Fashioning an attitude on stage
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“We have to take that audience along with us and tell them visually what the playwright is describing. So the audience should have an indication of the character’s personality.”
Society is LaLonnie Lehman’s research library.
Consider the Greek tragedy “Burial at Thebes.” As TCU’s theatre department prepared last spring to produce the repertory interpretation by Seamus Haney, LaLonnie Lehman ’73 (MA ’75) began having visions of white.
Inspired by a London production of the play she had seen the year before, the associate professor of costume design created a contemporary color palette from white to light tan. She and her team set off to the library, digging through popular magazines, newspapers, fashion books and ads to choose images that would emulate each character.
“Research for costume design is based on what you inherently know from living and looking at contemporary people, how our leaders — president, vice president, members of Congress, judges and lawyers — look,” explained Lehman, who has designed costumes for more than 200 productions over 35 years in the theatre department.
“We have to take that audience along with us and tell them visually what the playwright is describing. So the audience should have an indication of the character’s personality.”
After poring over the script numerous times, Lehman started with the lead female character, Antigone, meaning "one who is of the opposite opinion."
In Sophocles’ “Antigone,” her difference of opinion with her uncle, King Creon, is the catalyst around which the play´s ultimate tragedy evolves.
“I modeled her character after successful female lawyers and bankers I’ve seen and known,” Lehman said, describing the character’s severe white pantsuit. Because color was not an option, Lehman and crew had to use the garments’ cut and style to convey the character’s persona.
Under the suit, a T-shirt depicted a pop culture image of Che Guevara, the Marxist revolutionary. The actress’ hair was cropped, and she wore only minimal jewelry. The costume designer’s responsibility, after all, includes everything from hats and watches to undergarments and even hair color.
With all contemporary productions, costumes are bought off the rack. What sounds like a fun day of shopping around town is better described as merchandise searching. Where does one find a white pantsuit within budget that fits the actor? (one of the white suits was discovered at an end-of-the-season sale at a Florida department store).
Lehman does most of the shopping herself, as she prefers to see and feel the textiles, and she always buys in multiple styles and sizes … which means lots of returns.
“Especially with women’s clothing, every brand is sized differently,” she added.
In contrast, Antigone’s naïve sister was described as “fluffy,” wearing a full, flowy skirt, a softer shirt to show curves, and with blonde wavy hair.
Her image began taking shape with little or no color — only shades of white.
The problem with contemporary clothing, Lehman explains, is that society offers so many choices. Mix in the production team members’ individual opinions, and the task becomes “digging through it to get something that says what you want to the audience,” she said.
Lehman’s research follows a simple yet complex method. First she reads the script, often several times. She looks past the script direction for things like location and plot. How many actors are there? Are there costume changes? What are the social strata?
She then takes her ideas to the production team of directors, set designers, lighting designers and sound designers. Although they all may have different visions, they must emerge from the meeting with one.
In “Burial at Thebes,” for example, she asked her design team to bring to life the director’s vision for the Furies, described as “nonrealistic bird-like things.” Bird books and other aviary research compilations helped them to create a functioning, vulture-like costume. However, the most grueling part was fitting it onto actors who had to climb, jump and walk on their knees. The result included black aquatic swim shoes, a mask, jodhpur-style pants with foam inserts, black knee and elbow pads, and black gloves with attached fingernails, resembling bird claws.
“We teach students how to do all of these things. They have to figure out how to file the nails, sew them on, drill a hole and attach them.”
There are no academic journals for costume design, although Lehman is a member of the U.S. Institute for Theater Technology. Trading war stories with peers is helpful, but techniques must remain unique because “each time you approach a play, it is different because they each have a different director.”
With a period production, the beginning research is the same: Design meetings are held, scripts are studied, and a vision is created. But often, life experiences are the best research of all.
Consider “Ellis Island, the Dream of America” by Peter Boyer, performed at Bass Hall for TCU’s Fine Arts Gala in January 2004. Lehman had coincidentally visited New York the year prior and went to the Ellis Island Museum where she picked up a book on its history. When Boyer’s production was in the early stages, Lehman called the librarian at the museum and for her research he recommended a book that happened to be available at the TCU library. The designs came from the immigrants’ own stories.
The challenge with period pieces is in finding the proper fabric for costumes, especially with budget constraints. With “Ellis Island,” Lehman combined fabrics from local resources to create a particular costume. The team achieves color by dying, painting, appliqués, washing, and combinations of trim and buttons. Vital knowledge can be found in the era’s history.
“You have to know why certain groups of society used different fabrics. Where did the fabrics come from? How expensive was a fabric? How did it determine the social strata?”
Success in creating a costume often is revealed post-production, when the audience connects with the characters.
“Research has to happen based how the audience is going to interpret what you show them. If it’s an older generation, they don’t want to see a character with mussed, ‘bed head’ hair,” Lehman said. “If it’s a younger generation and I don’t use it, I’m out of the loop and they won’t have that kind of identification with the character.”
If you catch Lehman watching students interact, snooping around second-hand stores or sitting in a parked car downtown taking notes on homeless people (yes, she’s done that), chances are, she’s doing intense research.
“Costume design has to do with society and extrapolating what the audience will identify with,” she said. “So I’m always looking, watching wherever I go.”
Contact Lehman at l.lehman@tcu.edu
Comment at tcumagazine@tcu.edu
LaLonnie Lehman was appointed to Texas Christian University in 1972. She received her M.A. in Theatre Design from Texas Christian University, Theatre in 1975, and her B.A. in Home Economics from Texas Christian University in 1973. She also attended Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico, 1973; Texas Western College (University of Texas at El Paso), 1961; Michigan State University, 1958-1961; and, Jackson Junior College, Jackson, Michigan, 1957. LaLonnie teaches costume history, costume design, pattern drafting, special costume areas and theatre history. She designs costumes for theatre, opera and dance, both at TCU and in the commercial field. Memberships in professional organizations: United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Costume Society of America, Southwest Theatre Association and Texas Educational Theatre Association.
