ABSTRACT Title of Document: COSTUME DESIGN FOR THE SHARED MASTER OF FINE ARTS THESIS CONCERT: APPLE FALLING & TRIUMPH OF DISRUPTION Rebecca L. DeLapp, Master of Fine Arts, 2013 Directed By: Professor Helen Q. Huang, School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies The following thesis document tracks the process of the costume designs for the Shared Master of Fine Arts Thesis Concert of Graham Brown?s Apple Falling and Kwame Opare?s Triumph of Disruption: A Movement to Subvert. This document includes a description of the design approach, conceptual research, preliminary pencil sketches, color renderings, in process fitting photos, and production photos. The Shared Master of Fine Arts Thesis Concert: Apple Falling and Triumph of Disruption: A Movement to Subvert was produced by the University of Maryland?s School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. The production opened on March 14th, 2013. The design team included scenic, lighting, and projections designer Andrew Kaufman, lighting designer (Triumph of Disruption) Brittany Shemuga, and projections designer (Triumph of Disruption) Sarah Tundermann. COSTUME DESIGN FOR THE SHARED MFA THESIS CONCERT: APPLE FALLING & TRIUMPH OF DISRUPTION By Rebecca L. DeLapp Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts 2013 Advisory Committee: Professor Helen Q. Huang, Chair Associate Professor Daniel Conway Associate Professor Patrik Widrig ? Copyright by Rebecca L. DeLapp 2013 ii Table of Contents Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... ii Chapter 1: Apple Falling ............................................................................................... 1 Section 1: Conceptualization and Design Process .................................................... 1 Section 2: Tech Process ............................................................................................ 5 Chapter 2: Triumph of Disruption ................................................................................ 7 Section 1: Conceptualization and Design Process .................................................... 7 Section 2: Tech Process .......................................................................................... 10 Chapter 3: Summary ................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 4: Costume Design Research ......................................................................... 12 Section 1: Apple Falling ......................................................................................... 12 Section 2: Triumph of Disruption ........................................................................... 17 Chapter 5: Preliminary Sketches ................................................................................ 21 Section 1: Apple Falling ......................................................................................... 21 Section 2: Triumph of Disruption ........................................................................... 28 Chapter 6: Color Renderings ..................................................................................... 30 Section 1: Apple Falling ......................................................................................... 30 Section 2: Triumph of Disruption ........................................................................... 37 Chapter 7: Costume Piece Lists ................................................................................. 46 Section 1: Apple Falling ......................................................................................... 46 Section 2: Triumph of Disruption ........................................................................... 48 Chapter 8: Costume Fitting Photos ............................................................................ 49 Section 1: Apple Falling ......................................................................................... 49 Section 2: Triumph of Disruption ........................................................................... 56 Chapter 9: Production Photos .................................................................................... 62 Section 1: Apple Falling ......................................................................................... 62 Section 2: Triumph of Disruption ........................................................................... 67 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 72 1 Chapter 1: Apple Falling Section 1: Conceptualization and Design Process Apple Falling, choreographed and written by MFA in Dance candidate Graham Brown, is a ?theatre performance work in which the lives of seven individuals intersect as they interact with their familial histories, musing over the stories and characters that have, over generations, shaped who they are and who they will become. Graham, the main character, struggles to understand his role as husband and father in relation to his imbalanced paternal example. His struggle is contrasted and challenged by his friend Ava?s reflective gratitude and appreciation for the positive example set by her late father who made a choice to change the troubled legacy handed him by his father.? Set in modern time, the dance flows between spaces of a