College Light Opera Company
Assistant Designer and Costume Shop Manager
Working at CLOC was an extremely unique and rewarding experience. In 2024 my position was added specifically for me, and my skill set. During previous years the roles were separated and were typically handled by graduate students. The following excerpt from the CLOC website helps for describe the responsibilities that I had. “The Costume Designer/ Shop Supervisor is one of the most crucial positions at CLOC. The Costume Designer is responsible for supervising all construction, pulling, and alteration of costumes as well as managing wardrobe, laundry, and hair and makeup. Strong leadership, communication and organizational skills are essential as well as knowledge of costume history, construction, fitting, alteration, and hand and machine sewing. Experience with draping and flat patterning is required."
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While one show is running in the evening, the following week's show is being built. At any given time, there are usually three shows being worked on. Preparing for nine different shows gave me the opportunity to enhance my patterning, sewing and craft skills. As the assistant designer, I contributed to the design process while working closely with the designer to best achieve our shared vision. Together we decided whether to use existing costumes from our stock, modify those costumes or create new ones.
As the shop manager, I was responsible for all the activities needed to be ready for each show. Even when we were using existing costumes from our stock, we often had to do alterations for this year’s cast. I worked with the four individual stitchers and helped them recognize the important role they each played as team members. Together we made sure we had costumes ready for all the characters in each show even when some of the cast members had as many as seven costumes for a single show.
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Brigadoon
Brigadoon was the first of the nine shows done at CLOC. We had to quickly get to know everyone's work styles, their skills and highlights, and to make sure everything was going to run successfully. I was able to quickly learn about the space, the stock in the theatre, and the area around the theatre. I had the opportunity to pattern the wedding dress for this show and was able to gauge the interests and skills of the stitchers within the shop.
Stage and Music Direction by Beth Burrier Stage Management by Sophie Berger Choreography by Olivia Swanson
Lighting Design by Eli Goldberg Scenic Design by Emmaline Naud Costume Design by Courtlyn McCain
Technical Direction by Davis Kranchalk Assistant Costume Design by Shelby Allred Props Artist by Eri Lackey
Scenic and Run Crew: Eric Chen Matthew Dandino , Spencer Swetlow , Jo Williams Costume/Wardrobe Crew: Lorelei Conte, Paige Winkelman , Caitlin Trobridge Production Manager & Head of Design and Production: Anthony Migliori
Photos by Spencer Swetlow
Iolanthe
Iolanthe was the first opera this season, and CLOC’s second show. I enjoyed the mystical aspects of the fairy world that were a part of this show. Creating the fairy wings and discovering ways to make the mechanism to reveal the wings was possible because of both my costume and technical skill background. My millinery skills were also vital to the designs to construct the crown for the Fairy Queen and Iolanthe.
Stage Direction by James Mills Music Direction by Andrew Chen Stage Management by Victoria Blas
Choreography by Olivia Swanson Lighting Design by Eli Goldberg Scenic Design by Emmaline Naud Costume Design by Courtlyn McCain Technical Direction by Davis Kranchalk Assistant Costume Design by Shelby Allred Props Artist by Eri Lackey Scenic and Run Crew: Eric Chen Matthew Dandino , Spencer Swetlow , Jo Williams Costume/Wardrobe Crew: Lorelei Conte, Paige Winkelman , Caitlin Trobridge Production Manager & Head of Design and Production: Anthony Migliori
Photos by Spencer Swetlow
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn was the third production at CLOC, and it was a monumental show. Holiday Inn included over five hundred costume pieces, in which I was responsible for helping pull and organizing. During this show we needed to represent an array of different holidays. For the group numbers we created original costume pieces for the performers in both the Easter and Fourth of July holidays and I had the opportunity to make multiple graduating patterns for these pieces. We also drastically altered other costume pieces for the remaining holidays.
Stage Direction by Robert Schneider Music Direction by Griffin Strout Stage Management by Sophie Berger Choreography by Olivia Swanson Lighting Design by Eli Goldberg Scenic Design by Emmaline Naud
Costume Design by Courtlyn McCain Technical Direction by Davis Kranchalk Assistant Costume Design by Shelby Allred Props Artist by Eri Lackey Scenic and Run Crew: Eric Chen Matthew Dandino , Spencer Swetlow , Jo Williams Costume/Wardrobe Crew: Lorelei Conte, Paige Winkelman , Caitlin Trobridge Production Manager & Head of Design and Production: Anthony Migliori
Photos by Spencer Swetlow
Gypsy
The fourth CLOC show, Gypsy had a much smaller cast than the first three shows, which gave me the opportunity to focus on many of the intricate details. For this show, I was able to create a hat that was two and a half feet in diameter to use in the mock strip scene.
Stage Direction by James Jackson Jr. Music Direction by Griffin Strout Stage Management by Victoria Blas Choreography by Olivia Swanson Lighting Design by Eli Goldberg Scenic Design by Emmaline Naud Costume Design by Courtlyn McCain Technical Direction by Davis Kranchalk Assistant Costume Design by Shelby Allred Props Artist by Eri Lackey
Scenic and Run Crew: Eric Chen Matthew Dandino , Spencer Swetlow , Jo Williams Costume/Wardrobe Crew: Lorelei Conte, Paige Winkelman , Caitlin Trobridge Production Manager & Head of Design and Production: Anthony Migliori
Photos by Spencer Swetlow
The New Moon
The New Moon was the perfect mid-season show at CLOC. We were able to utilize our stock for this show and had minimal builds. I was able to pattern and make the vests and sashes for all the sailors.
