WEIRD DOLL WEDNESDAY, PART 349                                                                                                                                                  Maybe weird is the wrong word for this one. Maybe "nightmare inducing horror" is better. My friend and award winning costume designer, LeVonne found this listing on ebay searching African-American 1920's. We're not sure what to make of it.                                                                                                                                                                                                        

 She appears to be homemade. But.....creepy AF.                                

Racist stereothype? Or really badly made? Either way, sweet dreams.

WEIRD DOLL WEDNESDAY, PART 348                                                                                                                                                  But first, we have a correct guess on the secret project: Beth Waltz  guessed "chain mail" and is right. It's strangely something I've always wanted to make. My new boss designed chain mail for the soldiers in Othello. I'm knitting 5 shirts, with a couple of students knitting sleeves. Stay turned.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             On to the doll. Say Hi to Missandei, Dany's right hand woman from, yeah, I know it's over, Game of Thrones.                              

 Missandei was aged up for the show, as she's only 12 in the books. And is one of the few Black characters.                                    

Of course there are more GoT  dolls arriving at my house shortly.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

SHHH..…….SECRET PORJECT FOR WORK

Stay tuned for the completed costume(s)                                                                                                                                                              

WEIRD DOLL WEDNESDAY, PART 347                                                                                                                                                  The show may be over, but the merchandise keeps on coming. OK, spoilers for the 5 peoples that haven't seen the Long Night  episode.                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

 The Night's King with the Cats Paw dagger stuck in him.                                                                                                                      

Cue all the bad songs: Ice, Ice Baby, You're as Cold as Ice, I'm sure there's more.                                                                                                                                                                                            Hope everyone is having a great fall. I have a new boss! The old one retired. I'm enjoying working with a younger faculty (I'm old enough to be her Mother!) and the students really like her. Where working on Othello, so in November be on the look out for production photos.                                                                                  

WAY BACK IN APRIL...…………………….                                                                                                                                                 Yeah, that was a long (3 shows ago) time. We did the musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The mystery being, it's Charles Dickins unfinished last novel and nobody knows how he was going to end it. Along comes some theatre people who think it's a stellar idea to "finish" it and turn it into a musical. You, the audience member, come to see the new show put on by The Music Hall Royal. 

 

 Welcome to the show!

 Here's our lovely cast. All the cast not in the rest of the photos:Benjamin Harper, Shannon Hughey-McNair, James Hitchens, Taylor Gay, Emmanuel Jacoway, Jackson Whipple, Kate Zerbian, Braeden Baldwin, Abby King, Joshua Joyce, James Rowell, Emma Singer

 You did it, no you did it.

 The mystery is who killed Edwin Drood. And because it's unfinished, the audience gets to pick who dun it from this slightly hinky group of characters. which means there's 7 different endings. The night we went #6, Princess Puffer "won". It's a very fun show.

Now for some backstage hijinks.

 Aaron Moore as Mr. William Cartwright/The Chairman, Savannah Kerns as The Princess Puffer/Miss Angela  Prysock, and Mark Sheme as Durdies/Mr Nick Cricker

 Terrance Searcy as John Jasper/Mr. Clive Paget

 Terrance with Bekah Ward as Rosa Bud/Miss Deirdre Peregrine

 Bekah (this our her photos) with Magda Roub as Beatrice/Miss Violet Balfour and Ursula Trassorras as Wendy/Miss Isabel Yearsley

 Addy King as Miss Gwendolen Prynn and Nicole Frothingham as Miss Melody Moss (she doesn't have her costume on)

 Daniel Lennox as Neville  Landless/Mr. Victor Grinstead

 Brandon Chandler as The Reverend Mr. Crisparkle/Mr. Cedric Moncrieffe

 Savannah, Aaron and Bekah standing in front of the wig shelve.

 Bekah and Mark

 Ashley Hartwig as Helena Landless/Miss Janet Conover. She's wearing a costume I made in the mid-1990's! I swear I never throw anything useable out.

