'THE BIRTHDAY PARTY'

Petey, Stanley, and Meg at breakfast, ACT 1

Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party opens this Monday, July 28 at Signal Ensemble Theatre.

The Birthday Party is one of my favorite plays, and I was very happy to have the opportunity to design costumes for director Aaron Snook's production.

The costumes and set for this production were very naturalistic. We wanted to create a realistic world in which Goldberg and McCann could create a psychological disturbance, but leave the surface in Meg and Petey's home unchanged. Goldberg and McCann's disturbances were underscored by Julie Ballard's lighting design.

Meg and Petey at breakfast, ACT 1

The color scheme for Melania Lancy's set was grayed cream and beige - a dried up and withered palette. This made an excellent backdrop for my costumes. Meg, Petey, and Stanley's colors were moldy and deteriorating while still keeping their vibrancy.

Stanley and Petey wore mainly plaids and stripes. These patterns created a barred in and jailed aura around the characters.

Petey and Stanley, ACT 1

McCann and Stanley, ACT 2

I gave Meg a boldly floral teal dress for Act 1 and 3. The scooped collar and large flowers gave Meg an agelessly youthful appearance; yet the blocked and linear layout of the flowers added to the overall trapped feeling of the play.

I wanted Meg's party dress to look like a little girls 'special dress-up dress'. I knew at once that it needed to have a puffy skirt, a large bow, and some sort of rhinestoned brooch, all adding to a youthful air while staying in the same vibrant molding color scheme.

Meg's house dress ACT 1 & 3 and party dress ACT 2

Goldberg and McCann wear dark suits, ties, and black fedoras - a uniform complete with small insignia lapel pins. When Stanley enters in Act 3 McCann and Goldberg have dressed him in this same uniform, although Stanley's uniform is slightly ill-fitting - as though it has been years since he has last worn it.

McCann and Goldberg, ACT 1

Lulu entered in Act 1 in a sweet red floral jumper and white cardigan; the epitome of the girl next door. Lulu was the only character who came from the outside world, grounded in a truly natural, 'modern' reality. Meg, Petey, and Stanley have a very closed off existence, very little contemporary influence from the outside world, few visitors, and Stanley rarely leaves the house. I dressed Lulu more flashy colors that the other characters. She brought life, and fresh air, into Meg and Petey's house that could only be illustrated with a cheerful floral dress and girlish sweater.

Stanley and Lulu, ACT 1

When Lulu enters for Stanley's birthday party she is wearing a much more mature and fitted red dress. This vibrant sexy, yet sweet dress expresses Lulu desire to both attract and retain her girlish innocence.

The party with McCann, Lulu, Stanley, Goldberg, and Meg, ACT 2

Some reviews:

"The design team — Melania Lancy (set), Julie E. Ballard (lights), Elsa Hiltner (costumes) and sound (Anthony Ingram) — has done impeccable work."

-The Birthday Party' Celebrates a Perfect Moment, by Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun Times

"Snook is also measurably assisted by Elsa Hiltner’s elegiac costuming, Melania Lancey’s quaint set and Julie Ballard’s moody lighting. All three elements add up to create a world of lyrical realism."
-'The Birthday Party', by Brian Kirst, Chicago Free Press

"The production values, always high caliber in a Signal Ensemble show, are evidenced by Melania Lancy’s quaint cottage-like set with Elsa Hiltner’s costume design together with Julie E. Ballard’s lighting and Anthony Ingram’s sound design."
-'The Birthday Party', by Tom Williams, ChicagoCritic.com

Intelligent Birthday Party; Partial 'Torch Song', by Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune

'The Birthday Party'
-Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago

'The Birthday Party'
-Jack Haffenkamp, Edge-Chicago

'The Birthday Party' (Signal Ensemble Theatre)
-Rob Kozlowski from The Rob Kozlowski Chicago Theatre and Vintage Film Medicine Show

Tension Crashes Intriguing 'Birthday Party'
-by Barbara Vitello, The Daily Herald

Theatre: 'The Birthday Party'
-Mary Shen Barnidge, Windy City Times

'DANCING AT LUGHNASA'

Dancing At Lughnasa is a memory play; and I wanted the costume design to aid in the overall feeling of deeply ingrained, yet misty memories. I used a soft color palette and delicate patterns in the costumes. All of the costumes were very gentle. Gentle in texture, color, and design.

With the exception of Kate's school suit, the sisters wore similar floral dresses, cardigans, and aprons. Simple touches added to their costumes gave them a sense of individuality - but in a struggling household special individual items would be minimal.

Some Dancing At Lughnasa reviews:

'Dancing at Lughnasa' Opens up in Oak Park
-Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune

Oak Park Festival Theatre - 'Dancing At Lughnasa' from The Oak Park Journal

'Dancing At Lughnasa'
-Tom Williams from ChicagoCritic.com

'MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING' - Jeff Recommended!

Antonio, Hero, Don Pedro, Beatrice, and Benedick at the masked ball

First Folio's Jeff Recommended Much Ado About Nothing opened last Friday at the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook and runs through August 17.

Director Michael Goldberg and I discussed several possible time periods to set the play in. We needed a time period that a free and independent woman like Beatrice could fit in to; but also one that held women's honor at the highest level - where death would be preferable to living with the shame of infidelity. I also felt that it was important to choose a time period with a flowing, loose, and pretty silhouette. I didn't want a time period that had stiff corsets or large amounts of fabric on either the women or the men. Since it's an outdoor summer show it was important to me to keep the fabrics light, cool, and breathable for both the women and the men. The characters within Much Ado had an ease about them that perfectly fit the Regency period.