Stage Direction by Mark Pearson Music Direction by Mila Henry Stage Management by Sophie Berger Choreography by Olivia Swanson Lighting Design by Eli Goldberg Scenic Design by Emmaline Naud Costume Design by Courtlyn McCain
Technical Direction by Davis Kranchalk Assistant Costume Design by Shelby Allred Props Artist by Eri Lackey
Scenic and Run Crew: Eric Chen Matthew Dandino , Spencer Swetlow , Jo Williams Costume/Wardrobe Crew: Lorelei Conte, Paige Winkelman , Caitlin Trobridge Production Manager & Head of Design and Production: Anthony Migliori
Photos by Spencer Swetlow
Little Shop of Horrors
The sixth show at CLOC was so much fun to be a part of. This particular show seemed to have a deeper investment and nostalgia for everyone involved, which created an exciting energy. I was involved with multiple parts of costuming this show, including patterning and craft work, pattering the revel dresses and the urchins and I also created the gas mask for the dentist.
Stage Direction by Bryce Pinkham Music Direction by Devon Hunt Stage Management by Victoria Blas. Choreography by Olivia Swanson Lighting Design by Eli Goldberg Scenic Design by Emmaline Naud Costume Design by Courtlyn McCain
Technical Direction by Davis Kranchalk Assistant Costume Design by Shelby Allred Props Artist by Eri Lackey
Scenic and Run Crew: Eric Chen Matthew Dandino , Spencer Swetlow , Jo Williams Costume/Wardrobe Crew: Lorelei Conte, Paige Winkelman , Caitlin Trobridge Production Manager & Head of Design and Production: Anthony Migliori
Photos by Spencer Swetlow
Patience
As the seventh show of the season at CLOC, we had the opportunity to work on an Opera that had many period specific looks, and it became very stylized. We were able to pull most of the dresses and soldier uniforms from our stock, however, we constructed 3 mens suits and made many alterations. I patterned the green, yellow, and red costumes using the purple costume as a base and altering each costume to fit the individual actors.
Stage Direction by Helen Knudsen Music Direction by Myron Romanul Stage Management by Sophie Berger Choreography by Olivia Swanson Lighting Design by Eli Goldberg Scenic Design by Emmaline Naud Costume Design by Courtlyn McCain Technical Direction by Davis Kranchalk Assistant Costume Design by Shelby Allred Props Artist by Eri Lackey
Scenic and Run Crew: Eric Chen Matthew Dandino , Spencer Swetlow , Jo Williams Costume/Wardrobe Crew: Lorelei Conte, Paige Winkelman , Caitlin Trobridge Production Manager & Head of Design and Production: Anthony Migliori
Photos by Spencer Swetlow
Legally Blonde
The eighth show was another huge wardrobe show. We had multiple looks for each person, with our lead having seven different costumes. I was able to utilize my cricut machine a lot through this show, making multiple graphics for costume shirts and jumpsuits. Having a modern show in the mix was a lot of fun, especially being the last show for many people involved in the CLOC season.
Stage Direction by Caitlin Belcik Music Direction by Beth Burrier Stage Management by Victoria Blas Choreography by Olivia Swanson Lighting Design by Eli Goldberg Scenic Design by Emmaline Naud Costume Design by Courtlyn McCain Technical Direction by Davis Kranchalk Assistant Costume Design by Shelby Allred Props Artist by Eri Lackey
Scenic and Run Crew: Eric Chen Matthew Dandino , Spencer Swetlow , Jo Williams Costume/Wardrobe Crew: Lorelei Conte, Paige Winkelman , Caitlin Trobridge Production Manager & Head of Design and Production: Anthony Migliori
Photos by Spencer Swetlow
A Little Night Music
The ninth and final show was a very exciting end to the season at CLOC. We had a very interesting costuming concept that the director wanted. Throughout the show, the director wanted to have the actors get progressively more dressed as we got closer to the ending dinner setting. The unique challenge in this plan was ensuring that we had sufficient periode accurate underclothes that were in acceptable condition to be worn alone on stage. This gave us an opportunity to make many repairs and alterations. Creating four different wig hats was a great project for my final show, because I was able to use many of my crafting skills and so many different mediums to create the wigs.
Stage Direction by Josh Miller Music Direction by David Möschler. Stage Management by Sophie Berger Choreography by Olivia Swanson Lighting Design by Eli Goldberg Scenic Design by Emmaline Naud Costume Design by Courtlyn McCain
Technical Direction by Davis Kranchalk Assistant Costume Design by Shelby Allred Props Artist by Eri Lackey
Scenic and Run Crew: Eric Chen Matthew Dandino , Spencer Swetlow , Jo Williams Costume/Wardrobe Crew: Lorelei Conte, Paige Winkelman , Caitlin Trobridge Production Manager & Head of Design and Production: Anthony Migliori
Photos by Spencer Swetlow