'BEATRICE AND BEAU' - SKETCHBOOK 2009

I designed costumes for Beatrice and Beau, one of the 14 short plays in this year's SKETCHBOOK at Collaboraction. Since light plays a large part in Beatrice and Beau, I kept the pallet light for the hipster-chic couple.

MANIFEST 2009 - COMMON GROUND

Another sneak peak a few of my designs for Columbia College Chicago's annual Manifest Spectacle Fortuna parade!


I designed these costumes for Common Grounds - Columbia's LGBTA group. The women wear an exaggerated "bubble" dress with a cinched belt, and the men wear "bubble breeches" and a fitted vest with a "bubble" lapel.

Photos thanks to Alexis Ellers
Styling by Jennifer Friedrich, the Spectacle Fortuna Artistic Director
Hair and Makeup by Jennifer Friedrich and Tania Gonzalez

'CONSTRICTION' - SKETCHBOOK 2009

Constriction is one of the short plays in Collaboraction's annual short play festival SKETCHBOOK.

A gang of girls are way over their heads when they kidnap a teacher and she accidentally overdoses on laughing gas...

SKETCHBOOK 2009 - 'NEW AMERICAN FABLE'

Collaboraction's SKETCHBOOK 2009 - New American Fable opened last night to a packed house at Chicago's Building Stage! Seven new short plays and seven devised works were chosen to be part of this year's festival. There is a huge variety in the types of theatre, dance, mime, and movement pieces that make up this year's festival. I designed all sorts of costumes ranging from space suit liners and turn of the century migrant farmers to a WWI German Zeppelin pilot and a Harajuku inspired girl gang.

With over 200 artists involved in SKETCHBOOK 2009, the design process was extremely collaborative. Each of the individual pieces are all so unique, yet as a whole the festival needed a design that flowed through out - unifying the pieces into a collective work of theatre. I kept an eye of wonder in all of the costumes I designed. Something new and fresh, or slightly magical that gave a new perspective on what could be fairly ordinary. Since there is such a variety in performances I interpreted this differently for each piece.

In Para Carmen - a choreographed dance based on Lhasa de Sela's piece 'De cara a la pared' - I used a whimsical, light, and ethereal palette to create the early 20th century migrant farm worker's clothing. A light yellow bonnet shared by 3 dancers signified the passing of one woman's lifetime as it flashed before her in her death.

In What Am I Supposed To Be I created caricatured, storybook-like costumes for many characters, including a blushing bride, an experimental scientist, a convict on death row, and an American soldier. But unlike a storybook, these characters were all not what their costume suggested they were. The bride was nervous and unhappy, the scientist's experiment had gone horribly wrong, the convict was not just waiting for his death, and the soldier struggled with society's simultaneous expectations and neglect.

For Beatrice and Beau I coordinated outfits to create the picturesque cute couple. Both were completely dressed in very light colors - creating an other-worldly tableau. There was also a care-free ease to their costumes which contributed to the "roles" the characters were forced to play within the piece and highlighted their disillusionment at the end of the play.

Here's a short video from WGNTV in Chicago!

Tweets in Collaboractions' Sketchbook fun to follow'by Hedy Weiss for the Chicago Sun-Times

Theatre Review: Sketchbook Festival by Nina Metz for The Chicago Tribune

I will be posting more photos and information of my designs in the next few weeks.

Special thanks to my crew of wonderful and talented assistants:
Bethany Kelly
Kelly Coll
Kelsey Rhodes
Krystal Troutman
Stephanie McNair
Stephanie Paradiso

Don't miss SKETCHBOOK 2009 - New American Fable - there's no other theatre like it playing in Chicago. The shows run through May 10th. Use promotion code 165 for $3 off any tickets at Collaboraction.org.

'PARA CARMEN' - SKETCHBOOK 2009

Para Carmen is one of seven devised works in Collaboraction's annual SKETCHBOOK. Para Carmen is a dance piece created by Sandra Delgado, and is inspired by Lhasa de Sela's piece 'De cara a la pared'.

Michelle Nolan photographed the dancers last weekend.

Photograph courtesy of Michelle Nolan Photography.

