Stardate: Light Up The Sky Load Out

Hello Dahlings.   It’s almost time to Light Up The Sky!!

This weekend, our intrepid Wardrobe Supervisor Mallory Frers and her crew, took all the costumes and loaded them into the theater.

This process is not to be taken lightly.  It’s been a while since Emerson Stage shows took place away from the costume shop.  When the shop was on Brimmer street we had to walk costumes across the common.  I once had to carry a cow head and a pith helmet.  So I wore the pith helmet and people thought I was a little odd.  It’s not my fault the cow head had sparkly eyelashes and I was singing

I digress.

1. Take inventory of every single item on the show rack from hats to socks, to cufflinks and hair bows.

2.  Load into the gondola (or road box, it’s not a cool boat)

3. Roll gondola down the street to the Paramount Theater (striped shirts not required)

4. Take costumes out of gondola and put in dressing rooms

5.  Redo inventory and make sure everything didn’t disappear on the trek.

Then the real fun starts. Mallory has been hard at work tracking the changes and assigning crew to assist each actor.  Some changes can have plenty of time, the actor can walk to the dressing room and change his or her costume with minimal help.  Some changes require a crew to wait in a quick change area just off the sides of the stage.  The actor will exit stage and be rushed off to the quick change area where that person will be attacked (in the nicest way possible) by wardrobe crew. Each will be doing something, one may be removing a wig while another takes off shoes, a third will be waiting with the new costume, which has been quickrigged with velcro, snaps or a zipper. (Sometimes a combination of all three.)   Then the new costume, shoes and hair will be put on zipped, clipped and whipped and off the actor will be entering right back for another scene.

A few pics of the process

I’m off to dress rehearsal.   Get your tickets!!!!!!