domestic environment, a restaurant, coffee shop, church and a nightclub. Emphasis is set on repetition and daily routine and initially, lighting and costume changes are made alongside each shift in environment. Most of the characters embody, to a large extent, their true selves. The characters are, as follows: Graham, played by himself, a husband to his wife and father to his children, searching for self identity and how to be a good dad while struggling with his broken relationship with his own father; His wife: played by Eric Crawley-Woods, a woman struggling to find identity post baby while balancing family life; Pascal: played by Isobella Estrada-Brown, Graham?s young daughter, at 2 an age of questioning and discovery; Theodore: played by Oliver Estrada-Brown: Graham?s young son, with boundless energy and curiosity; Sam: played by Stephanie Miracle, a women in turbulent but loving relationship, trying to find her balance between career and relationship; Brad, played by Nick Horan, a man in turbulent but loving relationship, struggling with identity and childhood issues, easily distracted from relationship; and Ava, played by Candace Scarborough, a single woman, entering adulthood, finding identity in her twenties while dealing with the death of her father. Preliminary design meetings with Graham centered around an in-progress script. This particular production was a continuation of choreography previously presented at the University of Maryland. Last performed in February of 2012, the piece had grew and developed significantly. My inspiration for the piece was drawn from everyday people. I wanted to have the sense of a developed style for each character that would hold as a through line for the duration of the piece. Initially, Graham came to me with images from a J.Crew or Banana Republic kind of catalogue and expressed interest in taking that kind of direction for each person. I responded with research of my own that reflected what we discussed and from there, I began to develop looks for each character. A challenge for me, as the costume designer, was to find a way to evolve the costumes of dancer/actors while maintaining the character roles Graham desired. We talked about bringing costumes to a more contemporary look with a specific color palate that would still allow me to bring out an individual personality for each of the characters. Each character would have multiple looks, each with several variable 3 options for quicker changes if needed. To achieve this, I designed three base looks for each character with additional accessories or details, such as scarves, hats, jewelry, glasses, jackets, that gave us a larger set of options to choose from as the script and choreography continued to develop. Throughout both script and choreographic changes over several months, Graham and I were in communication about needs and shifts in costumes and changes in rehearsals. It was challenging to work with an ever-evolving script and often improvised choreography. Graham and the cast, along with stage management, were frequently in touch with me about their needs and helped me keep track of changes that occurred on the spot in rehearsals. At times, I felt that the communication between Graham and I wasn't as transparent as it needed to be. With Graham having previously done this piece, I sometimes got the sense that he had a specific look for the show that he wanted that he wasn't verbalizing to me, perhaps not wanting to overstep. Many times it seemed like we were on the same page but notes would later come up from him that were contradicting to previous conversations. This made the process more difficult because I felt that it put me in a position that was to more to serve the choreographer's impulsive reactions to certain garments and less about developing my overall design for the show. Graham seemed to have a strong desire to be involved in most of my decision making about the characters costumes. This made it hard for me to maintain a cohesive design approach and I felt like I slipped into a place of reactive design choices, versus purposeful design choices. 4 One of Graham?s strongest, and most developed pieces of choreography in the performance was a ?changing duet? at the end of the show. It is a section that mainly involved him and Erin as a couple, in accelerated vignettes of their daily lives and the actions and emotions centered on the act of changing clothes. This section, in less developed forms, was presented in various pieces and solo works in 2011-2012. In the context of the show, the message of the changing duet is to display the beauty in the mundane; the simple, yet profound image of a couple changing in and out of different outfits/phases of a daily life. An image that Graham had in mind for this section was to costume it as if a few pictures fell out of a stranger?s family scrapbook and you were to pick them up and look at them. There's no intentional narrative to it, yet it gives a glimpse into the lives of those pictured. That idea, posited against the fact that we've gotten to know these characters over the course of the show sustains our impressions of them and gives us new insight. Working with a scripted, theatrical dance piece was something I've never experienced and it allowed me to be involved in much more than just the costumes. A lot of our collaborations throughout the process for Apple Falling were centralized on story-telling and character development in the script. Graham was very open about us being at rehearsals and inviting us to be a part of script revisions. Working together in these capacities I was asked to think of more than just the costume design and it allowed me to collaborate on a level where everyone worked together to better the show as a whole. 