Beatrice and Benedick

All of the women's dresses, overlays, aprons, petticoats, and corset-lettes were made for the show by my assistant Lucie Adler and myself, with the exception of one ensemble dress that I rented. The historical color scheme for Regency women is very light, if not white. I wanted a little color in their costumes for theatricality's sake, and designed Ursula, Maraget, and ensemble women's dresses in a very light color pallet of light blue, soft green, and a touch of yellow. Beatrice and Hero's costumes were in light creams. This slight distinction in color pallet kept all the women historically in the correct period, but also allowed Hero and Beatrice's dresses to pop a bit more on stage than the other women's.

'Elsa Hiltner's handsome ethereal gowns lend an air of easy elegance to the ladies of Messina.'

-Kerry Reid, Strong First Folio Cast Delivers This Summer's Straight-Up 'Ado', The Chicago Tribune, July 16th, 2008

Sketch of men's military uniforms

Napoleon was the main influence for the men's military uniforms. There are two factions within the military men's group: Don Pedro's men, and Don John's men. I distinguished between these two groups (who were essentially wearing the same uniform) by the color of the waist sash. Don Pedro's loyal men wore gold sashes, while Don John's men wore jealous olive-black sashes. Within the groups individual men wore their uniforms slightly differently. As the Prince, Don Pedro had a more regal coat, military medals, and more lace on his shirt and jabot. The other men's coats had front flaps that could be fully buttoned, folded down, or left completely open. This offered a wide variety of looks within the same uniform. For example, Borachio - Don John's often drunk companion, wore his uniform with very little regard, often with the coat flap fully unbuttoned or discarding the coat all together.

I also wanted the men to arrive in full uniform, and then begin to loose pieces as they became more relaxed and at home on Leonato's estate. In several scenes in the garden the men do not wear their coats or jabots. This furthered the feeling of ease at Leonato's house, and created a clear difference between Claudio and Don Pedro's attitudes towards Leonato and his family before the first wedding and later in the play. After Claudio hears of Hero's infidelity he looses his former ease and wears his full uniform.

Benedick, Don Pedro, and Claudio in full uniform

I created a complementing neutral pallet for the ensemble men, and used the same pallet with more contrast for Leonato and Antonio's costumes. I pulled richer fabrics for Leonato's costume, yet allowed the pieces to be worn in the same relaxed way that the soldiers wear their uniform, creating a strong sense of ease on Leonatos' estate.

Extra costume pieces were added over the ensemble men's base to create characters such as the watch or gardeners.

When I began designing Dogberry's costume I had a lot of discussions with Director Michael Goldberg on what direction he wanted to take the character. I created a costume based on our discussions, but allowed to make changes on the design based on the rehearsal process. One of my favorite aspects of Dogberry's costume was the old, dirty powdered wig I gave him for the trial of Conrade and Borachio. That wig summed up Dogberry's attitude about himself as an upstanding citizen and a gentleman of style - and clearly would not have the effect on others that he was assuming it would. In the end very little needed to be changed from our original discussions.

First Folio Shakespeare Festival has posted a video clip of Much Ado About Nothing on their site.

Here are some reviews (I'll post more as they come):

"Elsa Hiltner's handsome ethereal gowns lend an air of easy elegance to the ladies of Messina."
-from Strong First Folio Cast Delivers This Summer's Straight-Up 'Ado' by Kerry Reid from The Chicago Tribune (July 16th 2008)

"Goldberg updates the play to the Regency Era, which is reflected exclusively in Elsa Hiltner's dapper, early 19th-century costumes: dark tailcoats and buttery yellow trousers tied with gold sashes for the noblemen; simple, pale blue and off-white empire dresses for the women; and rough-hewn, earth-tone garb for the middle-class rustics."
-from Barbara Vitello's First Folio Presents A Merry 'Much Ado' The Daily Herald (July 18, 2008)

" Make a mental note of the beautiful Regency-era clothing by costumer Elsa Hiltner;..."
-from THEATRE 'Much Ado About Nothing' by Scott C. Morgan from Windy City Times (July 23, 2008)

First Folio's 'Much Ado' A Clever, Funny Staging by Sandy Illian Bosch from Pioneer Local (July 17th 2008)

Terrific Humor from an Outstanding Cast Propels 'Much Ado About Nothing' by Tom Williams from ChicagoCritic.com

"Nick Sandy’s stylized fight choreography is highly effective, as are Elsa Hiltner’s delicious period costumes."
-from 'Much Ado' At First Folio by Randy Hardwick, ChicagoCritic.com

Review 'Much Ado About Nothing' At First Folio by Scott Zacher from Chicago Theatre Blog, July 24, 2008

Photos thanks to David Rice.

ABBA - DANCING QUEENS

Chicago's Gay Pride Parade was last weekend - and as Spectacle Costume Shop manager I designed the costumes for Columbia College Chicago's 'ABBA - Dancing Queens' themed float.


After meeting with Columbia's LGBTA advisors, I designed two styles of costumes: a one-piece jumpsuit with wide flowing legs; and a crop top matched with either a mini skirt or hot pants. We decided to keep the costumes all in white with highlights of several of Columbia's school colors. Both styles of costume were further unified by an irridencent cape lined in Columbia's colors.

We had almost thirty Columbia students and staff costumed for the float. And we received an Honorable Mention for our float.

Here are more photos of the float posted online by others:
From Columbia College Chicago
A really great photo of the whole float!
Another float photo with a bit of a close-up of one of the costumes.
And another float photo!