In the News: Earnest

Check out what the Kealakai had to say about The Importance of Being Earnest.

Taylor Bobbitt: Ernest, Wrap-up

Working back-stage for The Importance of Being Ernest was kind of uneventful. Ernest is only an 11 member cast, and only three of them has any costume changes, and those people are Jack, Gwendolyn, and Algernon. The maximum that I had to do during the show was use a lint roller on Lady Bracknell’s hem and pin and unpin a hair piece on Gwendolyn.

All in all, I found that it was before the show that was most eventful. I did makeup, did hair, helped with the straightening of costumes, and helped actors when they needed someone whom their lines can bounce off of as they practice. By the way, Dannia Tan should rap for a living, because she has the raw fast-moving language ability of Busta-Rhymes (and Ron Miller, holy crap). Hearing her practice her lines was kind of funny because she would say them so darn fast that you couldn’t comprehend anything she said until it registered about three seconds later. She has a future, I’m tellin’ ya.

That's me in the background helping and stuff

My nose is not big in person. For some reason, I look like that witch from Princess Bride. Look. I participated.

I helped Algernon with his makeup the first time that I came. I applied his eye-liner (which apparently he has trust issues with anything touching his eye except for contacts. That’s probably a hyperbole on his part, but nonetheless) and I curled his eyelashes with Gwendolyn’s lash curler. He said I did a wonderful job, and that I didn’t make him look like a drag queen. Well done, Taylor. Well done.

Dannia (aka, Busta Rhymes)

I also helped Gwendolyn with her blush and bronzer once upon a time during Ernest. I did pretty well, if I do say so myself, and I do say so myself because she said it, too.

I'm in the background helping someone else. By the way, my phone is broken and pictures are a no no. My photos are lost.

I helped the maid with doing all of her make up because she said, and I quote, I don’t know what to do. So, I did what I would normally do with everyday makeup, but with more highlighting and contouring. I did pretty well. She looked cute. Blush does such wonders, I tell ya’. I also did her hair. I twisted it back and did it up in a braided bun. She looked adorable.

In the last show (which was on Saturday) I helped Lady Bracknell with her hem. It was disgusting with dirt, so I brushed it off. By the way, that red and black lint thing not only works magic, but it has arrows on it to tell you which way the lint trapping grain goes so that you can actually trap it. Man, I love figuring out stuff through Dannia.

I have got to say, though. My favorite part of the entire thing was watching from the side. The first time that I had actually seen it from the side was on Wednesday, during the free show. I saw Act III when Lady Bracknell says, “Wheeeeeeeeeere is that BABY?!” I was cracking up on the side of the stage. UGH, she’s so funny.

Another thing that I did for some actors (it was actually only Dannia) was give them a shoulder massage to calm them down. It’s surprising how much she and the other actors were shaking from being on stage. This is funny because they hold their face, but they shake like crazy. Hmmmm. This surprises me.

All in all, it was less pressure and it was fun. I was able to be creative.

Lauren Hadley, Ernest, Wrap-Up

I felt a lot more confident going into the Importance of Being Ernest backstage work because I had done it before with the production of Mary Poppins. I had an idea of potential problems which may occur, when to offer my assistance and when to step-back, and what to do while the actors were on stage.

For both the dress rehearsal and the actual play night, I mainly helped with hair and make-up for the actresses. I have never done stage make-up before but Cecily needed help and I was the only one around. I relied on Zoe, the girl who played Cecily, to tell me what had to be done for her make-up and what those previously had done. I could not simply do basic make-up techniques of foundation, eyes, and lips, but I had to highlight and contour her face. This is what I struggled with the most. I think Zoe was just being polite when she said I did a good job, but I tried my best with the little experience I had. However, when it came to her hair…well, that was another story. On the night I worked for dress rehearsal, she also asked me to help with her hair. I was able to successfully create the front poof, but I did a horrible job on the back curls. I blame the curling iron! It did not heat up hot enough to create the right curls, and instead her hair ended up looking very loose and brushed out. I apologize for my lack of beauty skills. When it came to play night, Ingrid was able to do her hair and it turned out beautifully. I was also able to help a little with Dania’s hair and also Reka’s hair and make-up. (Pictured Below)

An area in which I could improve is hair. I feel I could have tried harder, or put a better effort into Cecily’s hair. I could ask for help, or find another way to achieve the desired look. She was just so sweet and I think did not want to hurt my feelings when she told me it looked good, but deep down I knew it looked horrible.

