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Costume Troubleshooting:
Stopping the Train Wreck
Onstage the cast of “Grease” sang and danced their
way through another act. In one of the wings, Leslie Darling was frantically
threading a needle with a long piece of sturdy thread. Standing in front of
her was a cast member with an awkward costume malfunction: during his previous
scene, which required him to walk with his pants around his ankles, he had
ripped the zipper out of the front of his trousers.
“I worked summer stock for 20 years,” says Darling. “The same
guy would break his zipper every time. I’d be there to stitch him up
until the end of the show.” There was no time to whip off the pants and
repair them with a sewing machine; Darling had to improvise. As she had many
times before, she sewed up the actor and sent him on his way.
Last-minute costume emergencies like this are nothing new for Darling, the
costume shop manager at Tracy Theatre Originals in Hampton, N.H., and for
thousands of other designers who constantly tread the delicate line between
creating breathtaking wardrobes for current shows and keeping them in good
working order for future ones. After all, as some designers contend, the wardrobe
can make or break a show.
As a supplier of every type of costume from opera dresses to the six-foot
bunny at the annual White House Easter Egg Hunt, Jonn Schenz is a firm believer
that properly measured, fitted and maintained wardrobe is the key to a successful
production. Schenz founded his company, Schenz Theatrical Supply, Inc., 40
years ago in Cincinnati, Ohio. Originally trained as a dancer, Schenz came
to rely on his wardrobe to help him get in character no matter what show he
was doing. “We worked in rep, and we did three different shows at the
same time,” he remembers. “Sometimes you have to stop and think,
‘Who am I in this show’? When you put on that wardrobe, you know
who you are.” For this reason, there’s a lot riding on the costume
designer’s skill and quick thinking. “My job is to make sure things
get to the theatre on time, and as close to budget as possible,” says
Callie Floor, manager of the costume rental program at the American Conservatory
Theater in San Francisco.
How can a costume designer ensure that all the bases are covered for opening
night? First and foremost, try to have the old standbys: time and money. “My
one grand piece of wisdom for anyone undertaking the task of dressing actors
for a play or musical is that you must have either time or money—and
preferably both,” says Ann Carnaby, who owns Tracy Theatre Originals.
According to Carnaby, if a theatre has a severely limited budget, then the
staff needs to schedule additional work hours to execute the costumes economically—“time
to plan, time to shop for the best prices and time to explore less expensive
alternatives.”
By contrast, if there is little time to gather costumes, then a theatre should
expect to spend more money on its wardrobe. In this case, Carnaby recommends
that the production staff go to a vendor whom they know and like, or to one
known for its quality and reliability, rather than spending valuable time
shopping around for a lower price from an unknown source.
Also critical to the success of costuming a production is effective communication.
Cindy Catanese, owner of Disguises Costumes in Lakewood, Colo., recommends
that designers clearly understand what the director wants from day one. “Ask
questions, repeat things, draw pictures,” she says. “Do everything
you can do to make sure that you’re on the same page as the director.”
It’s critical that the designer study the script and create a costume
plot, listing what’s required for the production and blending all of
the costumes together in a palette so that certain costumes don’t overpower
others—unless they’re supposed to. “You have to know the character
before you costume him or her,” says Schenz. “For example, is he
or she a brazen personality or a milquetoast?” Beyond creating or renting
a costume, a designer’s job is to enhance each character, adds Schenz.
Floor notes that talking to the individual actors is also a key part of her
job as a costume designer. “Be really communicative with the actors so
that they trust you to produce the right wardrobe for them,” she says.
In addition, Carnaby and Schenz insist upon taking actors’ measurements
with a measuring tape rather than relying on a verbal estimate. “People
typically take inches off the waist and add inches to the chest,” says
Schenz. “It’s human nature. You need to ensure that the costume
will fit properly, so double-check everything first.” After preparing
the wardrobe for a specific production, Catanese hangs all of the garments
side-by-side on a rack. “I look to make sure everything matches all of
the measurements, that nothing stands out and the show has a good overall
look.” Then Catanese provides each actor with a list of assigned pieces.
This keeps pieces from disappearing and speeds the return of wardrobe at the
end of a production.
