Creation of the Tribe HAIR: the American Love- Rock Musical By

Home , Gerome Ragni, Good Morning Starshine, High and tight

Creation of the Tribe HAIR: The American Love- Rock Musical

By Adalia Vera Tonneyck

B.F.A in Fibers, August 2008, Savannah College of Art and Design

A Thesis submitted to

The Faculty of Columbian College of Arts and Sciences Of The George Washington University In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Masters of Fine Art

May 20, 2012

Thesis directed by

Sigridur Johnannesdottir Associate Professor of Theatre

Table of Contents

List of Figures [Renderings] iii

List of Figures [Production Photos] iv

Chapter 1: [Introduction] 1-2

Chapter2: [The Vietnam War] 3-7

Chapter 3: [The Hippie Culture of America] 8-11

Chapter 4: [HAIR an American Love-Rock Musical] 12- 16

Chapter 5: [The Director´s Vision] 17-19

Chapter 6: [THE HAIR IN HAIR] 20-25

Chapter 7: [Bring the Vision to Life Through Costumes] 26-47

Chapter 8: [Conclusion] 48

Figures [Renderings] 49-62

Figures [Production Photos] 63-75

References 76-96

Documents [Pieces list] 97-100

Bibliography 101-102

Renderings

Figure 1 [Berger] 50

Figure 2 [Claude] 51

Figure 3 [Hud] 52

Figure 4 [Sheila] 53

Figure 5 [JEAINE] 54

Figure 6 [Woof] 55

Figure 7 [Crissy] 56

Figure 8 [The Tribe] 57

Figure 9 [The Tribe] 58

Figure 10 [Margaret Mead] 59

Figure 11 [Hubert] 60

Figure 12[The Supremes] 61

Figure 13 [White Girl Trio] 62

iii

Production Photos

Figure 1 [Woof] 64

Figure 2 [Hud] 65

Figure 3 [The Supremes] 66

Figure 4 [Margaret Mead] 67

Figure 5[White Girl trio] 68

Figure 6[Dream] 69

Figure 7[Claude] 70

Figure 8[Berger] 71

Figure 9[Sheila] 72

Figure 10[Tribe] 73

Figure 11[Berger, Claude and Sheila] 74

Figure 12[Claude is died] 75

Chapter 1: Introduction

All my fellow production design graduate students and myself were given our thesis assignments April 2011 at the end of GWU academic year. I was very happy and excited to get the musical because I had never designed a musical and for a cast of this size. This would be a wonderful challenge. I was also specifically very happy to do this show. I couldn’t wait to tell my dad and aunt about the show because they were hippies in New York at the time. This made the show real to me. It was about their lives at the time. I had also seen the show four or five years earlier performed by the Public Theater in Central Park. I saw the production with my aunt and she left the theater crying. I knew this was a very special topic and show to her.

The major problem I did face after the show was assigned to me was I had no costume advisor. Both of the costume faculty members were leaving for different reasons. I would be starting my thesis process over the summer, researching and gathering ideas with no mentor to check in with me and see if I was going in the right direction.

Also, the director of the show had not been picked yet, and there wasn’t any sign of who it would be. This was going to be difficult without the director’s vision of the piece and no advisor to help with images and looks of the time. I decided that I just had to start. I went to the library and to looked through books from the 1950s and 1960s and I ordered many books online. I looked at the political situation of the period and what kind of clothing people wore and what was in fashions.

When school started in September, the department had hired a new costume professor as a visiting professor for the year. She would be the thesis advisor I was hoping for. I was ready to show her all the research I had compiled and see what she thought and what I should do next.

The next big event would be to meet our director, Roberta Gasbarre at the first production meeting in October and see where she would go with this iconic musical. The only thing that I heard about her before this meeting was that she was very active during the 60’s and that she still was a hippie in many ways.

We all met for the production meeting and I could tell that everyone in the room was very excited to be working on this show, especially the director. One of the many ideas that she wanted to focus on was the anti war protesting movement. I showed her all the images that I had already put together and she liked a lot of it. Her main suggestion to everyone was that she did not want any neon colors.

After this meeting I felt that I had to fully understand what the hippies were fighting for.