SKETCHBOOK opens this weekend at Collaboraction, April 18th and runs through May 10th. Get your tickets now, and use promotion code 165 for discounts!

MANIFEST 2009 - MOVED DANCE GROUP

Here is a sneak peak of the costumes I've designed for MOVED - Columbia College Chicago's dance group. They will be participating in Columbia's Manifest Spectacle Fortuna Parade on Friday, May 15th.


As Spectacle Costume Shop Manager at Columbia, I lead a crew of student employees to design and build the costumes for the Manifest Spectacle Fortuna Parade, as well as many other college-wide events. For MOVED, I created a structured paper mache breastplate made out of tissue paper and paired it with a flowy chiffon A-line dress.

Photos courtesy of Alexis Ellers
Styling by Jennifer Friedrich, the Spectacle Fortuna Artistic Director
Hair and Makeup by Jennifer Friedrich and Tania Gonzalez

'A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN' - JEFF RECOMMENDED!

Josie and Phil Hogan played by Erin Noel Grennan and Larry Neumann, Jr.

A Moon For The Misbegotten opened this weekend at First Folio Theatre in Oak Brook.
 

A Moon For The Misbegotten is one of O'Neill's more heart-wrenching and also surprisingly funny plays.
Phil and Josie Hogan make quite the father-daughter pair, both are headstrong and quick witted, and few can get the best of them when they work together. T. Stedman Harder, the rich oil-man who has built up an estate adjacent to their tenant farm can barely keep his composure as Phil and Josie ridicule him for the "funny jockey's pants" he is wearing. Harder is the image of wealth and privileged in his riding outfit, and he starkly contrasts Hogan's rough appearance and soiled overalls and dingy shirt.

Phil Hogan's schemes seem only to be bested by their landlord and old friend, Jim Tyrone. Jim is an extremely likable Broadway gambler, womanizer, and alcoholic. Jim looks sharp in a summery brown three-piece suit. His dress looks as if he didn't belong on the farm, but his easy manner and familiarity with Josie and Phil mesh naturally. After having long promised to sell the farm to Phil and Josie, Jim gets the best of Phil by pretending that his promise doesn't "go north of ten thousand bucks," and that he would sell the farm to Harder without a second thought.

Always the schemer, Phil creates a web to bring Josie and Jim together- if only briefly. He used "everything [he] knew" about both Josie and Jim, as well as a few lies, to make them realize they loved each other. Each character has their own lies they tell others, and themselves. And in the end, Jim is already too far gone for Josie to save from drinking, and from himself.

I built two blue cotton calico dresses for Josie in the production. Blue is a beautiful color on actor Erin Noel Grennan, and a very fitting color for Josie - blue can be both very strong and also melancholy. I chose a subtle, light calico for the first dress we see Josie in. I liked the slight femininity that the gentle floral pattern gave her in a very utilitarian style work dress. Josie changes for a "moonlight date" with Jim, and I made this second dress out of a midnight blue calico with larger flowers in red and white scattered across it. This pattern was more boldly feminine that the dress that she was most comfortable in and highlighted her embarrassment at being so dressed up when Jim missed the date. I designed both dresses to button down the front so that Josie could show more of her "big, beautiful breasts" than may have been decent for most women of the period.

Check out this video from The Stage Channel of one of the scenes from the play.

The production is Jeff Recommended, and here are some reviews!

Theatre Review: 'A Moon for the Misbegotten' by Kerry Reid for The Chicago Tribune

O'Neill's 'A Moon for the Misbegotten' gets better with age by Barbara Vitello for the Daily Herald

'A Moon for the Misbegotten' by Tom Williams for ChicagoCritic.com

'SPACELAB 2030' - SKETCHBOOK 2009

This is the SpaceLab 2030 photo shoot with mime, actor, and devisor Dean Evans for SKETCHBOOK 2009 - New American Fable at Collaboraction. SKETCHBOOK is an annual festival of 14 short plays and devised works. It opens on April 18th - don't miss it - there will be a huge variety of theatre, dance, music, ...and costumes!

Check out this great time lapse video of the shoot from photographer Ryan Robinson.


SpaceLab 2030 from Ryan Robinson Studio on Vimeo.

