Another year, another season.

Well, friends, it's that time of year again: time for the school where I work to begin a new year. The students are back for rehearsals and classes start a week from today. That means it's time to get cracking on the big Fall musical. This year, we're doing a show called I Love a Piano, a tribute to the music of Irving Berlin. Now, it just so happens that I'm quite fond of Irving, so I'm pretty excited about the show. Although, I will miss doing a show with a plot and characters and all that business.

I won't be designing this production--I'll be running the costume shop. And if you're not sure about the distinction there, I'll explain. (And if you are, you can just zone out for this next paragraph.) A costume designer makes the decisions about what each person will be wearing. They do design drawings, pick out fabrics and accessories, and make the first and final call about the look of the costumes in a show. The costume shop manager is in charge of actualizing the costumes. In a bigger shop, that might mean overseeing a team of drapers (who make patterns), first-hands (who cut the fabric), and stitchers (this one should be obvious). But in my little shop, it means sewing, sewing, sewing. (The designer does quite a bit of sewing here as well.) And I also get to train a small force of students in the ways of the costume.

But all that lies ahead. Before we dive into all of that business, we need to take some publicity photos that will become the poster we use to advertise the show. You may be thinking, how can you take the photos if you don't have the costumes yet?! And the answer is: easily. We just use stock costumes that imply the atmosphere of the show. And that's what we'll be doing today. And it's the first of many things to come for this show...