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The Knight
The Knight character was a former pilot for the United States Air Force who became a landscaper. My father was a career Air Force officer, and while I was in college, I worked summers at the local Air Force Base in offices alongside the service men and women, so I've had a lot of exposure to the Air Force culture and appearance.
One thing that I wanted to make sure of, was that his hair was more regulation-approved. Most of the Air Force men I saw didn't have buzz cuts like the other branches of the service. They tended to have hair that was a little longer and combed, but still kept short off the ears and neck. I wanted to reflect the Air Force blues in the costume with the dark blue t-shirt and the light blue bandana that he uses in the show. I also wanted the khaki pants to be on the gray side, and the hoodie to be gray to serve as a call back to a knight's plated armor, while still being something that a landscaper would wear, and also making him not stand out too much as a "character," because the actors mingled with the audience in the lobby before the show started.
Pencil, ink, Photoshop ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012. Each picture on this page can be clicked to enlarge and view in a gallery mode.
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The Knight Realized - Act 1
Ryan Lucas turned out a phenomenal performance as the Knight. Here he stands holding the invitation he received to the Ritual that takes place in the show - that IS the show. One thing that we added to the look that the original rendering did not have, was we gave him a little makeup under the eyes to make him look a little tired and weary.
Photo ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012
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The Knight Realized - Act 2
In the second act, Ryan Lucas' character of The Knight begins to unravel, like many of the characters in the show. We reflected that visually by removing his gray hoodie - his "armor."
Photo ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Doctor
If you haven't guessed by now, each of the characters are based on archetypes. We needed to show who the character was while also subverting the archetypes some and making them contemporary. This was my first time designing costumes for a devised show, and it's an entirely different process. Usually, I read the script a few times and take notes on everything said about the characters in it. With a devised show, the show is being created through the rehearsal process, so there is no finished script to sit down and read and take notes on. Instead, I sat with each of the actors and talked about their characters, since they were, themselves, a huge part of creating who those characters were. I asked them if their character had a favorite color, or if there was some object or thing that was a sort of "totem" for their character, be it animal, vegetable, or mineral.
The Doctor's character was a life coach and inspirational speaker who focuses on positivity. I gave him a hematite necklace, because hematite, in mystical circles, is said to repel evil and negativity. We wanted to go with a cobalt blue for the shirt - a nice calming tone. And the actor wanted a leather cuff on his wrist (as pictured here on the left wrist), but that was an item that ended up being cut in the refinement process of the show. But once again, it was another look that allowed the actor to successfully blend in with the audience before the show began.
Pencil, ink, Photoshop @Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Doctor Realized
Michael Prosen brought The Doctor character to life. The physical unraveling of his character was really small - it was merely unbuttoning another button on his shirt.
Photo ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012 -
The Actress
The Actress character was a challenge to come up with a look for. She was described as a woman hasn't found who she is. But things started to come into view once I started to talk with the actual actress who played her. She felt as though this character would be represented by sand. I drew here and actually ended up making an hour glass necklace for her to wear (courtesy of my Scrabble set). However, there was a HUGEamount of moment in the show, and the necklace, particularly for this character, would be a likely hazard, and was therefore cut.
I was also told to look Zooey Deschanel in the movie "Winter Passing" for an idea of where to go with this character, and she looked super tired in many shots for that movie. We used a read right under her eyes to give her a bloodshot appearance.
Pencil, ink, Photoshop ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Actress Realized - Act 1
The Actress sprang to life thanks to the engaging talents of Brittany Gaul. The hair ended up being tamed just a little in a very loose ponytail at the show's beginning. And even though the hourglass necklace was cut, I felt that the gorgeous yellow gradient-fade tunic that she wore, with it's embroidery and smattering of sequins brought a distinctive quality of sand to the look. And as luck would have it, an hourglass was included in the art installation that resided in the lobby.
Photo ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Actress Realized - Act 2
In Act Two, the Actress has metamorphisized into The Seer. Her hair is down and loose, her slippers gone, and that tunic couldn't have been any more perfect on Brittany Gaul.
Photo ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Magician
The Magician has my favorite costume in the show. This was one character who I could push the boundaries with and not have to have him look so "every day normal." The raven was used as a totem for this character, hence the raven and feather tattoos. And before that, I was given the direction that he should be in all black. One of the inspirations for the character was writer Grant Morrison. I took other references from punk rock, fetish wear, and Wonder Woman.
Each of the bracelets on the wrist has silver on them. While the realized costume didn't posess a silver cuff like the rendering, there was still some silver on each wrist. There was gold across the chest. The torso below the chest had criss-crossing laces that tied at the bottom and hung at the sides like lassos.
