Onstage > Stage Management: Plays & Musicals

COSTUMES: Costume Change Problem

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DaftPenguu:
Currently, we are doing "And They Dance Real Slow In Jackson" for our Texas University Interscholastic League One-Act Play... The problem is, we have the same person playing Skeeter and one of the Men due to rule restrictions. The problem is, the man need to be a little more dressed up than the young Skeeter. This really wouldn't be a stretch, but there is a scene change where the two are one after another.

Our current ideas are:

Have Brandon (the actor playing them) wear overalls for Skeeter over his Men clothes.

Or, have him wear khakis and a jacket, and take the jacket off for Skeeter.

We are setting the play in the late 1970's, with Skeeter's part to be in early to mid 1970's, I believe. Do these ideas sound any good? Does any one else have ideas for a quick change like this?

lejenna:
How long is the scene change?  I've seen complete changes happen in as little as 30 seconds.  Of course, I've seen easy complete changes take two minutes because of bad costuming "I'm only here because I'm going to go into design and thus I know more than you so I'm not going to do my job" run crews.  (She got marginalized... I believe we let her put on the actor's hat.)  Speaking of hats, maybe that's a detail that could be added on for the man?  If you're using overalls, find a way that the snaps can come off immediately, like velcro, so that the actor can come off stage, strip, change and go back on.  Can the actor leave the stage slightly early to accomodate a change?

DaftPenguu:
The scene change is almost immediate.   We are looking at small things to do, also.  I will have to find out if he can leave early... that's a great idea.

(And we just ran along another similar problem, but with less time to change.  One of our actors has to go from one character to the next... while on stage.  We are thinking of him wearing just a hat and taking it off a behind a pillar or something... I hate how this show has to be staircased (? I think that's what the director called this), but we have to have a full show in 40 minutes.  And we are cutting it ourselfs, leaving in a lot of stuff most people leave out!)

Didaskalos:
Depending on your blocking and the distance from the audience:
If you have a good tailor/seamstress, you might consider sewing all the clothes for the costume together to form a uni-garment, and them split it down the back to the waist so that the actor can just step into the garment and have it zipped up the back side.  If assistants are standing by backstage, you can have him in out of one costume and into the next in about 10 seconds flat.  Works very well if he can cover the zipper with a jacket or something.

lejenna:
You could just kick your director for making life so difficult.  What is this play and why pick it with all of the restrictions?  Bad cast switching!  No cookie for director!  Seriously, have you considered masks?

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