Why the youth of America had chosen to leave their parents homes and start protesting the war? I needed to look into the Vietnam War and understand what was happening there and in the United

States.

Chapter 2: The Vietnam War

“Whether the preservation of South Vietnam was worth the actions of the United States and the human and financial costs such actions uncured is but one of many questions concerning the Vietnam War that is till debated”.1

This was one of the biggest wars in American history and was greatly protested at home.

Many people still truly believe that the States should never have gone there. So many lives were

lost for nothing. Many American lives were lost in this war as well as many Vietnamese. This was

a very difficult war for the soldiers more than ever before, because of two main reasons. First; the

way it was fought by both sides. Secondly; the unwelcoming home coming the soldiers received

when they came back home. Kenneth Keniston is quoted saying “the issue of violence is to this

generation what the issue of sex was to the Victorian world” 2that as a society it needed to be

addressed.

In order to understand this very controversial war I needed to take a look at when this war began and when the United States decided to get involved.

To start, first need to go back to the end of War World II. We as Americans were a part of the Allied forces that were fighting on two fronts, one in Europe and one in Japan. After the

Allies had defeated Nazi Germany and Hitler the war in Europe was over. Then the Allies focused all their resources in Japan. After sometime and moving from island to island it seemed that the war wouldn’t end. Americans used a new weapon on Japan, the Atom bomb (called the A bomb).

1.The Vietnam War: Opposing Viewpoints. (San Diego, California. Greenhaven Press, 1998)152.

2.Gitlin, Todd. The Sixties years of Hope, Days of Rage. (New York. A Bantam1 Book, 1987) 316

The A bomb was a terrible weapon. It wiped out anything in its path. Only after the United States

dropped the second a bomb on Japan did the Japanese surrender. That is the day the war came to

an end in 1945.

On that same day in September in the country of Vietnam the people had found a new

hope and that their own freedom was possible as they watched the Allies defeat the Japanese. The

Japanese had been occupying Vietnam during the war. The French had been in the country as colonial rulers from the early 1800’s. The Vietnamese felt that it was time for their country to finally be free.

When the World War II ended a man named Ho Chi Minh a Communist leader in

Vietnam addressed a large gathering of his countrymen. He declared independence of his nation, and even quoted the United States’ Declaration of Independence:

“We hold truth that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”3

Ho Chi Minh said on this day that he looked at The United States as his ally.

Fighting broke out between the French and Vietnamese nationalists. The French were trying to hold on to their colonial presence in the country. Ho Chi Minh was determined to have full independence from them. However, Americans claimed they didn’t really have involvement, their belief was: “the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they live”4

But by 1954 the U.S. government had already given over 2 billion dollars to support the French

war effort. Also they had started to send military advisers.

3.The Vietnam War: Opposing Viewpoints. (San Diego, California. Greenhaven Press, 1998), 15

4. Ibid.,30

However, it became more apparent after World War II that the Cold War had started.

Many people believed this to be a real threat since other countries started to develop their own nuclear weapons. This war was fought over the ideologies of Democracy and Communism. The conflict between US and Britain on one side and China and USSR on the other grew clearer resulting in the cold war.

In 1954 all the countries involved in the Vietnam war met in Geneva to create a military demarcation line, it became known as the 17 parallel, having communism in the north and non- communist in the south. They created elections to take place in 1956 to unite the country. When the election came around Diem, the Americans supported candidate that had lost power and the likeability of his people. The U.S. started to think the only way to have the country go in the right direction they wanted, was through force.

The first American casualties were in 1959, when two military advisers were killed at an

Army base. Then in 1960 the NLF; which was National Liberation Front was formed in order to over throw Diem government. When Kennedy came into office he decided to start sending more troops over to help keep Dinh Diem in power. The Americans felt the only way they could keep their interest in Vietnam on the path they wanted and to stopping the spread of Communism was through military action.

Kennedy started losing his own trust and support in Diem because he didn’t follow the ideals the United States wanted him to follow. The ideal that the American was pushing on him was free democracy much like the government in the United Sates. He would as treat the

Buddhist dissidents very badly. After this event Kennedy started looking for another leader they could put in power, someone who would be a good match against the Communist North.

