When you walk into the girls’ dressing room, you don’t see the normal sight of hair accessories and costumes hanging up. Instead it’s bolts of fabric, ribbon, lace and zippers littering the floor as the costume crew cuts out patterns and three girls labor away at the three sewing machines we borrowed from parents. It’s a mess, but a happy mess, a productive mess, one that speaks of dedication and joy. It’s a Saturday and when most people are getting ready for the dance that night, the costume girls are busy working away trying to finish the costumes for Opening Night. With the canceling of rehearsal on Thursday, the girls lost 6 hours of work time that they can’t get back.
For the first time in since I can remember, our costume crew built the whole show. This means, they made most of the costumes that you see on stage. Instead of renting a bunch of costumes I though it would be cheaper to just make them all. While it was cheaper, it was a feat for the handful of girls heading up the costume department. Every skirt, bodice, kilt or dress you see was made especially for this show!
Last week I took a step back and really thought about what I asked a bunch of teenagers to do; it’s amazing. They are so talented, hand sewing, using the sewing machine or learning how to sew, these ladies created over 115 costume pieces for the musical.
I remember when I told the girls we needed to make corset bodices for the show, I think their minds exploded, for they had just finished making all the skirts and couldn’t fathom being able to make more. But these costumes are amazing, and show the flair of the talented ladies who live in the dressing rooms each day for rehearsal.
If you see any of these ladies thank them, complement them, make sure they know how much they do for the Musical!
Act Out 