Design wish list

(Random thought prompted by my current reading, set in 1829). I would like someone to tap me to design a production set in about 1830, the Romantic era.  The women’s hairstyles were something else and would be so much fun to build!

3 weeks post-op

Three weeks ago today the surgeon slit my throat and did his best to remove as much cancer as possible.  The incision is healing up nicely now that we have the rash under control, and as of today I no longer have a lift restriction.  The Chief still helped me load stuff into the car to take to a different theater.  (They're doing a semi-staged concert production and asked me to style wigs for 2 of the principals.)

My body still seems to be adjusting to its new need for synthroid, and I've got another 10 days of prednisone to get through, which may be why I still run out of gas so quickly.  That, and the fact that talking is gonna continue to be work until that left vocal fold heals.

I really appreciate how responsive my surgeon has been.  He's answered all my questions within 24 hours and sent me a message this morning checking up on me after yesterday's adventure.

designing Blithe Spirit

 Most of the hairpieces I ordered for Blithe Spirit arrived today.  Once I have the last one, I’ll head to the theater and start styling the wigs.  The two for Ruth should be easy enough - slick them back into a bun and add the headband with a matching braid on it, to get something like this.  (Ruth gets 2 wigs; twin  styles but one is ghost-gray.) The Elvira wig shouldn’t need much - probably just a trim to make it more of a Louise Brooks style.  

The wig for Mrs. Bradman will take a bit more work.  I found one in the company’s stock that will suit; I just need to have at it with water, styling gel, and assorted styling implements to convey a sense of trying but not quite able to pull off something like this.

 I’m still deciding what to do for Edith, and I need to have a discussion with the director, costumers and actor about Madam Arcati’s hairstyle.  She’s an eccentric, which gives us a lot more leeway.

I need to get in the habit of taking photos of the wigs as I finish them, if only so I’ll have them for a portfolio.  I also should make myself take notes on what worked and what didn’t to achieve a particular result.

The makeup will be pretty straightforward.  I’ve already established that the special ghost makeup the director wants to use won’t trigger any allergic reactions.  Now we just have to see how it works under the special when the lighting designers get all their instruments hung in the theater.

Getting caught up

I seem to be becoming more of a designer than a performer.  Two years ago I designed 5 productions (3 of them adaptations of Pride & Prejudice)  and garnered award nominations for 2 of them.  Last year I designed 5 more shows: Die Fledermaus, Tosca, Arsenic & Old Lace, The Importance of Being Earnest, and DOT.  Here it is barely February and I've already styled a wig for one show and am about to start styling 8 wigs (and possibly trimming a bonnet) for an operetta running in a couple of weeks.

As for getting on stage, there's been precious little being presented that a) I'm interested in, b) has at least one role for a woman older than 20 or 30, and c) fits my schedule.  Since doing Pirates 5 (!) years ago, the only time I've been onstage was for the 2023 Christmas Revels.  That wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped - we rehearsed in an unheated ballroom, we only ran one weekend, and the cast was HUGE - close to 80!

The design work is coming along nicely - I keep getting the occasional award nomination (though that's probably a factor of far fewer designers than performers), I've gotten to do some really fun, rewarding projects, and worked with some lovely people.

But I wanna go back to swanning around a stage in a costume and singing choruses in public.  Not sure how to make that happen, with so few operettas and musicals having roles for older women.

An afternoon in the life of a wig stylist

 So last year I worked on Iolanthe and had to touch up the Lord Chancellor's wig.  The company owns 3 or 4 but they all looked pretty sad and squashed after being crammed into a bin for storage.  Here are 2 of them (I don't have a "before" picture of the third):

 

 I picked the least uncurled of the 3 I pulled from storage and wet-set it to redo the rolls.  That process took 3 hours and 99 rollers.  (If I were to do it again, I'd stitch pairs of rollers together to avoid the gaps I got between rollers in each row.)

Here's what that wig looked like as it dried:

It was worth the work, though; it looked much better on stage than it would have if I'd done nothing to it.

The rolls still got messy on the ends but it looked good from the audience.

Making irreversible changes

OK, nothing so dramatic as the title might make it sound.  I'm designing hair and makeup for a stage adaptation of Pride & Prejudice and several of the actors will be wearing wigs.  We ended up ordering a wig for one of them; right texture but wrong shape.  Merely pinning it won't work because there's too much volume in the back & sides; trying to pin it smaller would merely leave it looking matted.  The challenge is to take this:

and trim it to approximate something like this:

Wish me luck!

The beauty of being a second-year senior

.. is that I'm at the point where I can pretty much take what I want.  I just need 2 "supporting" classes at the 300 or 400 level, one 400-level theater history class, and one last practicum credit - 10 credits.

I just had my advising session for the fall semester.  I told Susan (who's a marvel - she obviously loves her job) that I want to take 2 classes this summer that will count for my supporting classes.  One is Jane Austen: Novels, Films & Adaptations, the other is Hair & Wigs for the Theater.  You may remember I signed up for the latter class last summer, but it was canceled for under-enrollment.  It's the same instructor, so I'm assuming I'd be able to use the textbook I ordered last year, before the class was canceled.  I'm crossing my fingers that they get enough students to run the class this time.