Pencil, ink, Photoshop ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Magician Realized - Act 1
Ray Caspio was pure captivating magic as The Magician. We stayed very close to the rendering with the actual costume and look. We added a silver nose ring, and several silver ear piercings. A black leather jacket was worn in the first act, which made for a great reveal when it was no longer worn in the second act.
Photo ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Magician Realized - Act 2
Instead of a silver cuff, a small black leather band with a silver snap was worn over a black sheer stocking on the right arm. The forearm tattoos on Ray Caspio's left arm were moved to the interior of the forearm to continue a balanced asymmetrical look that was established with the asymmetrically slashed t-shirt.
Photo ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Prince
The Prince was a character for whom I looked at Caroline Kennedy for visual inspiration and style. Since the show was occurring in the autumn of the year, I wanted to make sure she was in seasonal colors, showing the character's attention to detail. I wanted to leave the jacket open to create a vertical blocking with the top underneath to recall a tower, where the character resides. The challenge would be in finding the RIGHT pair of pants, as this character had a considerable amount of movement and choreography in the show that had to be accommodated.
Pencil, ink, Photoshop ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Prince Realized - 1
Emily Pucell commanded attention as The Prince in the show. Due to the movement in the show, the need arose to control her hair, so it was gathered smartly in the back with a large clip.
Photo @Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Prince Realized - 2
When The Prince begins her journey of realization in the show, her jacket is dropped. Emily Pucell had such amazing arms. It also allowed for less restricted movement.
Photo ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Advisor
The Advisor was a man who had his hand in multi-billion dollar deals. Of course he's going to be in a suit. I felt a gray suit was the direction to go, and luckily the actor playing him agreed. His totem was a wolf, and so I drew the rendering with a small wolf pendant at the left breast in hopes that I could find something similar to the drawing.
Pencil, ink, Photoshop ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Advisor Realized - Act 1
Davis Aguila stalked through the show as The Advisor. We ended up getting a suit with a vest, which was a great look. The wolf pendant was a very specific choice. Most of the wolf pins and pendants I encountered showed a wolf in profile. I felt the The Advisor was a very direct character. He looks at people head-on, and I wanted the wolf pendant to reflect that. It had to be a front view shot of the wolf, which it ended up being.
Photo ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Advisor Realized - Act 2
In the second act, Davis Aguila's Advisor removes his jacket. The action is breaking down, plus when it comes to simple visuals, a man in a vest looks really great.
Photo ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Servant
The Servant character was another big challenge for me in this show, as evidenced by how much the look changed from the rendering to the actualized version. Sometimes you just need to see how things look on the actor while they're moving in the show. The Servant is a woman named Andrea who works for a human rights organization that works toward ending human trafficking. The actress who played her decided that her totem would be a garden. With that, I wanted to have a lot of green in her look, as well as a floral aspect. Since she was saving lives, I had originally envisioned a shawl, because it would be like a superhero cape.
Pencil, ink, Photoshop ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Servant Realized
The look of the rendering ended up reading too "old" on actress, Cassie Neumann, who delivered an incredibly moving performance as The Servant. We replaced the skirt with a longer and more bohemian looking skirt, which was a lovely green gradient fade with floral embroidery and light sprinkling of sequins. There was a very large table in the show, which was the main set piece of the show, and characters would jump up and down from it. The jumps down demanded a longer skirt. But the shape of the second skirt ended up not being just right. The shawl had been exchanged for a lush green scarf with a beautiful Eastern print. But the floral shirt didn't seem to work either. I ended up finding a dull longer and fuller green skirt by a stroke of luck. It still retained the tiered quality that the skirt in the rendering had. The top was exchanged for a flow-y, gauzy white top that completely changed Cassie's body language. The final look flowed gorgeously behind her body with the movement in the show. And it still retained the floral motif, because the center front section contained a small garden of embroidered flowers. In the end, I think the final look served the original idea I had even better than the rendering and still retained a cape-like quality.
Photo ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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The Slave/Mary
This character was originally envisioned to be The Slave, a woman whose dreams were never going to come true and who was hired to work at the Ritual and assist in it. I thought of something similar to a caterer's uniform, which would progressively become more disheveled through the show. The director ended up wanting her to be in a darker color, and I didn't want to put her in a color that someone else was already wearing. In the interest of subverting archetypes, I felt that a dark purple was the way to go. Purple was a color that only royalty was allowed to wear at one time, but nowadays, everyone can wear purple, and it's even used in service professional uniforms.
Pencil, ink, Photoshop ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.
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Mary/The Slave Realized
As I mentioned before, in devised theater, the show is still being created in rehearsals, sometimes changes made near the performance. This character moved away from being "The Slave," to being someone who was less of an archetype, which left her being the only character identified in the script with a name: Mary, who was played by Colleen Uszak. Purple shirts were exchanged, and the one we ended up using had a really lovely flow when Colleen moved and ran in the show.
Photo ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012.