Jordan  Van Dyke as Edwin Drood/Miss Alice Nutting

Here's Nicole in her costume. 

We had a very successful summer stock season, sold out shows! And we're off to an amazing 2019/2020 school year. Theatre and Dance now has 136 majors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The most ever. Wish us luck in dealing with them all.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE

The last 2 weeks of the 2019 summer stock build got crazy busy, than we went on vacation.

Because I haven't done a costume post in ages, I thought I'd show you my favorite costume this summer. Our season is Mamma Mia (all the shows have been sell outs, yeah!) Little Woman, yes there's a musical based on the Alcott book, and Crazy for You( hence the "crazy busy" remark). People will pop into the shop and tell us how much they love the costumes and ask where we get them. I always give them the same answer " It depends on the show". This summer we pulled/bought/borrowed/rented Mamma Mia, rented Little Woman, and built/pulled/borrowed/rented Crazy For You. Mamma Mia is sent in Greece in modern day, Little Woman is Civil War 1860's New England and Crazy for You is 1930's. No way do we have time to build crinolines, frock coats and the 64 costumes that are in Little Woman. We rented the costumes from Maine State Theatre and Wardrobe Witchery. This is my favorite costume from Maine State.

 

 Yes, this sad looking peasant dress worn by the hag in Jo Marchs story.

 It's raggedy, have been distressed and seen better days. So, why do I love it so much?

 Look how those bars are sewn on! There all the way down the back of the bodice and on the sleeves. The ribbon at the side we sewed on because the dress was a little bit too small for the actor and no way in Hell are we moving those bars.

 The skirt was sown on with cartridge pleating. Beautiful hand work. And there's this:

The original label!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How does a theatre company in the state of Maine get a costume from the Royal Opera House in London? I've done some image research and can't find any photos from this Falstaff or who Pobjoy might be. Anybody ever heard of an actor with that name?

Speaking of the 2019 season, it all ends next Sunday. Only 8 more shows, then goodbye. There's a few weeks before the Fall 2019 semester starts and we do it all over again. I'm looking forward to Othello in November.

 

WEIRD DOLL WEDNESDAY, PART 346                                                                                                                                                  "It's a nice day for a White Walker". I couldn't help that, it had to be said.

 Maybe a dead guy and a dead horse? Don't know what was really up with the White Walkers/Others. Maybe the next 2 books will explain better. Oh, and these happened.                                                                                                                                                                          

"The night is dark and full of Oreos". 

WEIRD DOLL WEDNESDAY, PART 345                                                                                                                                                  In the past couple of day, it seem like every time I turn on the news, she on my TV. Here's to the longest reining monarch ever.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Queen Elizabeth II.                                                                            

Hey, Netflix.... when's The Crown coming back?

WEIRD DOLL WEDNESDAY, PART 344                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               All Hail, King Brandon Stark, AKA Bran The Broken, The 3-Eyed Raven, ect, ect, ect.                                                                   

He's the first Stark to be king, I'd say "sit on the Iron Throne", but Drogon kind of got pissed and melted it down. I know the show is over, but this fall even more of these silly dolls are going to be available, yeah!

WEIRD DOLL WEDNESDAY, PART 343                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              RIP Mother of Dragons, Breaker of Chains, Roaster of 100,000's of Innocent Citizens of King's Landing.                                                                                                                                      Dany went a tad bit bat-shit, so her boyfriend/nephew did a Nissa Nissa on her and stabbed her in the heart. Ok, it's only a TV show, but people seem to have lost their minds. Can you believe someone started a petition--that has 1million names- to re-film season 8? Get a grip.                                                                       

 Dany in her Breaker of Chains mode. She freed the slaves around Slavers Bay in Essos. Good for her.                                                    

 Mother of Dragons mode. She is blood of the dragon.                        

