Date: Fri 24-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Tamblyn-costume-opera-Nutmeg

Full Text:

The Science Of Constructing Stage Costumes

(with photos, costume design drawings)

BY SHANNON HICKS

When the curtain goes up this weekend for the Nutmeg Opera & Theatre Company's

performance of Madama Butterfly , one biochemist in the audience will be very

interested in the costumes the actors will be wearing that evening.

Toby Tamblyn has been volunteering her time for 13 years with various opera

and musical theatre companies. Since 1983, Toby has been designing, draping

and constructing costumes, working in wardrobe, inventory and dressing. Her

latest project, the apex of which comes on Saturday night in Danbury, is the

construction of the costumes for the aforementioned Nutmeg Opera production of

Giacomo Puccini's three-act opera.

A senior principal scientist by day with Boehringer Ingelheim, Toby, a Newtown

resident, says being a costume designer and constructor is a love-hate

relationship. She enjoys the construction phase of each project, Toby said

recently, but the week before each production opens always becomes a Hell

Week.

"There is too much to do, and not enough time," Ms Tamblyn said. For Madama

Butterfly , Toby's job is to create five kimonos for the chorus. She has also

created a few additional kimonos for the lead actors, so the stage

presentation looks more coordinated to the audience's collective eye. Compared

to past projects where she has created capes for characters that used 2,000

hand-pulled and individually stitched goose feathers, or when she created the

dress for the lead soprano character in Fled ermaus , the construction end of

her project for this weekend's Madama Butterfly has been a cakewalk.

However, in addition to costume design and construction for this weekend's

performance, Toby is in charge of wardrobe and dressing. Wardrobe is the

person who keeps control of the costume inventory, takes care of getting

things into and out of storage, and any rentals and returns that might be

needed. The dresser works in the dressing room with the actors, literally

dressing them and but also running errands for the performers.

"You are really a mother away from home for these people," Toby said. "These

jobs are all related, certainly, but they are distinct. They are done be

different people."

The working staff of Nutmeg Opera and Theatre, which includes the costume

maker, is made up of volunteers. Only lead performers and orchestral members

received payment last year, when the company presented its first production;

this year's performance is being administered in the same way.

Because the company is a fledgling non-profit organization, there is very

little money to be spent on costumes. When Nutmeg Opera presented its

first-ever full production last year, Cavalleria Rusticana , Toby was also put

in charge of costume construction, wardrobe and dressing.

Toby said she began thinking about the costumes for Butterfly right after last

year's production, when she told artistic director John Cosentina she would

finance the costumes for this year.

A costume designer and the person who constructs the costumes are usually two

separate people. As constructor, Toby's job is to take what a designer has

drawn on paper, and bring it to life. The Nutmeg production is unique in that

Toby is handling both jobs, but she has worked with some very talented

designers in the past.

She has created period and contemporary costumes for designers like Richard

Rothwell, the designer for Opera Delaware. Before moving to Connecticut two

years ago, Delaware was Toby's home state. She also has worked under Holly

Hightower, a costume designer out of Baltimore.

Her first costume constructing jobs were with Opera Delaware, using designs by

Mr Rothwell. For ten years beginning in 1984, Toby was involved with costume

construction, and in some cases wardrobe and dressing as well, for consecutive

annual Opera Delaware productions, including Aida , Cenerentola , Fledermaus

and Carmen , among others.

The relationship between costume designer and constructor is very similar to

that of architect and engineer, she feels. "The ideal situation is when you

get to work with a talented designer who can tell you what he or she wants,

and you go home and do it.

"Of course, more organization means a better production."

As costume mistress, Toby's responsibilities reach beyond what the actors look

like to the audience. She is part of the behind-the-scenes backbone of a

production.

"My first obligation is to make them comfortable," she said. "They have a lot

of other things on their mind.

Nutmeg Opera Co. will present Madama Butterfly on Saturday, October 25, in

Ives Concert Hall. The hall is on the midtown campus of Western CT State

University, at 181 White Street in Danbury. Tickets are $20; the performance

will begin at 7:30 pm. To reserve tickets or for additional information, call

743-0147.