ORLANDO
By Virginia Woolf
Adapted by Sarah Ruhl
EC MABIE THEATRE | University of Iowa | USA
Sarah Raul’s adaption of Orlando by Virginia Woolf is a play about Orlando’s life journey through five centuries. Orlando is on a path of self-discovery while learning to navigate variations of love, heartbreak, changes in society and her transformation from male to female. However, after coming face-to-face with all the different versions of herself, she realizes she has always been the person she was meant to be.
The challenge for me, as the costume designer, was telling the story with both the director’s vision and five centuries of fashion in mind. With the entire cast on stage most of the time, there needed to be minimal costume changes. One exception to this was the title character, Orlando, who had six full costume transformations. My concept was to show Orlando evolve and ‘bloom’ through the five acts of the play that take place in five different centuries. The key secondary characters, the Queen, Archduke/Archduchess, Sasha and Marmaduke, had less layers of clothing than Orlando and the chorus had a mix of period undergarments. Orlando would stand out among the various period undergarments and partially dressed characters.
The challenge for me, as the costume designer, was telling the story with both the director’s vision and five centuries of fashion in mind. With the entire cast on stage most of the time, there needed to be minimal costume changes. One exception to this was the title character, Orlando, who had six full costume transformations. My concept was to show Orlando evolve and ‘bloom’ through the five acts of the play that take place in five different centuries. The key secondary characters, the Queen, Archduke/Archduchess, Sasha and Marmaduke, had less layers of clothing than Orlando and the chorus had a mix of period undergarments. Orlando would stand out among the various period undergarments and partially dressed characters.
Director: Erica Wray (Vannon) | Scenic Designer: R. Eric Stone |Assistant Scenic Designer: Tobin Griffin | Costume Designer: Zamora Simmons |Assistant Costume Designer: Bethany Kasperek | Lighting Designer: Will Borich | Sound Designer: Mark Bruckner| Assistant Sound Designer: Colten Langfitt |Fight Choreographer: Dante Benjegerdes| Dramaturg: Morgan Grambo| Assistant Dramaturg: Hannah Schillinger | Stage Manager: Olivia Leslie |Assistant Stage Manager: Kyle Schindler