Trekking Through Terra Incognita

The fall semester at Marquette flew by faster than I expected as I worked on ON THE VERGE by Eric Overmeyer, which opened in November. I fell in love with this script my freshmen year at Marquette when I read it in my costume design class. The language is entrancing and the adventure the characters embark upon reminds me of the fantasy books I read in elementary school.

Designing this show was a dream come true and working with Maureen Kilmurry was the cherry on top!

The three women in this play, Mary, Fanny, and Alex, are inspired by real women throughout history that traveled the world in petticoats, corsets, and all. I spent a lot of time researching these women and learning about who they were. There are some great books out there about female travelers throughout history, including "Women Travelers: A Century of Trailblazing" by Alexandra Lapierre which I found particularly useful in my research.

When it came time to start building I was meticulous in choosing the exactly right color, silhouette, and details for the ladies' suits. I wanted them to perfectly reflect their personalities. When I finally saw the suits on stage I was mesmerized. Watching my costumes go fully from paper to stage for the first real time was rather magical.

Reaching the end of this journey was overwhelmingly bittersweet. However, being awarded a Certificate of Merit for Costume Design by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival eased my sorrows.

Our production also received a lovely review in The Shepherd Express and you are able to read that here. A supplemental piece was published on Russ Bickerstaff's blog which you can read here.