Overall, I think my experience backstage for the dress rehearsal and play night went very well. I was able to help where I could and be there in case something went wrong. I think it might have gone so well because the cast was a lot smaller than Mary Poppins, and the actors and actresses were able to take charge of their own costumes. What I enjoyed the most was being able to learn a little bit of stage make-up techniques, and observing how all the actors and actresses interacted with one another. They were all so loving and support of each other’s role, and they seemed like a little family. 

Earnest Wrap-up

I still can’t believe we had like two weeks? Two weeks to do all the costumes. Again, I don’t feel like I did much for the play like for Mary Poppins. I just spent hours finding a costume to have it completely changed and replaced. I only really made a small hairpiece for Gwndolyn (only really made hats for Mary Poppins too!). There is a bright side to all this though! I felt more useful backstage as opposed to the Marry Poppins play. I was asked to help with makeup and hair by Reka each night I worked, and I was the one to (try) and rub hay on Dania’s dress. 

(make-up used (or almost used) for Reka)

(finished make-up!)

Another thing I thought went well was the actors being required to sign a contract and being explicitly told the rules of the costumes (such as putting makeup on first before dressing in their costumes). That, and having a smaller cast made things a bit less chaotic and easier to organize things and not lose them as well! I really really liked how we weren’t going to put things back into the closet till the next day of class. I was so hungry my stomach was hurting and I could hardly walk. I bet everyone was feeling the same way by the end of the play

                

     What could have been done better? The last dress rehearsal seemed to be the first night that Dania had someone rub hay all over her skirt. Why wasn’t it done sooner and sooner discovered that there had to be a medium to attach the hay to the skirt? On opening night was the first night the string method was used with the hay. What if it didn’t work? That would have caused a big problem right on stage in front of the audience. I would also say give at least another week for everyone to prepare for another play! Another question that arose in my mind was the question of why weren’t the speakers on? In Mary Poppins, they were an essential part to help the actors know where in the play everything was. I panicked a bit! But I seemed to be the only one that did, so I didn’t worry about it for too long

             

     How I felt about the end result: Even though there was a big rush to finish everything, being backstage and seeing all the costumes and how they turned out made me happy. All the costumes were well done. I also feel like I learn something new about makeup each time and was able to better myself as a theatrical makeup artist.  I learned where to properly place blush this time! Alpha told me that it is supposed to go on the top of the cheeks rather than directly on them. I still don’t know how to really make someone look old or how to perfectly highlight or shadow, but maybe that will be for another play

Alyssa's Lab Hours

Hi there!! So for Lab Hours this week I've been working on Miss Prism's costume! It went pretty well. I actually just finished it yesterday. The work I had to do on it was redo the waist on the skirt because it was WAY too big as it was, and add a snap to the back of it. The shirt she wears had a little issue of puckering, so I added some Velcro in between some of the buttons. Last week I put together the only piece of jewelry she wears, a cameo. It was broken so I had to hot glue a safety pin to the back. This was actually pretty fun because I got to be a little crafty with it. I also tried decorating her hat, but I ended up not liking the look, at least for her character, anyway. Sister Dooley suggested that I try baby's breath or something small, so I suppose I'll have to work on that. Overall, I am really happy to have all the big things done with this costume and get it over with. Miss Prism is a "dowdy" character, and her clothes match her personality. This costume wasn't as fun as some others that I have done, simply because there aren't as many fun fabrics or accessories.

