Play Time!

Here is my long-overdue blog post about One Tattered Angel!

I was able to attend the final dress rehearsal and I was really lucky because most of the kinks had already been worked out. I was super nervous manning stage left all by myself so I studied over the script, the costume changes, and basically memorized the costume plot for my side so I could be ready. Many of the characters were in charge of dressing themselves, but the two main characters, Kathy and Blaine, had SO many quick changes that the costume crew had to help out. I asked the actors for Kathy and Blaine if they wanted me to hang their costumes in a specific place for easy access or to just hold them up, and they both wanted me to just hand them their costume or even help dress them. I waited backstage with the script for the show to start! I followed the script very closely and would get the costumes off the rack during the middle of the scene before they were needed. When both actors exited stage left, it was easier to hand Blaine his shirt and then help Kathy put her dress/pieces on. When only one actor exited stage left, I was able to be prepared for them to just step right into their next costume. The first dress rehearsal went GREAT! There were only a few things that needed fixing: Kathy's purple sweater somehow started on stage right so it missed it's debut, Blaine removed his blazer on stage and then put it back on himself (so of course I freaked out when it didn't show up on stage left for him to put on), and you can't walk behind the screen even if it is faster to run things back and forth during the quick intermission (thaaaat's why there was a huge fence made of furniture and random things..). After the rehearsal I felt really good about helping backstage opening night!

Thursday was opening night, changes to our costume plot had been fixed thanks to Ingrid and Sister Dooley, and everything was ready! Brother Ferre read us a really touching letter from the author of One Tattered Angel (also the real-life father, Blaine Yorgason), and it made me feel grateful I was able to help bring his family's story to life! ...Since there were 3 costume crew members to help, I decided to start on stage left for Act I and then move to stage right for Act II. Everything went really smoothly except Kathy's purple dress...I knew Kimmy would be coming off stage and had about 5 seconds to put a whole different dress on, so I had the neck hole open for her ready to put on. She ended up diving into the dress, neck, arms, and all, into the head hole. Then I asked her "How can you put your sleeves on?!!?", so after struggling to get her arms through, the dress came off and we tried again ahahahaha. It worked out, and I'm just grateful Blaine's actor knew to not start without her! I feel like opening night went really well for costuming!

FINALLY GOT MY NAME IN A PROGRAM

I was also able to come watch the play Friday night. It was nice to see our work with costumes and to actually watch the play instead of listening. It turned out really well, and was a very sweet story.

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