Angels in America, Part 1: Millennium Approaches
Emerson Umbrella, March/April 2014
Dir. Nancy Curran Willis
*DASH Award Nomination for Best Costume Design of a Play!*
As a portrait of the '80s AIDS epidemic and a commentary on the bleakness of the Reagan era, Angels in America provides a great opportunity to dive into '80s fashion, as well as weave in some supernatural elements. I got to work on this show with a great bunch of creative staff and actors who were willing to take some impressive technical risks. For example, Harper's Antarctica hallucination was staged under UV lights, meaning big, fluffy parkas were a great way to provide an ethereal glow to the scene. The titular Angel was actually flown in, so her costume needed to accommodate both her wings and her harness, as well as looking good from below.
The biggest challenge of the show, however, was creating a huge number of looks that spanned days, interior and exterior scenes, and a range of moods (plus double-casting and cross-casting characters). It took a lot of planning, but through the addition of a coat here or a tie there, a couple of items per character managed to provide a wide variety of costumes.
This show also marked my first costume nod in a review! The critic noted how my design contributed to the "mid-'80s milieu."
Photos courtesy of Al Forgione.
Dir. Nancy Curran Willis
*DASH Award Nomination for Best Costume Design of a Play!*
As a portrait of the '80s AIDS epidemic and a commentary on the bleakness of the Reagan era, Angels in America provides a great opportunity to dive into '80s fashion, as well as weave in some supernatural elements. I got to work on this show with a great bunch of creative staff and actors who were willing to take some impressive technical risks. For example, Harper's Antarctica hallucination was staged under UV lights, meaning big, fluffy parkas were a great way to provide an ethereal glow to the scene. The titular Angel was actually flown in, so her costume needed to accommodate both her wings and her harness, as well as looking good from below.
The biggest challenge of the show, however, was creating a huge number of looks that spanned days, interior and exterior scenes, and a range of moods (plus double-casting and cross-casting characters). It took a lot of planning, but through the addition of a coat here or a tie there, a couple of items per character managed to provide a wide variety of costumes.
This show also marked my first costume nod in a review! The critic noted how my design contributed to the "mid-'80s milieu."
Photos courtesy of Al Forgione.