New York Part One: The Play

Months ago my sister and I made plans for me to visit her in New York. It is her final year in Grad School for costume design at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.  Would I come see the play for which she would be costume designer? Yes, I would (I had not managed to visit her once since she'd moved to New York).  It all seemed so far away, until suddenly, it was the very next week.  

I did the requisite laundry and packing, childcare arrangements, and gave my husband The Schedule. I went to bed after 1:00 and found that I couldn't sleep.  Regardless of my bedtime, I was up at 4:00 to get to the airport at 5:00 to be on a plane that left at 7:00.  I think it was my first flight in seven years.  For me it has never made much sense to be so far apart from very young kids and plane tickets for a family of six have proven cost prohibitive.  Anyway, I was on the plane.  Going.  

Dawn was just coming around the curve of the earth as we departed.  I could see the lights of the High Bridge, spanning the Mississippi river just a couple miles from our house as we took off.  I tried to pinpoint our block but found we were too high up by then.  

Coming into JFK the ocean waves seemed to be moving in slow motion.  Shorelines and tall buildings came into view. Was that the statue of liberty? I navigated the subway with a lack of finesse, but was effective, taking the A train all the way into the city.  I arrived at NYU right at passing time.  Floods of undergraduates filled the sidewalks around Union Square.  

Brynn met me on the ground floor of Tisch, then took me up to the third floor for a look around, and to meet some fellow students and professors. I went with Brynn on some last minute errands--Strand book store, The Gap, Barnes and Noble, a quick lunch.

Back at the costume shop she worked on some last minute adjustments and I got to look through her 'mini bible'--her production book with all designs for the show. Though there were only three or four main characters there were about thirty costumes in the play.  Shifting from the forties through to the sixties, costumes were often responsible for anchoring time and place.

Taking a couple garment bags and other miscellaneous items we headed to the theater.  In the dressing room each actress had put up black and white photocopies of period photographs as inspiration for their character's look (hair and make-up).


The play was Plenty by the British playwright David Hare.  The plot revolves around Susan, a British woman who was part of the resistance in France during World War Two. Hopscotching through the '40s, '50s and '60s, the play follows her frustration with post-war Britain, struggle to find meaning in everyday work, and eventual mental decline.   





 The promise of a time of plenty following the war is never fulfilled in a meaningful way for Susan.  While subject matter didn't resonate with me the way it did with 1970s audience in the UK, it was nonetheless well executed and thought provoking.  Hare was spurred to write the play when he found out 75% of British women who had been in Special Ops during WWII got divorced.  I find that interesting as well.  




All photos of the play are from the NYU Tisch Grad Acting website.

Costumes ranged from paratroopers, French farmers, diplomats at evening parties, bedroom scenes and Halloween-type costumes.  My favorite costumes were the formal evening gowns worn by Susan and her friend Alice.  Both were satin in rich hues.  Susan's was a yellow gold, strapless, floor length with an undulating peplum that went all around the waist line.  Her friend's was two tone--raspberry for the skirt and plum for the bodice.  It was fitted and asymmetrical, with a tall shoulder strap on the left and a the right shoulder bare.  The shoulder strap was gathered dramatically, with considerable height, almost like a crest or fin.
 

Two of my other favorites were women's suit and hat ensembles. Both were worn by Susan, both while talking with diplomats, but decades apart.  The trim lines, subdued, practical brown, and geometric detailing (not fully visible in the photo) mark the first as WWII era clothing.



The second looked like something Jackie Kennedy could have worn while she was First Lady. The yellow and white brocade of the matching dress and jacket signaled more prosperous, cheerful aesthetic.  The pill box hat, kid gloves and clutch accessorized perfectly.

The most arresting scene was the very last.  During the rest of the play, pale green curtains formed one side of the stage.  At the very end the curtains fall, drifting left and right, forming the hills of a newly liberated France. The size of the stage doubles in an instant, and it is as though the world opens up.  



After the performance we went out for drinks with the entire cast and design team.  At some point talk of childhood came up.  I got the impression many of the design students did elaborate design things as kids--Brynn included.  She pulled up a picture of a costume she designed in middle school and photographed the last time she was home.  Done on lined notebook paper, every detail was specified.  The fabric had no name, but was described perfectly  (11-year-old Brynn was quite aware of what chiffon was--just not what it was called).  I think she chose the right profession.