Each year, UBC Players Club puts on a festival of one act plays, most of which are written, directed, designed, and acted in by students. I designed 2 of the 6 shows for this year's festival. The first one being Lives of the Great Waitresses by Nina Shengold, and the other being The Washroom by Edith Coates.
Lives of the Great Waitresses
"Four waitresses, each with her own brand of zen, share the secrets of being one of the greats." - Playscripts.com
For this show, I wanted to create the world of a 1950s diner. The set was quite minimal so it was upto the costumes to bring the audience in to this world. As the script suggests, I put the four ladies in pink waitress uniforms. I felt that pink fit the diner aesthetic well and was also very cute. Each character has small details that help highlight their individual personalities, which is integral when a character is wearing a uniform. For example, Kay the born again christian, wore a crucifix and a cardigan to show her religious beliefs, and her choice to stay modest and show less skin
The Washroom
Janet: Describe your play “The Washroom.” Jim: Yes. It’s about a young journalist working on a review, who meets a linguistics student working on an assignment. Janet: How strange and perplexing. Tell me more. Jim: The journalist goes on to interview a playwright named Jim Fisher who is responsible for a play called “The Washroom.” A play written about itself, full of repetition, humour, and confusion. This show was a very interesting one to say the least. It's the type of show that makes no sense yet makes perfect sense at the same time. I wanted to use to costumes to create the same type of feeling, a sense of confusion, and curiosity. Janet is dressed in a full navy blue outfit, Maxine is dressed in a full orange outfit, and Jim is dressed in a mix of both. It's both startling in how bold they are, yet somehow makes sense and fits together. Maxine is a spunky and sarcastic linguistics student, Janet is a journalist student and writer for the Ubyssey. The two contrasting personalities of these ladies come together in Jim so it made sense to have the two colours come together for his costume.