After the American people mourned the death their beloved president John F. Kennedy,

Kennedy’s vice president took office, Lyndon B. Johnson. The new president met with the U.S.

Ambassador to Vietnam to let the new leader of South Vietnam Major General Dunog Van Minh know that the United States would still be there to support his government and fight against the

North. By 1964 the government fell in the south and within one week three different governments took control. Soon after this time United States sent Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines only as

Military Advisers. By this time additional 15,000 troops were sent to Vietnam.

By 1963 there were 16,000 American troops overseas to help with the war effort. When they started sending troops in higher numbers the first protests started in the U.S. The number of troops would increase every year. The draft in 1964 was 100,000 and only 2 years later went up to

400,000. The number of troops in Vietnam and draft hit their hit between the years of 1965 to

1968 during a major aerial attack on Vietnam called the Rolling Thunder because of the amount of bombs dropped. When President Johnson left office, 30,000 lives were lost during his presidencies. He had no really possibility of running again after the Tet Offensive.

The Tet Offensive was a part of the war. When there was a cease-fire for a festival the

North did a surprise attack on some 100 cities and major capitals in the south. They were able to fight back but after the size of this attack and so much senseless lost of life the American people were done with this war.

They were looking for a new leader in America to get them out of this miss. In 1969 elections came around and America was still there in Vietnam and Nixon was President. His new admiration came with a new objective for the war. It was called “Vietnamization”5 which met that America still believes in a non- Communist South Vietnam. But

5. Zaroulis, Nancy and Gerald Sullivan. Who Spoke Up?: (Library of Cogress,1984),145

that our troops had to start leavening the nation and that it was up the Vietnamese people to take

over. Our soldiers would be there to support them and train them. In 1969 there were 549,500 troops in Viet- Nam. Nixon started the first withdraws of troops in 1969 of 25,000 men. By 1971

316,200 men were sent home.

By the end of the war “850,000 “enemy” and 400,000 civilians dead, 1 million wounded, and millions of refugees” were left in the war stricken country.6

They started peace talks in Paris in 1969 with the North and South and the United States to

end the war. Nothing was resolved for years and in 1972 on Christmas the U.S decided to bomb the North, which lasted 12 days and killed about 1,500 people in the city of Hanoi. The Bombing forced the North and South to realize they needed to come to peace agreement. In 1973 all four parties met in Pairs, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, NLF rebels from the south and U.S to sign the Paris Peace Accord. The treaty stated that United States would leave the country and war completely.

The war was over but America had changed forever and the troops were coming back to a very different country and no one was going to thank them for what they had done. Much of the youth in the U. S. that had not gone to Vietnam were now antiwar activists or hippies. The hippie movement really came out of the need for peace and love. They stood for their beliefs in no war and the choice not to fight.

6. Gitlin, Todd. The Sixties years of Hope, Days of Rage. (New York. A Bantam Book, 1987), 435

Chapter 3: The Hippie Culture of America

“Call them freaks, the underground, the counter culture, flower children of hippies- they are all losses labels for the youth culture of the 60’s that transformed life in (American) as we knew it, introducing a spirit of freedom, of hope of happiness, of change and of revolution”(Milles 9)7.

The Hippie Culture of America in the 1960’s came out of a time of many changes. This

was a time of many firsts in our country. The youngest president JFK was elected to office and he was the first Catholic in office in American history. Also the United States government approved the legalization of birth control for women as a way of contraception.

There were many other human and civil rights movements that gained support and strength during this time. The civil rights movement lead by Martin Luther King Jr. was getting

closer to equality of blacks and whites. The women rights movement was fighting for equality

between men and women, in all aspect of life. The Anti-war movement grew in strength as more troops were drafted and sent over to Vietnam, and were dying.

Out of all the turmoil and violence of this War, the youth of this America decided to rebel in different ways through their beliefs in love, peace and happiness that all should share in. peace and happiness.

They began their own movement called “the hippies”. They would make their statements of what they stood for through their life style. How they lived, who they lived with, how they dressed, and what they did in their everyday life would tell the world what they were really about.

