'THE SPINNING'

The Spinning opened at Balagan Theatre May 10th at the Capitol Hill Arts Center in Seattle. I designed and constructed the costumes for The Spinning, a new S&M musical and a modern love story written by Seattle's Dashel Milligan.

Collaboration is the most important part of creating theatre, and my favorite aspect of costume design. I have loved working on an original piece because the process of arriving at the final show was really a collaboration of all theatrical design aspects.

The Spinning was a timeless story and much of the action was set in an alternative reality. I didn't have the set restrictions of time period and place that normally accompany a script. This allowed me to use aspects of a variety of places and time periods to create a distinctive look for each character. Mood, tone, and line came first in my costume designs, and a through line of S&M wear kept the group of individual characters cohesive.

Here are some reviews:

From the Seattlest: 'The Spinning' @ CHAC:
http://seattlest.com/2007/05/11/the_spinning_chac.php

From the Seattle Weekly (Scroll down past the In The Kafka Colony review):
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2007-05-16/arts/in-the-kafka-colony-treats-all-things-kafkaesque-with-a-light-touch.php

'STEEL MAGNOLIAS'

I recently designed costume for Steel Magnolias at SecondStory Repertory Theatre. The production closed April 28th.

When I began the design process for Steel Magnolias I focused on each character as an individual before I began looking at the group of women as a whole. It was very important to me, and to the director Caitlin Finne, that the women were shown as well rounded individuals with all the complexities of real people.
After I had a clear understanding of each of the women I began looking at them as a group. Their friendship and unconditional love bound them together and helped them grow.
Just as every woman added to the group and complemented the others in it, their costumes worked together in a similar way. Each woman had her own mode of dress, yet they all complemented each other.

Color is also very important to the script. Shelby only wears pink. I chose to use color groupings to illustrate the women's differences within the cohesive group.

Photos thanks to Caitlin Finne.