Yeomen of the Guard

The Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera Company produces "Yeomen of the Guard" this spring.
Here's a sneak peek at our costume inspirations.

Yeomen of the Guard Research

Phoebe Costume Rendering

Cholmondeley Costume Rendering

Inspiration

Philadelphia Story

Next up is a production of The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry. The show will be produced at the Commonweal Theatre in Lanesboro, MN and directed by Michael Bigelow Dixon. This will be my first chance to work with Commonweal and I am very grateful for the opportunity. We are approaching the show with the intent to style it as it is written so I am looking at 1938 vintage dresses and suits. With the exception of characters Mike and Liz who are working class, these people are socialites and very well off so their clothes need to tell that story. We will see sporty riding clothes, fashionable day dress, evening gowns and tuxes, and wedding attire. Here's a sneak peek at what's cookin'.

Philadelphia Story Sketches

Philadelphia Story Research

"Picnic"... after the fact.

     It is that time of year for final projects, final presentations, final papers, finals, finals, finals! I hear your groaning. Hang in there. You're on the final push. This week I will say my final farewell to formal education. Five years of undergraduate and three years of graduate work are all coming to a beautiful conclusion. The title is quite lovely, too; MASTER of Fine Arts. You can't help but say it with a booming and pretentious voice. It's in the same world as "jedi MASTER yoda" or "MASTERpiece theatre" or... "MASTERcard".  I am relieved for the efforts, excited for the future, and a little nostalgic to step out of the "student" classification and leap into adulthood. However, I insist, even if adulthood has followed me and slapped me in the face, I will never forget what if feels like to be 8 years old... and 12... and 16... and 23. I will still swing on the swing set. I will still eat spoon-fulls of peanut butter with my grandpa. I will still call that boy I have a crush on and hang up when he answers. I will still go on spontaneous weekend road trips and pick up every hitch-hiker I come across. I will equally embrace the responsible with the reckless and hope it turns out all right. I can be an adult but I will be a kid, too. Just because I am no longer in school, it doesn't mean I have to stop being a student. The world has many things to teach me and I am ready for the next chapter. 

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Pictures are in for Picnic on the Battlefield and I couldn't be happier. This mashup of two absurdist plays has turned out to be one of my favorite projects in a long time. 

Here you can see a sample of my research for the project. Since our production was a combination of many time periods and we didn't want a specific war to be the focus of the show, we gathered inspiration from WWI soldiers, silent movie stars, victorian dress, and vaudeville characters. 

I absolutely love cardboard and thought this would be the perfect chance to incorporate corrugated into a costume rendering. We produced the show at the Southern Theatre in Minneapolis which is famous for its beautiful distressed brick interior. The corrugated was scored and striped away artistically to give the impression of the environment these characters would live in.

After much distressing and renting and sewing and makeup-ing, here is the final result. An absurd military satire with a touch of vaudeville. Lots of dirty with a bit of pretty.

     Photos by Bill Prouty

Picnic on the Battlefield                             
Theatre Novi Most 2012                            
Dir. Lisa Channer and Vladimir Rovinksi 
Lights. Rob Perry                                      
Set. Annie Rollins                                     
Costumes. Amanda McGee                      
Photos. Bill Prouty                                    

Live Action Design

Rose Brand's Live Action Design Competition is taking place right now at USITT. Four designers with a box of random goodies were given three hours to create a scene with a given theme. Shoot the bullseye and cast your vote tomorrow before 11am by visiting the Rose Brand facebook page and "like" the Team Western image or tweet #teamwestern!

"Picnic" Video

"Picnic on the Battlefield" presented by Theatre Novi Most opens March 2nd at the Southern Theatre in Minneapolis. Video by Bill Prouty.

Bird masks in process

Mask making is one of my favorite crafty little things, and I'm lucky that working in a costume shop allows me to take on these sorts of projects from time to time. Right now we are working on a production of The Birds by Aristophanes and my task is to create fourteen lightweight bird masks out of wonderflex and varaform. The designer wanted to see a lot of the actor underneath and let the shape of the beak show most of the personality. For this reason she asked that the plastic be adhered to glasses. Here are a few teaser process shots.

Owl Clay Mold

Owl Unpainted Mask

In addition to the masks I am creating a splay of "feathers" for an actor to wear on his head like a mohawk. These feathers are created out of horsehair braid and rigilene mounted on fosshape. Here are what the feathers are looking like. 

More process of the The Birds to come soon.

University of Minnesota Dept of Theatre
theatre.umn.edu