The life style that the hippies started to embrace was living in large groups. When the young people left their parents homes in middle American to move into the large cities to start their new

7. Milles, Barry. Hippie. (Great Britain: Octopus, 2003), 9

8 lives of freedom. They would find cheap houses in blue collar areas where African American and

Hispanics normally lived. By living in these areas they were challenging what society thought to be normal. This also gave them the chance to live among all kinds of different people. Later this style of living became known as hippy communes and they took on the word “tribes” to distinguish themselves.

The “tribe” also came out of their need to find spirituality; they looked to the Native

American culture and went back to nature. The hippies found themselves learning new practice of medications and looked into other religions like Hinduism and other none traditional religions in the American culture.

They also looked into enhancing ones spiritual journeys and searching for new insights through the use of illegal drugs, like marijuana, LSD, Opium, mushrooms and many other drugs.

The topic of sex and one’s sexuality or sexual orientation was not openly talked about before this time in history. Sleeping with multiple partners and of the same sex became a norm in the hippie culture. Many hippies used the term “Free Sex or Free Love” at the time. They would practice “sex Rituals” from Hindu, also knew as “tantric sex”.

For women they found a new freedom with the introduction of “the pill”. It made it easy to have no responsibility or worries of becoming pregnant. They could have sex as much they wanted for the first time. The hippies started showing their sexuality openly. They dressed differently and showed much more skin then before. Many women would walk around in the open without a bra or a top.

Being free from ones parents expectations and their reaction was a very important part of their way of life. A huge example of this was “The Be-In” which was misunderstood as a sexual gathering, but in reality it was about freedom of expression and getting rid of the society’s holds

and expectations on the youth. Through the action of taking off their clothing they were freeing

their bodies and souls. Also during the “Be-In” if you had been drafted to fight in Vietnam you could burn the draft cards as a collective group to support one another.

The Anti war protesting and draft cards burning became a large part of the hippies politic

views on the Vietnam war situation. Many campuses around the country had young people

starting to burn cards in public. They felt it was their moral duty to stand up and say they had the

freedom to choose not to fight. The burning of the draft cards to U.S government was seen as

anti- American. Many people saw it as a Communist act. Many men would burn their cards and

object to fighting and some would leave the country to avoid fighting. Because of this they were

arrested if they were found.

Anti war protest was another major way the youth; especially the women could have a

voice to be heard on a greater scale. They could also let the government know that the American

people didn’t agree with this war and wanted out. By the mid 60’s there were protests in all major

cities and some of them turning violent when the law got involved.

However, there was one last way the hippie viewpoint of love, peace and anti-war could

get out, without ending in violence; that was through the arts. There were many musicians that

were creating music about love and peace and the terrible things happening in Vietnam like The

Beatles. There was “The Summer of Love” in 1967 when hippies would gather in free love, music

and drugs in all the major cities around the country. There was a huge music festival

“Woodstock” where half a million hippies showed up sharing the music, love and drugs.

The other major art form the hippies were embracing in New York was theater and

performing art. This was used as a platform to let the American Public know and understand their

politics and social viewpoints on what was happing here and in Vietnam.

There were three such artist that got together in the mid 60’s to create a musical that would change musicals forever and let people know what the youth was trying say through the expression of music, song, dance and the spoken word. This would be the creation of “HAIR” a love- rock musical about two young hippies trying to find their way out of going to war and their relationships along the way.

Chapter 4: HAIR an American Love-Rock Musical

1967 Off-Broadway

1968 Broadway

1968 West End

Multiple Productions Worldwide

1977 Broadway revival

1979 Film version

1993 London revival

2009 Broadway revival

2010 West End revival

2012 GWU Production

WHO

HAIR was the first of its kind created in the 1960’s with Lyrics by James Rado and

Gerome Ragni, two best friends who were creating the musical about their own life and what they were going through themselves at this time in history. The music by Galt MacDermot was what

really made this the first of the new genre of musicals called “Rock Musicals”.

James Rado was a writer, actor and director, born in 1933; he grew up in upstate N.Y. and

Washington D.C. He went to College at University of Maryland were he started writing musicals.

