Nashville Repertory Theatre
Professional Costume Technician Intern
Urinetown
Director: Jason Tucker
Costume Designer: Colleen Garatoni
Lighting Designer: Dalton Hamilton
Scenic Designer: Gary C. Hoff
Photographer: Michael Scott Evans
Urinetown (Hollmann and Kotis) has long been one of my favorite musicals. I think it is so fun and silly and entertaining. This show was a great way to start off my season working at the Rep! The show features the dichotomy between the extravagant rich and the devastated poor. In the shop, this meant for a lot of fun. Designer Colleen Garatoni was inspired by District 1/Hunger Games for the rich. The Urine Good Company (UGC) employees’ costumes were almost entirely built from scratch, save a few men’s suits. My favorite part was crafting the fascinators for some of the UGC women.
The show provided some great learning opportunities for me. Costume shop manager Lori Gann-Smith is a genius. From drafting avant garde dresses to airbrushing dozens of costume pieces and to managing all of our questions, she was a joy to learn from.
Pipeline
Director: Jon Royal
Costume Designer: Lori Gann-Smith
Lighting Designer: Darren E. Levin
Scenic Designer: Gary C. Hoff
Photographer: Michael Scott Evans
Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau tells the moving story of the clash between hopes for opportunity and rigged systems. The show touches on issues of race, family dynamics, education, and humanity, and it is beautiful. Working on this show humbled me, because it was a story that I hadn’t much heard, and I needed to learn about it and consider the questions it poses more deeply. The cast and crew for this show were incredible. The creative team paired up with students throughout the community to work on the PIPELINE PROJECT, a collection of art responses to the show. Artist Omari Booker created 6 stunning paintings for the show which were then used as projections throughout the piece (see above). Lori Gann-Smith designed the costumes. This is the most modern show I’ve worked on. It was fun just getting to go to TJMaxx and shop for the show. I’m happy to have been a part of such a touching show.
A Christmas Carol
Director: Beki Baker
Costume Designer: June Kingsbury
Lighting Designer: Michael Barnett
Scenic Designer: Gary C. Hoff
Photographer: Michael Scott Evans
For the previous ten years, the Rep has produced A Christmas Story as their annual winter show. After such a long run, they decided to switch gears and turn to Dicken’s classic tale, A Christmas Carol. Patrick Barlow’s rendition of the story utilizes five actors to play the entirety of the characters. This creates a really fun, theatrical element to the show. It also creates heavy duty scenic and costume tracks!
This show was designed by the ever sweet and helpful June Kingsbury. In addition to alterations, notes, and pulling, I was given two big assignments for the show: building a jacket for Isabella and the skirt for Christmas Present (both played by the phenomenal Mallory Mundy).
The skirt for Christmas Present was a beast. There are so many layers of ruffling/gathering to the skirt. The trim (hand made) was all ruffled and attached to the 3 separate skirt tiers, which were then ruffled onto an underskirt base. the skirt was the pleated and gathered onto a waistband. Maneuvering the yards and yards of fabric around the costume shop was always an adventure. I am so pleased with how the skirt turned out. I started the project hoping I would be able to work on one of the big dresses, and I am very thankful and proud of the finished work! It also made me appreciate more the big period dresses my mom made for me when I was starting out in theatre.
The jacket required a bit of alteration to the commercial pattern, which was a fun project to work on with Lori. The fabric June picked for the jacket was also beautiful and fun to see come together. The jacket was created by basting a base purple satin and the lace together, and the trim was also handmade by pairing together satin and fringe. My favorite part of the jacket is the collar- the tiny ruffle, while difficult to fit all the layers under my sewing foot, is such a sweet touch and I love the look it created.
