Elmer, Hazel, Iris and the Memory Mender (back) in Nocturno.

EElmer and Hazel, two of Iris's friends, demonstrate the concept of the integrated work apron/garment atop the Past Coat. Elmer actually does not yet have a job (too young), thus his hip wader shorts for good boyish fun. Hazel is daughter of the Leaf Monitor, so her apron was a shortened version of that.	Annabel Lee, whose costume needed to demonstrate the adventurous, exciting and maybe even dangerous, yet still be within the world of this "children's show."

Annabel Lee and Iris.



Iris, Gretta Good, Mozart (Motes) and Grotto Good on the Great Island.

The inhabitants of the Tunnel of the Unwanted - Captain Also (the leader), Third String and Ray (a displaced piece of the sun whose bring yellow lining to the black coat is revealed on cue) all needed a discarded quality. And as we wanted to Tunnel to feel UNWANTED, not broken, we tried to keep the props that filled the shopping cart in good condition, just outmoded, which was probably my favorite comment on American society.

So this was the "I want the Goods to be shocking" rendering, after an attempt to go classic (Greek) and flashy (modern) fell flat. Then came casting, which resulted in two wonderfully funny and slightly larger actresses taking over. They willingly let me wrap them up ala Christo, but the end result was not working, so we all, director, actors, construction crew, brainstormed the problem and built the black accent pieces which made them not only much more formal looking, which was needed, but tempered the color as well. While the above design may well have worked on other actors or with better (more expensive) fabric or for an audience more attuned to avant garde art, our end result was much more appropriate for our production. Or perhaps this rendering was just undigested Christo that I couldn't cough back up.

Production Notes:

Costuming:
First, I am quick to admit that I am not going to be hired in the professional theatre for my costuming. I think I can get through the design process fine, and I CAN build my designs, but you better have a couple years for that to happen. And honestly, I frequently am not interested in costumes. I'm not inclined to the history of clothing and I don't care about shoes. You have to love shoes to be a costume designer. But, every so often, a show comes along that just lures me in. Luckily, at the ZGYPT, we have in Barb Church a woman who will allow me step up and design the costuming when I get really hungry to do it, and in Beth Turner, a woman, who along with Barb, can build the things we need to do from scratch, and do it quickly.

This play begins and ends with the "Past Coat" - the idea in the script that our memories reside in our coats and that if you lose your coat, you lose your memory. The other major elements are the differences between Nocturno and the Great Island. Nocturno is place of artists. The people there create the world that the Goods experience. So while they are part fantasy, they are all business. As a result, their costumes and occupations become fused. They live in their work clothes. And they also all have Past Coats. So, I wanted the Past Coats to have a woven appearance (they talk about threads coming loose and causing a gap in the memory) and I wanted the coats to reflect the life - a younger person has a shorter coat, the older person has a longer coat. I wanted decor, especially buttons (a central image for Iris, who is only left with a button that causes a haunting memory of her life she can almost recall). Also, as all the occupants of Nocturno are busy creating things, I wanted to reflect their jobs, as well as their desire to protect their Past Coats. This became integrated aprons and other add-ons (like the chest and leg protectors for the Thunder Bottlers and the "chain mail" for the [Lightning] Bolt Bender.

Then there is the world of the Goods. If you started reading the production notes in the main Still Life page, you've already gotten a dose of the Good's design inspiration (or check that out next). And above you will see a bit about the Goods costumes. I wanted them to be artificial. The director wanted them to be surprising. We both wanted them to embody the high brow attitude they carry. So, I wanted to wrap them ala Christo. The reality that the design didn't ultimately work on stage and needed to be tempered was frustrating, but the final product was much more satisfying for everyone. Along with the Goods were Matternot. Otherguy and Himtoo, which were rendered in a "Matrix-like" coat that gave them a nice imposing presence. The big change was Iris, from her Nocturno clothing, to the clothing the Goods give her. Originally, I wanted to do an Alice in Wonderland nod with her costume, but in the end, the Goods' costumes drove how we presented Iris. Some "wrapping" elements to an "old" costume seminar project of mine ended up being just the trick - elegant, yet odd.

Lastly were the in-between characters. Annabel Lee, the embodiment of the poem and the sea; the caption discussion above gives you an overview of her costume. Mozart, supposedly right out of history, was a gorgeous production of Barb Church. Lastly, the tunnel dwellers, the discarded, who you can mostly see in main Still Life page, were collections of unwanted clothes - so pretty much every theatre is chuck full of those kind of clothes.