Ready? Set? (no) GO!

Summer Stock 2013

a representation of my soul or costume research?

Well, it has begun.  My summer of crazy.  "Do summer stock!" they said.  "It'll be fun!" they said.  And honestly, it's not terrible.  It's certainly not the best representation of organized stock theatre, but it's something.  Technically I'm building a professional resume.  I'm doing costume design - spending my hours digging through the mess of the costume loft.  We do have a huge number of costumes.  About a third of them are hanging - jammed so tight that you have to tug hard to get one out far enough to see if it's usable.  The other two thirds of costumes are crumpled and jammed into bins which aren't labeled.  They are stacked to the roof in a very inaccessible way.  If they're not in a bin, they are in a pile. On hangers.  So when you find a contender, you not only have to dig, but unhook all of the tangled hangers on the way.  The other minor problem is that this loft in in the theatre.  The theatre is a closed in building, but it might as well be an open air theatre.  The costumes have not only been exposed to the elements including moisture, but they have been set upon by the chipmunks and peed upon by bats. 

STORY OF MY LIFE  (ps. this site is genius) 

Costuming here is a challenge to say the least.  Especially because we're in the lovely "North Woods" of Wisconsin where cheese curds are fried and served with ranch dressing and beer flows more freely than water.  So what, right?  Well the majority of costumes that we own range from size 2 to 6.  We have a fair number of 8 to 12.  But in the land were a size 10 woman looks like the anorexic in a room full of elephants, let's just say that we could use a few dresses sizes 20 through 24.

Reading back through what I've written I sound really bitter and very harsh.  But you know, I'm not going to delete it.  It's honest.  And really the only complaint I have at present is that I'm cold.  Now that's a weather thing, not a theatre disaster.  All in all, I am learning.  I'm making new friends with different theatre backgrounds and lots of knowledge to share.  It's a beautiful thing - this networking stuff.

We've got some photographer coming today to take uniform mugshots-I-mean-headshots so patrons know who we are.  I'm getting ready for my close up.

cheers!