 Fighting the Army of the Dead mode, yeah the living won (Thanks, Arya Stark)                                                                        

Dany and Drogon in Burn Them All mode. What was really bad about her deciding to burn King's Landing, is they surrender and she won.                                                                                                                                                                                  Game of Thrones, the TV show is over. The Song of Ice and Fire book series still has 2 more volumes. I can't wait to read them so I can find out how it "really" ends.

WEIRD DOLL WEDNESDAY, PART 342                                                                                                                                                  So, episode 5 happened and people are losing their shit.                      

 Here's Dany, Mother of Dragons, Breaker of Chains, Destroyer of the Innocent, etc. I'll get back to her in a moment.                        

 The first death was Varys, AKA The Spider. He was BBQed by the dragon for "betrayal" of Dany. (Watch your back, Sansa) He thought she was turning into her Father, The Mad King. Hmm.....maybe.                                                                                                                                      

 Awe, the Lannister Twins, Cersei and Jamie. Born together, died together. When you're hiding in the Red Keep's basement and a dragon is destroying the place, and the ceiling falls on you....yeah, you're dead.

The Mountain and The Hound, AKA the Cleagane Brothers finally had the showdown a lot of fans wanted, CLEAGANE BOWL! Both met a fiery death. I don't have a Hound figurine.                                                                                                                                                  That's not all                                                        
Euron "The Crazy Pirate" was killed by Jamie.
       
Qyburn "The Mad Scientist" was killed by The Mountain.

Harry "We Hardly Know Ya" Strickland and the Golden Co.
and Probably half to three quarters of the citizens of King's Landing got BBQed by Drogon when The Breaker of Chains went full on, bat shit "Burn them all" crazy. Hmm... looks like Varys was right, and a lot of fans think Arya added another name to her list, Dany. Next week should be a very interesting episode, it's the final one.

 

WEIRD DOLL WEDNESDAY, PART 341                                                                                                                                                   Rest in peace, Rhaegal. Because getting a scorpion bolt through your neck pretty much means you're dead. To the part of the fanbase that thinks he'll float up on the beach of Dragonstone....nope.                                                                           

 And Ghost? Survived the Battle of Winterfell, to just be given to Tormund because "he doesn't belong in the South", bad Jon!  Buddy, you need all the help you can get.

Dany's BFF, Missandei also was killed in the last episode . I don't think she was a figurine. Thanks to The Mountain. Don't know why Missandei wasn't left in Esso to look after the place. She didn't seem to have much to do once the show moved to Dragonstone, except have a show only love story with Grey Worm.   Next week is The Battle of King's Landing, where there will be lots of dead characters.

WEIRD DOLL WEDNESDAY, PART 340                                                                                                                                                  MAJOR EPISODE 3 SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!                                                                                                              First off, not as many characters died as I thought where going to. Most of the Dothraki seemed to die and a good deal of The Unsullied. And lots of unnamed Northers, Iron Born, Knight's of the Vale and small folks. The major characters(that I have figures for):                                                                                                                                              

 Baric Dondarrion died saving Arya, Mellisandre burned herself out and walked into the sunrise and turned to dust, Jorah Mormont died saving his Khalisse. All heroes in their way. I don't have a Lyanna Mormont figure, The Little Bear went down killing a freaking giant! She was the leader of Bear Island and probably 12 years old. Theon Greyjoy (who doesn't have a doll, shame) died defending The Three-Eyed Raven, AKA Bran Stark. We saw Lady Karstark walking into the Godswood with Theon, but haven't seen her since.                                                                                                                                  

 The Night King, The White Walkers and Ice Viserion before.....                                                                                                        

 and after Arya stabbed the Night King with the Cat's Paw dagger.                                                                                                

And all the Wight's died, again. Stay dead this time! So, yeah, the living won!                                                                                                                                                                                                Now, people need to stop bitching about Arya, not Jon being the big hero. Let the show play out, there are 3 more episodes and all of them are 80 minutes or so long. Just enjoy it.