Little Women costuming

The show is coming soon!  Shows are November 18-20, with a sneak peek promo at the main Evanston library on November 8.  http://thinicetheater.com/

I'll be posting projects as these next couple of weeks roll along.

Vintage Black Lace blouse for Aunt March

Look at how lovely this lace is!

Fall Theater Events

Production #1:

Thin Ice Theater's fall season is on a roll.

We are hosting our first-ever benefit party this Friday evening, the 16th.  This is one of many steps we are taking to expand and solidify our programs.  Location and ticket and donation info is on our website.

Our fall production will be "Little Women" with the middle school age group, on November 18-20.  We've begun by measuring the cast members (they do grow from one show to the next!), and next week will begin the process of selecting and fitting costume items.

Magic Transformations

Thin Ice Theater's fall 2010 production was "An Ideal Husband" by Oscar Wilde.

This necessitated upper crust British formal wear c. 1895.  My research showed that this was the era of the largest mutton chop sleeves ever seen on Earth.  Plus froo-froos and lace and ribbons and feathers.  Definitely a "more is more" look.

We wanted the look to be over the top.  It's Oscar Wilde after all, and the theme has a lot to do with how over the top these people are, while at the same time maintaing that stiff upper lip in the face of actual Life happening to them.  But we were certainly not going to make new dresses for everyone!

Thin Ice Theater's Costume Collection

This is long.  Make a cup of tea, and sit back and relax for a while.

A few years ago, Thin Ice Theater inherited a humongous set of costumes from another community/youth theater.  The word "humongous" is not used lightly.  It is stored in three houses in over 50 large storage bins and several closets.  It includes not only the clothing, but a huge box of trims and another of feathers, quite a few prop items, and a crate of period patterns.  We are forever grateful to the woman who built the collection over 25 years of theater work, and to her husband, who searched for someone to take it all and love it for her after she passed away.  We do love it.

When we were invited to come see if we wanted the costumes, a few of us went, thinking we'd pick a few interesting things.  I wish someone had taken a picture of our faces when we walked into the basement there, and saw the extent and the quality of the Stuff.  And then, we found out there was just as much in the garage, too!

Costume Portraits

More production photos from Four Acts / One Night can be found at:

http://www.annquilts.com/costumes/One%20Acts/Tifles%20-%20The%20Rocker.html

Costume portraits of each character are at:

http://www.annquilts.com/costumes/One%20Acts/Costume%20Portraits.html

A few stories, and examples of the teamwork involved to put on a show:

In The Theater

Our lovely show, Four Acts / One Night, has opened and closed.  Here are a few backstage highlights.

Here are our dressing rooms, at a pretty well organized moment.

Blue Shoes

The Blue Shoes.  We found these shoes for one of our actresses.  They are to go with a sort of royal blue dress, and we figured we could take them somewhere to be dyed to match.  Well, after much research, it seems that the only shoe dying folks will do these days is either black or –– or black.

So we did a bunch of brainstorming, and decided to decorate the shoes somehow with some of the same blue and maybe some pearls, because the hat that she'll be wearing with the dress is blue with some pearl trim, and silver lamé.  The character is a diva sort, the era is the 1940s.  In other words, she needs to be very well "put together".  

Log Cabin Blocks

I am part of the Thin Ice Theater costume crew.  Thin Ice is the theater program of our homeschool group.  There are 4 other moms plus myself.  Between us, we have a wide variety of sewing, costuming, and fashion experience, which adds up to having a plain old good time learning from each other and creating together.

Our next production is Four Acts / One Night, a set of four one-act plays.  We are in the homestretch - performances will be June 9 and 10.  Those of you who live nearby - show times and directions to the theater are at:  http://thinicetheater.com

One of the plays is "Trifles" by Susan Glaspell.  It requires some log cabin blocks, an important part of the plot actually.  Well, of course, I am the person who volunteered to make them.