That would leave me with only the history class & practicum to take in the fall.  However, I've already signed up to audition for Character Development and Contemporary Musical Theater.  The second one is self-explanatory, but the other one would be a unique performance opportunity.  Apparently you spend the semester "getting inside" an actual historical figure whose portrait or statue is in a local museum.  Toward the end of the semester, you reenact that person at the museum for actual museum patrons.  For example, if I were doing Eleanor Roosevelt, I'd interact with museum-goers as Eleanor Roosevelt, clothing, accent and all.

I'll also continue with the Vocal Minor program in the fall (assuming I audition successfully) and sing in one of the choruses.  Gotta get my music fix, after all. 😉

This is the "problem" with having my advising appointment so much before the next semester - we're just going into spring break and I'm already looking ahead to my next classes.

I hadn't *planned* to take any classes over the summer but...

The department advisor sent out an email on Friday announcing summer class offerings.  Nearly all were the same ones we'd been told about as the spring semester was ending, but one was new - Hair & Wigs for the Stage.  It's an intense schedule - 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, for 3 weeks.  Three credit hours crammed into 3 weeks - whew!  I hadn't planned to take any summer classes, and of course they cost tuition, but it gets me 3 credits closer to graduation and I'll be able to apply the knowledge almost immediately in one community theater production or another.

I just ordered the textbook.  Not cheap, but it's a brand-new (2015) hardback, it got rave reviews, and I know I'll use it long after the class is over, so I look on it as an investment.

Scenes from a busy day

Had a good day Wednesday, saw some interesting things:

• City employees planting coleus and begonies in beds at the foot of some city trees.  I was so busy examining the plants that I walked right past my destination, had to double back.
• On public transit 3 times; each time I saw more law enforcement personnel in mostly casual clothing (e.g., T-shirts or polo shirts with the logo of their unit) wearing badges with a black band.  Turned out there was a memorial service downtown for National Police Week.
• The usual array of characters - folks in T-shirts and shorts, or business suits, parents with kids of various ages, and the crazy lady (me!) juggling a tote bag (purse, book & water bottle), shopping bag, and bakery box with the results of my cooking class.  Yes, the baked goods arrived safely home. :)

Had a heckuva time figuring out how to get from the subway to my cooking class because the street exit dumped me two blocks away from where I thought it would.  It took me at least half an hour to find my way through and around the intervening mall (which was undergoing a lot of construction, which shut down at least one of the main exits) and the adjacent parking garage.

The pie class was so much fun!  Only 6 of us, and everyone had good questions so I learned a lot.  We also learned from seeing how the chef-instructor finessed an "oops" (the crust & ganache for the black-bottom banana cream pie took a header out of the freezer).  The resulting black-bottom banana pudding was delicious!  I like people-watching at that store - they get yuppies, military types, younger people, retirees (like me!), people who know exactly what they want, don't have a clue, or just want to browse the "toy store".

I got my hair cut quite short - a "summer cut".  It's the shortest I've worn it since, I think, my senior year in high school, short enough that it'll take a little getting used to, but I love it - so easy to take care of, and so cool!

The "Mattress" read-through was fun.  Only had about half the cast, but we got thru most of the dialogue & music to get a feel for the show.  This is gonna be fun!

The local version of the Tony awards

Last night was the awards ceremony for the local community theaters.  The venue, usually used for concerts (think Leo Kottke and Mary Chapin Carpenter), has an odd main space - broad but with a low ceiling.  Last night was packed, with about 500 of us at the various tables, nearly all of us in our glad rags.

I'd guess about half the non-black dresses worn last night were red, mine included.  A significant proportion of the remaining dresses were purple, with a few fuchsia and at least one turquoise dress that I could see.  I loved seeing everyone's finery.  There were even a couple of little girls there; one of them had on a turquoise chiffon dress, and her daddy had a matching tie and pocket handkerchief - very sweet.

I was one of six people nominated for Outstanding Hair Design in a Play (there was also a category for hair design in a musical).  In other words, the adjudicators put my work in the top six of the 72 hair designs considered.  Pretty good for my first time designing hair for someone besides myself!  I didn't win, but just being nominated is definitely encouraging!  Good thing, as I'm about to do more hair and make-up design, this time for more people.  Maybe the award nomination will paper over my lack of experience. :D

My next project

I've just been asked to design hair and make-up for a production of "The Arabian Nights", which should be fun.  The cast member who suggested me (we were in "Guys and Dolls" together) introduced me to the producer last night.   I mentioned that, after years of middle eastern dance, I've collected a few costume pieces and other things that might be useful as costumes or set dressing.

I've already started to think about how I want to style things, wondering what colors the costumer and lighting designer will be using, etc.  If I can't be in the show, working on the design team is the next best thing.  Not to mention that it introduces me to yet another community theater company.  I'm looking forward to this...