SKETCHBOOK 2009 - New American Fable runs through May 10th at The Building Stage in Chicago.

Video and photo courtesy of Ryan Robinson Studio.

MANIFEST 2008 VIDEO

I am the Spectacle Costume Shop Manager at Columbia College Chicago. Along with a crew of students I design and build spectacle costumes for college events including new student Convocation, gallery openings, department events, Pride, and Manifest. Manifest is a college-wide urban arts festival that covers Chicago's south loop, celebrating senior and grad student work.

Here is the video of last year's Manifest, including the Spectacle Fortuna parade.



Don't miss Manifest this year - Friday, May 15th!

'DESIGN FOR LIVING'

Design For Living opened this weekend at First Folio Theatre.


Design For Living was written by Noel Coward in 1932. Coward wrote the play intending for Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, and himself to play the leading roles of Otto, Gilda, and Leo. The comedy chronicles the complicated love triangle that entangles the three characters over the course of several years. Through the years Otto and Leo become more successful with help and encouragement from Gilda. Each act of the play takes place in a different country and at a different point in each of the characters' careers.

One of the most interesting aspects of the play is the change in status that Leo, Otto, and Gilda experience. In the first act Otto is a struggling artist living in a small Parisian apartment. I chose a dull suit that appeared to be slightly too large for him, but a suit that could pass on an artist that is trying to look good and move his way up in the world. I put him in a soft cap and worn cashmere overcoat - perhaps something that he may have bought used or been given.

Leo, by contrast, enters in the first act wearing a very fine three piece wool suit. His shoes are polished and he has obviously made his way towards being a successful playwright. Act two is set in his posh London flat. His dress is more conservative in color and cut than when we see him in act one.

Otto and Leo wearing Ernest's pajamas at the end of the play

By the second act, Otto has caught up to Leo and is now painting "popular people at popular prices." He reappears wearing a beautiful navy pinstripe suit, a new cashmere coat, and a fedora. The moment he walks in Gilda can see from his clothing that he has become a successful artist.


Gilda's clothing makes this same journey. In the first act she is wearing simple pajamas and a girlish bed jacket. As Leo and Otto become more successful her clothing becomes more fashionable. In act two I made a gold ruffled robe for her to lounge in; and later she wears a Chinese inspired embroidered pajama set.


In the end, some things will never change, no matter how much time or success has passed by.
"Reason and intelligence" prompted Gilda to wear her favorite green dress with her matching earrings on the evening that Leo came back. I also chose to have her wear that same dress the night that Leo and Otto return in act three.


Ernest is a close friend of Leo, Otto, and Gilda's, and for a short time is also Gilda's husband. He is an older art dealer, and I wanted his costume to portray his slightly conservative morals and show the age difference between him and the three others. He enters in the first scene wearing a wonderful light blue seersucker suit, red bow tie, and matching corsage.


Special thanks to my assistant Kelsey Rhodes!

The run of the show is nearly sold out already, so if you're hoping to see the show get your tickets soon! Tickets can be purchased at www.firstfolio.org

Watch a video clip here! ...and a second clip here!

Reviews:

Wit, Sex Tipled in Coward Revival by Kerry Reid for The Chicago Tribune

Subtler 'Living' Still Showcases Cowards Sharp Wit by Barbara Vitello for The Daily Herald

'Design for Living' by Joe Stead for SteadstyleChicago.com

"Coward’s three act dark comedy looks fine in the early 1930’s women’s dress and hair styles..."
from 'Design for Living' written by Tom Williams for ChicagoCritic.com

THE BEST OF 2008

Several shows that I designed for this past year made it onto 'The Best of 2008' lists!


From Newcity's Top Five of Everything 2008: Stage:

Top 5 Shows rated by Monica Westin: The Birthday Party at Signal Ensemble Theatre
Top 5 Shows rated by Nina Metz: Jon at Collaboraction
Top 5 Revivals rated by Fabrizio O. Almeida: The Birthday Party at Signal Ensemble Theatre
Top 5 Productions of Shakespeare rated by Dennis Polkow: Much Ado About Nothing at First Folio Theatre


From Fringe Theaters Are Doing It For Themselves by Kerry Reid for The Chicago Tribune:

Honorable Mention: The Birthday Party at Signal Ensemble Theatre


From 2008 Suburban Theater Highlights by Barbara Vitello for The Daily Herald:

Jeeves Intervenes at First Folio TheatreMuch Ado About Nothing at First Folio Theatre

'THE AUTUMN GARDEN' - Jeff Recommened!

