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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2009
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THE JUSTICE
THEATER
Readying a wardrobe from the past
AT THE DRAWING BOARD: Costume design student Deirdre McCabe (GRAD) goes over a sketch of a costume designed for Mario, played by Jesse Hinson (GRAD).
Graduate student adds a contemporary touch By ANDREA FINEMAN JUSTICE EDITOR
For Marivaux’s The Game of Love and Chance, the second play by the Brandeis Theater Company this fall, costume design student Deirdre McCabe (GRAD) and the others working on the play faced a dilemma concerning design choices. “We talked a lot about making the show accessible to contemporary audiences, and one of the ways we decided to kind of play on it, have some fun, was with these little pops of modern touches,” McCabe said of the costumes, which contain many features appropriate for an 18th-century French play, but also incorporate bright colors and modern accessories like sunglasses. “Nothing’s quite period—it’s always breaking through into these inter-
esting contemporary elements, which is kind of fun.” McCabe continued, “A lot of the color came out of almost the very first design meeting the group of designers had. We had this picture of a green wall—we kind of always knew that the set was going to end up being this bright green color, so all of the colors of the costumes were designed to pop off that green wall. There’s also a black and white floor, so they also had to pop off that.” The play features largely graduate student actors and designers, although undergraduate actors, Anthony Rios ’11, Viktoria Lange ’13 and Rebecca Miller ’13 have been cast, and Hannah Kaplan ’10 will stage manage. Beginning next Thursday, Nov. 12, the play will run through Nov. 22 in Spingold’s Laurie Theater.
FITTING: McCabe looks on as actress Samantha Richert (GRAD) is fitted for a costume. Richert plays the part of Sylvia, whom McCabe described, saying, “Sylvia is more subdued as a person, so the colors are a little less bright.”
SEAMSTRESSES: McCabe adjusts a costume, below, in the studio in the Spingold Theater Center.
18TH-CENTURY STYLE: McCabe adjusts a jacket for the character of Orgon, above.
Photos by Paula Hoekstra/the Justice
SOME NEW DUDS: Richert tries on a second costume for the character Sylvia. Below, McCabe’s original sketch for the costume’s design.