks in the costume room did a great job with the cartridge pleats I asked for on the dropped waist. Elizabeth's costume is another example of the play's melding of period styles—the 15th century waistline/silhouette and simple crown mixed with the modern fabrics and cartridge pleats at the hips.

A word about hair and makeup in the production. Dan Sandy and his team are pulling out all the stops on this one. The makeup is fresh and forward thinking. And the hair designs that Alicia Carr has come up with are beyond my wildest hopes. I am loving working with these folks!

Keep watching for more amazing stuff from the hair & makeup people. (HINT: Lady Anne looks like she's stepped off a Paris runway.)

Enter KING RICHARD

How 'bout this for doors?

So many costume photos to show. But first, here's a post about the set, which has taken a back seat with all of the costume excitement. I made a quick trip to Home Depot and Lowe's over lunch today and look what I found for some of the doors on the set—grey plastic corrugated sheeting. Perfect. There will be a dozen doors across the back of the set. Lots of doors will make for quick entrances and exits, a key, I think, to making this play (incidentally, the second longest in the canon when performed uncut—this adaptation uses about 60% of the text) move along quickly. I'm eager to see what scenic artist Jason Waggoner can do with several of these plugged into my designs.

Fashions to Adorn

Today was a photo shoot for what we call our SMART (Sharing Masterworks of Art) guide. It's a pamphlet we put out for high school students/teachers and anyone else interested in a little background for the play—family trees, Shakespearean information, etc. We also take portraits/photos of the characters to give a visual reference for understanding the relationships. Photographer Hal Cook does an incredible job with helping make the costumes and the people in them look great. We got some wonderful images today.

These are shots of Ron Pyle as Richard III and his boot. Love the spikes and buckles that Barb Filipsic came up with. That boot is on only one leg—his right—and has sort of a prosthetic feel, steampunk style. And those big square buttons are fantastic on Richard's vest. Thank you, Mood!

More great photos to come in the next few days.

Fitting for Your Purpose

Becky Sandy working with Ratcliffe's jacket.

This is David Stephens, a sophomore who will be playing the role of Ratcliffe in Richard III: The Terrible Reign. The character is one of King Richard III's most trusted advisors. He presides over or participates in several executions—have I mentioned that R3 is a bloody play?

We are experimenting here again with the neoprene. You get a feeling of the stiffness of the material at the (unfinished—it won't stick out like that) front fold. I like the way it makes a strong silhouette and gives a forward, modern look to our production. And that strong v-shape never hurts either.