I designed costumes for Lillian Hellman's The Autumn Garden at Eclipse Theatre which runs November 15 through December 21. The Autumn Garden is known as Lillian Hellman's masterpiece, and her most mature drama.

The Autumn Garden takes place in a small Gulf Coast town outside of New Orleans in 1949. A group of old friends, now middle-aged, meet at the end of the summer at Constance Tuckerman's guesthouse . Constance, and her french-born niece Sophie, live in the family home, now turned into a guesthouse after Constance's parents died and the family fortune was gone.

Many of the old friends visiting for the summer are regular summer guests. Carrie Ellis, her son Frederick, and her mother-in-law Mrs. Ellis visit every summer, as do General Benjamin Griggs and his wife Rose. This summer, however, Constance's former flame Nick Denery and his wife visit, and disrupt many of the romantic ideals Constance held about her old beau and about life, and love, in general.

Just as Constance is discovering what type of man Nick really is, the other characters are struggling with their own personal realizations.

General Griggs wants a divorce from his child-like wife, Rose, but comes to realize that the time will never really be right to leave Rose, and that he will "live to like her less" but will stay with her despite knowing this.

Sophie struggles in a new life in America, having left German occupied France and her mother at the insistence of her Aunt Constance. Although Constance has done everything to make Sophie happy in her new life, Sophie can't be at ease with herself in these foreign surroundings. Sophie agrees to marry Frederick, knowing that the marriage will be the closest thing to a better life, and possibly her best chance at returning home someday.

While many of the characters came from the same town, and grew up together as children and young adults, I wanted to visually display the difference between the characters with old-money, the nouveau-riche, and the formerly wealthy.

The Ellis's are old-money- I costumed Carrie and Mrs. Ellis in conservative lines and soft colors, mainly light blues and creams. Their jewelry is rich, yet tasteful.


Rose Griggs, on the other hand, is nouveau-riche. Her costumes are much more vibrant in color than the Ellis's (ranging from reds to pinks), and her jewelry is decidedly more flashy. The silhouette of Rose's costumes are much more form-fitting and less conservative, accenting her young and child-like personality.

With the Tuckerman wealth gone, Constance is now running the guesthouse to make ends meet. Courtney O'Neill's set exudes former wealth, but Constance's dresses needed to look "cheap" or hand-sewn. I used faded floral patterns for all of her dresses, evocative of former wealth a wilting garden in the fall. Constance's jewelry consisted of a simple gold locket.

Another important distinction that I wanted to clarify through costume was where the characters were from. Constance, the Ellis's, Rose Griggs, and Nick Denery are all from the South. General Griggs is a West Point military man; Nina, Nick's wife, is a New Yorker; and Sophie is French.

I gave Nina Denery's costumes a much more stream-lined look than the southern women's outfits. She mainly wears navy, and her costumes are much more tailored and with sharper edges than the other women's dresses. Although she is wealthy, her clothing and jewelry does not flaunt her wealth. She has a more elegant style than the other women.


Sophie does not have the "chic" that the other characters in The Autumn Garden expect from a European girl. She is not at complete ease with herself, and her costumes suggest her awkward sweetness. I chose faded prints for Sophie's costumes, as I had done with Constance's dresses. The first dress we see Sophie wearing is an ill-fitting party dress made of sheer faded floral fabric. This fabric makes Sophie look delicate, fragile, and easily passed by. I also favored pale plaids for her other dresses. These lines made Sophie appear boxed in and trapped.

As a military man, Griggs has more formality in his costume. He is always seen wearing a tie, and in several scenes is in a three piece suit. He is a little more old fashioned in his ways, as in his dress, and he is also a man resigned to old habits (in both life and dress.)