This

Taylor's Lab Hours

Costume Tag

All three of Jack's outfits

       Once upon a time, I stayed in for two hours on Thursday to get to work on some Earnest things. Teehee. I feel like there wasn't a whole lot of things to do. I mainly started looking at 1880's and 1890's fashion for Lady Bracknell. Thanks to Ingrid, I finally got added to the Pinterest page. It took a while, but I did.

       After a while of getting inspired by Google, this Asian teacher guy happens about the costume shop, claiming that he's "Jack." He looked Jack-ish enough that I took his word for it. When I checked out his story, it turned out that it did in fact check out. He was Jack and he had an appointment. Haha.

       Ingrid and I took his measurements first. Ingrid used the measuring tape and I drew the numbers on the page. Apparently, he's a 38-32 pants size.

       After we took his measurements, I took him upstairs to the closet to try to find some Jack-type clothing to fit his costumial needs. Seeing as how I have neither dressed a dude nor ever dressed like one, I found this to be a bit of a challenge. Finding those three jackets was hard. I'm not quite acquainted with male attire. I just know what looks good from a woman's eye. I decided to apply that.

       In the end, we ended up with three coats, three vests, and a few pairs of pants to choose from.

       All of this was hyperbolous; I basically dressed Jack and planned Lady Bracknell. 

Lauren Hadley, Lab

For this past week's lab hours, I had a specific job. I was to fit and style Zoe, who is going to plan Cecily Cardew in the upcoming play, The Importance of Being Earnest. The director and Sis. Dooley had specific characteristics they wanted to be portrayed in Cecily's costume. The specific characteristics are which helped me to be inspired for her costume were:  elegant and flow-y, parasol (Umbrella), and a little purse to hold her diary.

They also described Cecily's character as an Innocent, Country Girl who is also intelligent with money. In one of the class periods, we were all discussing the different characters and what colors we think portrayed their characters. We all agreed that when we think of Cecily Cardew, we think of the color Pink. The color pink is very romantic and feminine, which both could be said about Cecily's character as well. As I was about to leave to the closet with Zoe, I ran into Dan and I asked him to help me dress Cecily and he was more than happy. As we were all looking upstairs, there wasn't much of an option of pink hues in the time period of the play. I pulled an outfit (picture below) which catered to the more country aspect of Cecily's characters. 

Dan pulled an outfit (not pictured) which played along with the more sweet and rich side of her. I liked both costumes. We have yet to choose the final one, but that is something which will be done this coming week. 

WAY overdue blog post #1

Um, I don't exactly remember what I did the first week of the month... Yes that is how overdue this is and I am so sorry... Ok lets's see

I remember working on the dresses for Mrs. Corry's daughters, and I got a good start on those. I didn't actually finish them until later, and I had to redo one of them several times because I just couldn't get it right. But I finally did!

 I think Lauren and I started costuming Tapua, but then he had to leave early so we didn't actually finish.

Ummmmm.... At some point I was working on the neckerchiefs that the sweeps wore. I don't know if I mentioned that already or not.

I FINISH finished--as in actually finally completed--the costume for Ms. Lark. I was really happy with it overall, it looked fantastic if I do say so myself! I love how the overcoat laid over the bustle in the back like a fan. It was actually a simple adjustment, but had a great result. Of all the costumes I did, this one was my favorite.

And now it's picture time!!

Oh yeah, the feathers were an awesome piece in the costumes, and totally fun to play with, too :) As you can tell, by Taylor being so fabulous. And sister Dooley in the background like 'what are they doing....',

 And because I couldn't resist trying on the Mary Poppins hat, here we go! Honestly, I think everyone tried it on at some point, although I don't know if anyone else took a selfie... I just couldn't resist, ok?

So that about wraps it up for this post. Sorry for it being late and kinda scatter-brained, you can just get a taste of the randomness that this costume shop really is.