Even with beautiful costumes that fit and hang just right, actors will sometimes
experience difficulties before they go onstage. Many last-minute costume crises
revolve around rips, tears and misplaced items — “zippers failing,
buttons popping, costumes falling off,” says Schenz. Adds Catanese, “I’ve
had costume coordinators tell me that they broke zippers or the whole crotch
of a pair of pants came apart.” Even worse: actors who become enamored
of a wardrobe item, take it home, and forget to bring it back. Floor notes
that pieces disappear more often in small, local community theatre productions,
which have a greater chance of actors leaving the theatre with their costume.
“Then during a performance I’ll hear, ‘Oh, I forgot my hat!’”
laughs Floor. “I know somebody who had to make a replacement hat at the
last minute using a paper plate and some toilet paper.”
Leslie Darling’s experience of constantly sewing up the same actor’s
zipper during multiple presentations of “Grease” is not atypical.
During a recent production of “The Wizard of Oz” at the Cincinnati
Playhouse, Jonn Schenz recalls a panicked last-minute zipper malfunction:
“We had 30 seconds to sew an entire zipper into a costume before a guy
went on stage.” With so little time, costumer Deb Girdler couldn’t
rush the pants over to a sewing machine, so she had to hand-stitch everything
on the spot. Although Girdler worked quickly, she still went through four
new zippers before finding one that worked—and not a moment too soon.
What if there’s no time to stitch a new zipper into someone’s wardrobe?
“That’s when you slip in a safety pin and pray that it doesn’t
pop open when the actor’s onstage,” says Schenz, warning that the
pin should be removed as soon as possible. “Otherwise,” adds Darling,
“you’ll eventually tear the fabric in the costume.” For last-minute
patch-ups, in addition to needles and an assortment of threads, Darling says
that costumers should carry scissors and a variety of hooks, snaps and zippers.
Every costume designer has his or her own pet peeve. For Jonn Schenz, it’s
hats. “Everyone takes their hat off first and then throws their wardrobe
on top of it,” he says, grimacing. “Then they wonder why the top
hats aren’t prim and proper.” Ladies hats, especially, are susceptible
to being crushed. But if an actor must lay a costume down, designers caution
them to be careful. Darling warns against resting a costume anywhere near
a light bulb. “The costume might burn,” she says. “It’s
happened twice that I know of.”
Sometimes the staff at rental houses can only shake their heads at the bizarre
nature of some emergency modifications made in the field. Every year Schenz
Theatrical Supply rents a lot of bunny costumes, and not just to the White
House. To keep the bunnies cuddly, the two-piece costumes are generous in
size, with the crotch deliberately falling well below the waist for a comfortable
fit. Nevertheless, one year a customer returned a bunny costume after making
a rather bizarre makeshift repair: “They had duct-taped the crotch,”
Schenz recalls, shaking his head.
Sometimes there’s little that can be done to correct a costume malfunction.
“During the run of a show, you’re going to get stains on some things
and bust out the knees on others,” says Schenz. “There’s only
so much that can be done.” Callie Floor notes that the best way to deal
with emergencies it to do things properly from the get-go. “Hopefully
I’ve left these people in good enough shape, and made good choices, so
they won’t have wardrobe crises,” she says.
In fashioning a new piece of wardrobe, designers need to consider future rental
value as well. Schenz says he pays attention to the interior of a garment
as much as the exterior. Rental costumes require a lifespan of 20 to 25 years
to recoup the money put into their design and construction. “The price
of a rental includes cleaning, alterations, depreciation, and packing and
shipping if needed,” says Schenz. “Therefore the garment must be
made like cast iron. The last thing a performer needs to worry about when
he gets onstage is his costume, so you darn well better make it right to start
with.”
Readying a show, and anticipating the emergencies that might occur, keep costume
designers on the move. “Once a show is up and running,” says Schenz,
“anything can happen. But it’s forethought that can keep most emergencies
from happening. Just think of the worst-case scenario and be prepared for
it.”
To carry on the conversation about costumes, visit the DramaBiz forum at
www.dramabiz.com/forum. Be sure to check out the Costume Connections on
page 39 to see some of the solutions industry vendors offer.