Here are some reviews:

"The extraordinary design team creates one of the loveliest settings seen this year, accented by Elsa Hiltner’s gorgeous costume design and Cecil Averett’s beguiling musical composition."
'The Autumn Garden' by Venus Zarris for The Chicago Stage Review

"The production values are expert with Courtney O'Neill's fine set, Chris Corwin's lighting and Elsa Hiltner's period-perfect costumes."
'The Autumn Garden' by Tom Williams for ChicagoCritic.com

"Courtney O'Neill's set suggests faded wealth and makes the most of a tiny stage space, and Elsa Hiltner's period costumes add zest."
Hellman's 'Garden' Doesn't Bring Out the Best in Characters, Story by Hedy Weiss for the Chicago Sun-Times

'The Autumn Garden' by Anna Pulley for CenterStage Chicago

Photos thanks to Eclipse Theatre Company.

'JON' - Jeff Recommended!

Collaboraction's Jon opened last night at the Building Stage! This premier based on George Saunder's short story by the same name has gotten a lot of attention from the press.

Jon is set in the corporate facility where a group of teens have lived and worked since birth, knowing very little about the outside world around them. They rate designer clothing, fad energy drinks, and new teen-consumer items under the management of the facility staff.

Jon falls in love with Carolyn, both having grown up in the facility, and soon Carolyn becomes pregnant. With the prospect of raising a baby as a teen mother in the facility, Carolyn begins to question if the only life she has known would be the best for their child.

I created a bold color scheme to make the group of teens cohesive, and within the group I designed character-driven silhouettes that distinguished the teens as individuals. Kimberly has a punk streak, Ruth is a bit of a goth, Carolyn is the class-president-type, Josh has a little young republican in him, Brad is a video game 'nerd', and Jon is a stoner-jock. I used these labels loosely, as all of the clothing they wore (and the way they wore it) needed look as if it were designed for the mainstream American teen, but with an added edge. I drew a lot of my design inspiration and research from advertisements and store fronts.

The facility staff wore the office "uniform" of corporate America: khaki pants, blue collared shirt, a bland tie, cell phone holster on the belt, and key card lanyard.

Chris Jones reviews Jon on CBS Chicago - view the video here!

A video clip from Jon posted by video designer Mike Tutaj.

A second video clip posted by Mike Tutaj.

And, a third video clip posted to blip.tv.

An interview with George Saunders about the play Jon:
Consumed with Desire: Writer George Saunders Discusses His Collaboraction Collaboration, by Monica Westin from Newcity Stage

An article about Director/Adapter Seth Bockley's meetings with George Saunders from Collaboraction's website.

Collaboraction's 'Jon' Has Finger on Pulse of Our Robotic, Materialistic Society, by Hedy Weiss in the Chicago Sun-Times

Hyper-Marketed Worlds Rings True In 'Jon', by Chris Jones for The Theatre Loop at ChicagoTribune.com

'Jon' - Theatre Review, by Kris Vire for Time Out Chicago

'Jon,' by Tom Williams for ChicagoCritic.com

'Jon,' by Tony Adler for the Chicago Reader

The Medium Is The Mess: Collaboraction Adapts A "Genius" Short Story, by Jonathan Messinger from Time Out Chicago

Teens Try To Get Real In Fleshed-Out 'Jon', by Mary Houlihan for the Chicago Sun-Times

'THE CRUCIBLE'

When I began designing for The Crucible I felt that it was very important to keep the costumes rooted historically. I also wanted to create a clear distinction between the witch-hunting girls and their followers.

I built most of the costumes for this production, and I kept a very historically accurate silhouette with every costume I made. I also chose to use a natural color pallet of earth tone dyes.

The girls wore pastel earth tone dresses with girlish touches - dainty bows, modest lace, small buttons. Comparatively, the older townspeople wore darker earth tones and had few extra touches added to their puritan dress.

I also illustrated the divide between the rich townspeople and the poorer farmers. Richer characters, such as Putnam, wore smoother, more luxurious fabric. Farmers, like Proctor, were dressed in rougher fabrics. Richer characters were also dressed in higher contrast colors (a deeply colored coat with a very bright white collar - vs. a more subdued coat with an off-white collar.)

JEFF AWARD NOMINATION - BEST COSTUME DESIGN!

I've been nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Costume Design for my Driving Miss Daisy design at First Folio Shakespeare Festival!