Vegetation Creation for the Witch in "Into the Woods": Part 1

By Rachel E. Pollock, Costume Crafts Artisan, PlayMakers Repertory Company

Rachel E. Pollock

We're currently in production on our repertory shows this year, Into the Woods and Midsummer Night's Dream. Today, I've got a behind-the-scene peek into one of the many cool special effects we're doing in the costume crafts world to create these two huge, magical shows.

Our costume designer for Into the Woods is Bill Brewer, of UNC-School of the Arts. I've been aware of Bill's work for years and met him many times at conferences and symposia, but we'd never worked together. Really excited to have the chance on this great show!

For his concept of the Witch's first costume, he envisioned a dress covered with actual vegetation from her garden, in which Jack's magic beans grow.




Costume design rendering by Bill Brewer

See those cabbages and twigs? That's what today's entry is about! Basically, we're casting them in latex.




Here you see draper and craftsperson Denise Dietrich working on casts of several leaves. Our makeup designer, Caitlin Molloy, cast three actual leaves for us--a collard and two cabbages! We tint the liquid latex with acrylic paints, brush it into the molds in layers. We put in a layer of tulle for stability between coats 3 and 4, and when we peel them out, they look like real vegetable leaves! Then Denise can place them on the garment.




A collard cast ready for demolding. See the rectangle of white tulle in it?




We're also making the twiggy trim along her skirt hem from latex. We paint it out in layers onto these ceramic tiles, then roll it up around strips of muslin into sticklike forms like you see above.

Pretty cool, eh?


To hear more from Rachel, check out her blog labricoleuse.livejournal.com


Come see Into the Woods and A Midsummer Night's Dream at PlayMakers thru December 7. For tickets, call 919.962.PLAY (7529) or visit our website.

Bill Brewer on Designing Costumes for "Into the Woods"

By Bill Brewer, Costume Designer, Into the Woods 

We all know the fairytales we grew up with. Cinderella and Prince Charming, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. Sondheim and Lapine have challenged everything we think we know about these fairytales. Into The Woods gives us a happily ever after that isn’t. I wanted to find a way for the characters to move beyond their iconography and become relatable as human beings.

The Wolf

I grew up with these tales during the 1950’s, an idyllic respite in the American story. It was a time between wars and a time when the American Dream reigned supreme. Everyone wanted the perfect life and family; a fairytale existence was yours for the taking if you worked hard and lived right. However history tells us that idealism was short lived. 

The Witch

Viewing the characters through a 1950’s lens allows us a relationship not offered with the removed “once upon a time” approach. In my mind, the woods represent the world; it can be a scary place once we leave the safety of our homes. The world can also be full of adventure! But adventure involves risk and the potential of life altering events. Once we experience the world our lives may never be the same but it is a risk most of us are willing to take.

Red Riding Hood

Want to see more of Bill's sketches? Check back in later this week!

Come see Into the Woods and A Midsummer Night's Dream at PlayMakers thru December 7. For tickets, call 919.962.PLAY (7529) or visit our website.

Meet the Creatives: "Into the Woods"

If you have not heard, anything can happen in the woods. Magic, mischief and mayhem take over at PlayMakers during our 2014/15 Mainstage repertory shows, Into the Woods and A Midsummer Night's Dream. The first is the modern classic Into the Woods, from the mind of Stephen Sondheim. This whimsical tale weaves together classic fairy tales, with a twist, and garnered multiple Tony Awards.

Joe Haj

We have put together a fantastic creative team for our production of Into the Woods, to bring to life this fairytale world.

PlayMakers own Joe Haj will direct Into the Woods. Last season Joe co-directed both Metamorphoses and The Tempest, bringing these mythological and mystical tales to life for one of PlayMakers most memorable rotating repertory events ever. After all, who can forget the 4000 gallon pool built in the middle of the Paul Green Theatre! Joe will bring his considerable creative vision to Stephen Sondheim's beloved musical, and it’s sure to be an enchanting evening.

Marion Williams is returning to PlayMakers to bring some magic to the stage as the scenic designer for Into the Woods and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Marion is a longtime collaborator with PlayMakers. Her work was last here in 2013, when she brought to life the tantalizing world of The Kit Kat Klub for Cabaret. She has designed sets and costumes for a number of PlayMakers' past productions, and we are thrilled to have her back.

The costume designer for Into the Woods is Bill Brewer. This will be Bill's first time working with PlayMaker. Bill has designed for theatre, ballet, opera, film and television, both nationally and internationally. He is on the costume design faculty of the University of North Carolina School for the Arts. In addition to his numerous theatre and ballet projects, he has designed numerous projects for PBS and worked as an assistant designer for Lucas Film.

Josh Epstein is the lighting designer for Into the Woods. We last saw Josh's lighting design at PlayMakers in the 2013 production Cabaret. Josh designs lighting for theater, opera and dance as well as environmental and event spaces. Josh will be doing the lighting design for both of our rep shows this season, and we are looking forward to seeing his take on these productions.

If you are looking for the choreographer behind the fantastic cake walks of Assassins or the raucous dance numbers from Cabaret, then Casey Sams is your woman. She will be choreographing Into the Woods. Casey Sams is a resident artist at the Clarence Brown Theater, where she works as a director and choreographer. She is also head of undergraduate studies and an associate professor of theatre at University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Rounding out our creative team is puppet designer Donovan Zimmerman. Donovan is the co-founder of Paperhand Puppet Intervention. He brings his creations to life using cardboard, corn starch, bamboo, old house paints, and other assorted odds and ends. We are excited to have him as part of our Into the Woods creative team.

Into the Woods and A Midsummer Night's Dream will be performed in repertory at PlayMakers November 1 through December 7. Subscriptions for the 2014/2015 Mainstage Season are on sale now and single tickets will be available in July.