5 Section 2: Tech Process With so much changing of the script and incomplete choreography, it was not until during the tech process for Apple Falling that the design team was able to see a complete run of the show with the changing duet. By this point, much of the spoken text that originally guided the piece had been eliminated and the performance was much more choreographically driven. For me, seeing how much the movement led the piece made me question the necessity for so many costume changes amongst the characters. Having multiple costume changes for all the characters throughout the piece lessened the impact of the final changing duet between Graham and Erin. After a dress rehearsal during tech, we decided to cut the majority of costume changes that occurred prior to the changing duet to help give the changing duet a stronger, more meaningful sense. Cutting out the costume changes from the main body of movement required more conversations with Graham, myself, and members of both of our thesis committees. It was important that these people were involved because of the scale of this shift and the shortness of time in which to make the changes. Cutting costumes required that we go back to our initial concept of the importance of establishing individual personalities while maintaining a balanced relationship with one another while staying in one look. My biggest challenge at this point was making sure that this new look would make sense throughout the entire piece and that in all the combinations of partnering, I could maintain a composition that fit into my concept and color palate. 6 In order to make decisions for a singular look for each character, I collected photographs of each character's looks and complied them with renderings and research as well as photos from the dress runs. Graham and I, alongside Professors Helen Huang, Patrik Widrig and Sarah Pearson, discussed what pieces were important to keep for each character. Having a wide variety of looks and pieces to choose from, I felt that I was able to successfully collage completed, singular looks for the cast that provided each one their own personality, color, and silhouette. Although this was a fairly significant change made at a late point of tech, I was happy with the decision and felt that it better served the piece overall. 7 Chapter 2: Triumph of Disruption: A Movement to Subvert Section 1: Conceptualization and Design Process Triumph of Disruption: A Movement to Subvert, choreographed and written by MFA in Dance candidate Kwame Opare, discusses the institutional dysfunction of America?s educational system and how public schools have failed in their mission to provide education, deny basic constitutional rights to youth, and often resemble prisons with constant surveillance and heavy-handed punishments. As a dance teacher in public schools in Baltimore, Kwame uses dance as a means to bring an understanding of heritage and culture to inner city African American students and empowers them to take ownership. By disrupting the status quo his students, Kwame invites the students to break free and challenges them to connect to a community of rich history and involvement. Kwame cast his piece with male and female students from his school in Baltimore, ranging in age from 15 to 19 years old. As the dance opens, we are in an inner city classroom, amongst a backdrop of obstacles and broken neighborhoods. We see that these children are growing up in a world that?s falling apart in front of them. Their school is like a prison where the kids are existing in an atmosphere of fear and loathing, anger and despair. The students are dismissive to authority and uninterested in knowledge. They exist in a system of control and containment. 8 To achieve a sense of rigidity and compliance, I designed a uniformed look for the top of the show helped place the kids in an environment where they are often regarded as bodies, not individuals. Kwame told me, ?There is genius in these kids and I want them to see that.? Each of the dancers wore khaki uniform pants, a light blue oxford, and maroon tie. I encouraged the kids to roughly tie their ties and sloppily tuck in their shirts, just as they would in real life. Kwame?s costume for the top of show was meant to be that of an authoritative figure that holds relationship to that of the students. I wanted a more formal look that would allow Kwame to be seen as a role model for the students. I chose a fitted vest with dress pants and a white button up shirt with small, colorful details that hinted at this creative, welcoming world he was inviting the students into. Using colorful fabrics, I designed a center button placket for the shirt that gave