Hack, Punt, Tool '12
MIT Musical Theatre Guild, January 2012
Dir. Rachel Bowens-Rubin and Krista Sergei
Dir. Rachel Bowens-Rubin and Krista Sergei
An original musical, written by MIT students, about MIT's proud tradition of hacking and campus lore. Several of my good friends comprised the writing team, so I was treated to a first-hand view of the creation process. It was a wonderful, organic experience, and I was honored to be a part of it as both a technician and a actor.
From the feature on costumes published on the original Hack, Punt, Tool blog:
By day, the characters of Hack, Punt, Tool dress–if not all-around normally–normally by MIT standards. But by night, they don their black badassery to pull their non-malicious mischief on the Institvte.
The costumes team wanted to make sure this “Haxx0r” mode included touches of each character’s personality, hence the splashes of color among the black. The signature colors of each hacker prompted one director to declare “Go, go, Power Rangers!” Also, we wanted to keep a baseline of practicality: hackers are suckers for pageantry, but they need to be able to climb and jump and carry their many tools. This in turn led to the overuse of the prefix “Utili-,” as in, “I swear it’s not a corset– it’s a utili-corset!” The result was equal parts fancy and functional, cyberpunk and lolita, highlander and hotness.
[On the campus police designs:] Ah, the good ole reliable campus police. While actually aping the MIT CP uniforms would verge on disrespect (and a bit of a safety issue), the costumes team tried to capture a more generic uniform that allows their personalities to shine through. From left to right we have the demure Officer DeeDee Kalf, the ambitious Officer Frey Pachino, the bombastic Sgt. Bruce E. Sprinkles, and the bumbling but lovable Officer Barry Claw. The funny thing about this sketch is that it was done before the parts were actually cast…and ended up looking a lot like the actors who ultimately played the roles.
From the feature on costumes published on the original Hack, Punt, Tool blog:
By day, the characters of Hack, Punt, Tool dress–if not all-around normally–normally by MIT standards. But by night, they don their black badassery to pull their non-malicious mischief on the Institvte.
The costumes team wanted to make sure this “Haxx0r” mode included touches of each character’s personality, hence the splashes of color among the black. The signature colors of each hacker prompted one director to declare “Go, go, Power Rangers!” Also, we wanted to keep a baseline of practicality: hackers are suckers for pageantry, but they need to be able to climb and jump and carry their many tools. This in turn led to the overuse of the prefix “Utili-,” as in, “I swear it’s not a corset– it’s a utili-corset!” The result was equal parts fancy and functional, cyberpunk and lolita, highlander and hotness.
[On the campus police designs:] Ah, the good ole reliable campus police. While actually aping the MIT CP uniforms would verge on disrespect (and a bit of a safety issue), the costumes team tried to capture a more generic uniform that allows their personalities to shine through. From left to right we have the demure Officer DeeDee Kalf, the ambitious Officer Frey Pachino, the bombastic Sgt. Bruce E. Sprinkles, and the bumbling but lovable Officer Barry Claw. The funny thing about this sketch is that it was done before the parts were actually cast…and ended up looking a lot like the actors who ultimately played the roles.
My sketches:
Production stills courtesy of Jax Kirtley:
Behind-the-Scenes photos: