Wigs and Costumes

Wigs and costumes are another very exciting part of the show. Like with anything, some shows will have every character with a wig, and the majority of shows have no one in a wig. You can never be attached to your real hair, because sometimes directors will have you cut or dye it to fit a part. Costumes can be big and extravagant or they can be street clothes. It all depends on the show that you’re producing.

Wigs can be a big part of a show or not so much. For a silly show, wigs can add to the costume and the character, but most of the time, wigs are just easier then dyeing hair. For actors, wigs can help them get into character. They feel like they are the character because they don’t look like their normal selves. Wigs could be hair, but they could also be head pieces or different colors. You can make them or buy them. The art of wig making is just that-an art. It’s hard to do and to make it look good and like it belongs on someones head.

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Costumes can range from a ball gown to jeans and a tee. Just like with the props, you can make, buy, or rent costumes from nearly anywhere. You can alter things to make them into what you need. Typically for big show, a lot of the costume pieces are made, while for smaller shows and smaller costumes in big shows, pieces can be bought or rented.

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The costumes and wigs can be as crazy as you can imagine for any show. It all depends on what the director and production teams have in mind for the show.

Props and Make-up

This week we’re going to look in depth at the process that goes behind makeup and the props that are used during a show. Props can be anything from a chair to a piece of food. Meanwhile make-up can go from full blown animal makeup to a normal street look. The crazier that show, the wackier the make-up!

First, the props. You can make them, you could buy them, or you could rent them. Props are flexible in the sense that you can get most things, and then alter them to be exactly what you need. Where props get difficult is when you’re doing a period piece and you need a specific thing from that time period. In that case, you would go to the magical world of the Internet, and research, research, research. Most likely, there is someone out in the world who has the thing that you’re looking for.

Fake food on a prop table http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Theatrical_props_from_%22Oliver%22.jpg

Making props is also a lot of fun. You can make lots of things out of foam or wood even. Foam is especially good if something is supposed to be heavy, and looks heavy, but doesn’t actually have to be heavy. Props is a big job. You spend a lot of time driving around going to different places to get the perfect piece. Directors are normally very particular about what they want.Food is another fun prop to deal with. Fake food is fine, but if the actor actually has to eat on stage, you need real food. There are ways to make fake food look very real though.

Makeup is a whole other ball game. You have to be very talented to do the crazy makeup, and to make it look good. You would be surprised by how much makeup you actually have to wear on stage. The lights in a theatre are so hot and bright, that actors use specific thick makeup so they don’t get washed out by the lights. Normal street makeup isn’t enough underneath the bight lights. Everyone wears makeup, guys and girls. Special makeup is fun, because you get to create the character on their face. The shows like Cats and The Lion King have amazing makeup because they’re all animals! There’s also old-age makeup, and injury makeup. One of the funnest things I’ve done was make fake wounds and give someone grotesque injuries.

The Lion King makeup https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/20/d5/20/20d52070ace61ec016b8de3b2dfb84b2.jpg

Makeup from CATS http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/ND%200407%20WED%20Cats%201.jpg

Without props and makeup, the show would be significantly less then what it is with it!

Going to USITT

This week’s post is about a theatre conference run by an organization called the United States Institute for Theatre Technology. This organization puts on a four day conference every year, where members have the chance to meet and network with profession in the technical theatre world. While at HPU, myself and a group of other theatre students have gone to the conference. I’ve gone to the conference for the past two years, and am going again at the end of March. We all have a blast and learn so much about companies that we could potentially work for. Last year it was held in Fort Worth Texas, and this year it’s held in Cincinnati, Ohio.

While at this conference, we get to participate in the Tech Olympics. During these Oylmpics, we compete with other colleges from all over the country in multiple events. These events range from hanging and focusing a light to clearing and resetting a table with props. There’s also the quick change event where you’re timed on how quickly you can undress and redress a person. Last year myself and another girl from HPU placed 3rd in the props event, which was very exciting for us!

Doing the quick change during Tech Oylmpics

Doing the quick change in the tech olympics

The props table set up

There’s also the floor expo, which for theatre students is like Christmas morning. You walk in and you just stand there in awe for a minute or two because there are so many lights and noises to take in. Then you make your plan of attack to talk to all of the companies that give out free things. Once you’ve gotten all of the free things possible, you go back to all of the companies that you’re interested in, and give them your resume, etc for jobs and such.

While we’re there, we also go to seminars and classes on various topics. I’ve been to classes on how to costume an entire show from a thrift store and the class on resumes which was very helpful. They’re all very interesting and they help you a lot. I love this conference, and we always have so much fun and learn a lot when we attend.

Life in the Rehearsal Process/Tech Week

For technicians, one of the most daunting phrases in our vocabulary is tech week, also affectionately known as ‘Hell Week’. This week starts four or five days before the show opens, and boy is it a doozy. However, I’ll start at the beginning of the entire rehearsal process.

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Once you’ve been cast in a show, you have begun the rehearsal process. Typically the first thing you do is ‘table work’. Table work is reading the script, getting to know the characters, talking about the background of the show, and having productive discussions on themes of the show. This is the ‘getting to know you’ phase. The actor’s primary job is to start establishing their character and memorizing their lines.

Soon, rehearsals get moving. The actors begin to get on the stage, and start blocking. Blocking is the term we use for the movement of the characters throughout a scene. By this point, the actors don’t have to know their lines, so they’re still holding their scripts. For musicals, this phase is all for the big choreographed dance numbers that depending on their scale, take a long time to perfect.

Next, actors need to be ‘off book’. Off book is having all of your lines memorized. You’re still allowed to call “Line!” where the line is given to you by a stage manager or an assistant stage manager.

Finally, the rehearsal process is almost over. You’ve been rehearsing anywhere from weeks to months to perfect this show. Costumes start coming in, rehearsal props start being used, and actors are off book.

Now comes the fun part, Hell Week. This is when all of the technical aspects come into play. You have load in, where the set is now in the space, you have a light hang and focus, so the lights are where they need to be, and you have a cue to cue. Cue to cue is the most arduous process of the whole process. (Cues are when something happens, for instance anytime the lights change, a sound happens, or a set piece moves, you have a cue) You go through the show literally from cue to cue. Some shows that I’ve been apart of have over 600 cues. Bigger Broadway shows could potentially have thousands.

You have cue to cue, then dress rehearsals with costumes, makeup, pros, mic pacs, the whole shebang. Before you know it, it’s opening night!