a pop of texture and added pieces of fabric to the vest pockets. Small details like that helped pull his look from one of a utilitarian teacher to that of an artistic instructor with something to give. From the beginning, Kwame was interested in having a section of choreography that was about gumboots: a South African dance performed by dancers wearing rubber wellington boots. Historically, miners were given the boots as a fast and cheap solution for improper working conditions and flooding. Gumboot dancing originated in the South African mines as a form of communication and rhythm when talking and traditional musical instruments were restricted. Kwame uses the history telling of gumboot dancing as a way to connect to his students in the classroom. Kwame began by pulling his boots on and through a series of stomps, slaps, and jumps, the students are curious and begin to explore the movement with him. 9 Eventually, they all join in and we being to see the transformation in the students as they begin to understand their possibilities. All of the dancers had identical pairs of rubber boots, and their dance is performed in powerful unison. It was important for there to be development for the students? costumes as they interacted with Kwame through text, movement, and sound during the piece. We were looking for a shift in their costume for the end of the show that could reflect their opening up and experience of art and dance. I was interested in exploring a move towards contemporary Afro-centric costumes that had a hip influence. My initial research for the second look included a lot of traditional African fabrics, prints, and costumes. I was searching for color, pattern, and silhouette that I could bring to life as a new garment for these kids. We wanted something fresh, funky, and was a piece that really embodied the acceptance of this new outlook. For these African inspired looks, I used a combination of sourced clothing, fabric manipulation, and built costumes. Using a wide variety of colors and textures, I wanted the dancers to have a sense of individuality and personality. Much of my inspiration for the various pieces was drawn from contemporary African fashion and hip-hop influences. Bright colors and bold patterns were used in a collaged sense on many of the garments. By mixing and creating these textures, I could create unique and personalized pieces for each of the dancers. Working with Kwame on this piece presented an exciting opportunity to working with young, talented, outside dancers. One challenge was in the fact that the dancers were high school aged and not immediately ?local? or available. The majority of rehearsals were held in Baltimore and it was difficult to arrange times for fittings 10 to happen outside of their class or rehearsal times. Thanks to the flexibility and coordination of Jennifer Dasher, CSPAC?s costume shop manager, we were able to schedule a trip with draper Lisa Burgess and myself to go to the school in Baltimore where Kwame was teaching and hold several fittings during a Friday rehearsal. Section 2: Tech Process I felt that we went into tech for Triumph of Disruption: A Movement to Subvert, in a good spot. The cast was finalized and costumes had been in rehearsals. I made two adjustments during tech. One was a decision between Kwame and I to streamline the costume for Quan?jayaa. She felt that there was too much fabric on her legs and wanted a slimmer fitting leg to help with her movement. We tapered the legs and added some beaded trim to her waistline to achieve a more fitted look. The second change involved dye work for Kwame?s white dress shirt. With Kwame onstage in bright lights, the white of his shirt was really bold and I wanted to find a way to tone it down. I consulted with my advisor and mentor, Helen Huang, and we came up with two hues to dip the sleeves with. Using various methods of tie-dye and fabric manipulation, the sleeves of Kwame?s shirt became a vibrant mix of orange and blues, bringing him closer to the colorful world and allowing for a better balance under the lights. 11 Chapter 3: Summary Both Apple Falling and Triumph of Disruption were both moderately theatrical dance pieces. While design projects are collaborative in their own sense, because of the nature of both pieces, the choreographers and I had the opportunity to collaborate on multiple levels that typically do not exist for designers. Being able to take an active part in rehearsals gave me an exciting sense of connection to the pieces. Being invited to offer suggestions to script developments and choreographic elements really provided me with a true feeling of full collaboration that was really gratifying. I am very proud to be a part of this new collaboration between Dance and Theatre as we now operate under one School of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. This collaborative co-thesis is the first of it's kind and I am glad to have been given the opportunity to work on these two pieces. Apple Falling and Triumph of Disruption presented challenges that required a lot of flexibility and new ways of communication and process. I?m grateful for the trust given to me by Graham and Kwame, alongside my fellow designers and collaborators. Working alongside MFA in Dance choreographers provided me with a unique experience that called upon many of the skills I've learned as a designer and has given me a wider vocabulary to use moving forward in future collaborations. 12 Chapter 4: Costume Design Research Section 1: Apple Falling 13 14 15 16 17 Section 2: Triumph of Disruption 18 19 20 21 Chapter 5: Preliminary Sketches Section 1: Apple Falling 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Section 2: Triumph of Disruption 29 30 Chapter 6: Color Renderings Section 1: Apple Falling 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Section 2: Triumph of Disruption Group 38 Kwame Opare 39 Kwame Opare 40 Richard Denson 41 Brieona Carter 42 Ebony Little 43 Latonya Henderson 44 Kadijah Holly 45 Quan?jayaa Turmon 46 Chapter 7: Costume Piece Lists Section 1: Apple Falling Page 1 of 3 Choreographer: Graham Brown Costume Designer: Rebecca DeLapp Faculty Advisor: Helen Huang Actor Character Look # Costume Piece Description Brown, Graham Graham 1 jacket dark blue jacket pants khaki pants hat striped beanie top grey long sleeve thermal top blue v-neck shirt top green&white plaid shirt 2 pants blue-grey shorts top grey screen print tee shoes gardening shoes accessories orange and leather gloves 3 top purple button up pants grey dress pants socks black socks shoes date night shoes 4 pants striped pj bottoms top red/blue long sleeve thermal 5 top white dress shirt jacket suit jacket vest suit vest pants suit pants shoes funeral shoes Estrada-Brown, Isobella Pascal 1 top pink striped dress pants jeans 2 top purple pj top pants blue pj pants 3 dress black dress shoes black shoes 4 robe pink robe Production Services Costume Piece List Space: Dance Theatre Department: TDPS Show: S13 MFA Dance Thesis-Apple Falling 47 Page 2 of 3 Estrada-Brown, Oliver Theodore 1 top green shirt pants khaki pants 2 top green pj top pants green pj bottom 3 top black dress shirt tie black tie pants black pants socks black socks shoes black shoes 4 robe red robe Crawley-Woods, Erin Erin 1 tank white cami bra tan bra panties underwear pants jeans top tan lace top sweater red cardigan 2 pants gardening jeans top brown sweater shoes gardening shoes hat sun hat 3 bottoms yellow pj shorts top grey sweatshirt 4 hosiery stockings dress dark grey dress sweater grey sweater shoes grey pumps 5 dress blue date dress shoes date shoes Horan, Nick Brad 1 pants brown pants belt white belt top long sleeve blue tee sweater olive&white sweater 2 top checked button up tie grey tie 3 top black button up shoes black shoes Page 3 of 3 Miracle, Stephanie Sam 1 pants maroon leggings top grey shirt dress belt blue belt 2 dress black strapless dress shoes black shoes Scarborough, Candace Ava 1 pants jeans top white sleeveless blouse scarf orange scarf 2 dress peach dress scarf 2nd scarf 3 dress black dress shoes black shoes 48 Section 2: Triumph of Disruption Page 1 of 1 Choreographer: Kwame Opare Costume Designer: Rebecca DeLapp Faculty Advisor: Helen Huang Actor Character Look # Costume Piece Description Opare, Kwame pants grey, wool suspenders black top white button up, collar vest full back, button front boots black rubber boots 2 pants african print, loose fit, drop crotch top grey dry-fit tshirt with applique Denson, Richard 1 pants khaki top blue button up tie burgandy boots black rubber 2 pants yellow/orange African print undershirt grey tank jacket sleeveless denim with applique Carter, Brieona 1 pants khaki top blue button up tie burgandy boots black rubber 2 top black, white, yellow geometic crop pants grey pattern with/ yellow trim Little, Ebony 1 pants khaki top blue button up tie burgandy boots black rubber 2 top black top with b/w pattern sleeve skirt multicolor pleated skirt Henderson, Latonya 1 pants khaki top blue button up tie burgandy boots black rubber 2 top denim snap front with applique pants black, pink geometric pattern Holly, Kadijah 1 pants khaki top blue button up tie burgandy boots black rubber 2 top pink geometric zip front jacket blue geometric crop bolero pants black, yellow patterned crops Turmon, Quan'jayaa 1 pants khaki top blue button up tie burgandy boots black rubber 2 jumpsuit orange multicolor print with belt Production Services Costume Piece List Department: TDPS Show: Triumph of Disruption Space: Dance Theatre 49 Chapter 8: Costume Fitting Photos Section 1: Apple Falling Graham Brown 50 Isobella Estrada-Brown 51 Oliver Estrada-Brown 52 Erin Crawley-Woods 53 Nick Horan ! ! 54 Stephanie Miracle 55 Candace Scarborough 56 Section 2: Triumph of Disruption 57 58 Brieona Carter 59 Ebony Little 60 Kadijah Holly 61 Quan?jayaa Turmon Latonya Henderson 62 Chapter 9: Production Photos Section 1: Apple Falling 63 64 65 66 67 Section 2: Triumph of Disruption 68 69 70 71 72 Bibliography Brown, Graham. 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Print. Motha, Makhosini, and Mronza Pilane. "The Heritage of Gumboot Dance." NDR ? National Digital Repository ? Cultures ? Stories ? The Heritage of Gumboot Dance. National Digital Repository, 28 May 2008. Web. 27 Oct. 2012. Opare, Kwame S. "Disrupting the Miseducation of African American Youth." Tedxchesterriver.com |. TEDx Chester River, 30 July 2012. Web. 06 Oct. 2012.