After he finished school he enlisted in the Navy for two years and then returned to D.C. to do his

graduate work at Catholic University. When he completed his graduate work he moved to New

York and was in his first production: Marathon’33. Then in 1964 he would meet Gerome Ragni,

who would become his best friend and the co-creator of HAIR.

Gerome Ragni was born in 1935 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to a very large and poor family. He found his way to D.C. to go to college at Georgetown University and Catholic

University in Drama. He acted in his first production in 1954: Shadow and Substance. He stayed

in D.C. until 1963 when he moved to New York. Acting in his first off-Broadway production he

met James Rado. This show was about anti capital punishment called Hang Down Your Head and

Die, which had a forced closing after only one performance. HAIR would not be far behind this

production with the ideas of objection to the norms of the society.

Galt McDermot was born in Canada in 1928. He studied at Upper Canada College,

Bishop’s University and Cape Town University in South Africa. He found himself in New York

in the year of 1964. HAIR’s producer Eric Blau would be his connection to the two creators of

HAIR and with this production they would then create a musical that would change musicals forever.

The Story and Songs

This story is about two young men and their hippie tribe family that they live with. They both face the call to war and what happens to them both and the songs they sing to tell their story.

I will give you a brief summary of how the first production was done in 1967 and how the remounts and revivals change according to the time and directors, but the story remains the same.

ACT I

The story starts with Claude entering the tribe in a ritual. Then the whole cast starts the song “Aquarius”, which is a song of hope, peace, love and spirituality. Then the story continues with many songs about love and drugs.

They go on to sing songs like “Sodomy”, “Color Spade” “Manchester England”. They are

all songs that address the Hippie views on life.

Sheila comes in singing “I Believe in Love”. Also states what they are fighting for and

then she goes into a peace march with tribe.

The story continues as Claude gets his a draft card from his parents. Now he is faced with the question of what he should do.

The next scene is with Berger and the principle telling him he has been expelled because of his crazy behavior and the way he dresses.

After this Claude shows up to tell the tribe that he passed the physical for the army. Then

Shelia has a gift for Berger and he gets really crazy and breaks the shirt and hits her and he says

that she is jealous. She goes on to sing “Easy to be Hard”. She is talking about how people can be

so terrible and mean to each other and how sad it is.

The tribe enters in more beautiful and colorful costumes singing “Hare Krishna”. They all

get ready to burn the draft cards. Many members go up the fire and put their cards in but the card

in and Claude goes up but can’t put it in. He sings in his confusion of what he should do? As he

continues to sing this song the tribe is sings “Beads, flowers, freedom, happiness” and then they

undress as the lights go out and the show go into intermission.

ACTII

Claude comes in a gorilla suit and tells them that he went to the induction center and he

gives Woof his Mick Jagger poster.

Now three white women in the cast sing to Hud about how much they love him in a song

called “Black Boys”. Then the counter part of the song is three black women in one massive piece

of fabric singing to Claude about how much they love him in a song called “White Boys”.

The next scene goes into using marijuana as they sing “Walking in Space” which is all about what happens when you take the psychedelic drugs. As Claude starts to go into a major psychedelic dream that takes us through American history.

Then Claude sees his mom and dad with an army jacket and he hears play-ground sounds that soon become war noises. The tribe starts to sing “Three-Five-Zero-Zero” based on an antiwar poem. Then two young men sing “What a Piece of Work Is Man”. This is sung in reaction to everything that men have done in war.

Then Sheila starts sing “Good Morning Starshine” as a good bye to Claude as the tribe dances around on stage having a good time.

The last scene is all the tribe at the induction center protesting saying “Hell, no! We won’t go”. As this is all happening Sheila and Berger are looking for Claude and they can’t find him.

Then he appears in uniform, but nobody can see or hear him. He starts singing “The Flesh

Failures” and “Manchester England”. While he sings the others sing “Eyes Look Your Last” as

Claude disappears into the tribe. Then Sheila starts singing, “Let the Sun Shine In” and everyone starts singing as they move away from the stage. The audience sees Claude’s dead body on stage.

The lights go out slowly and all you see is Berger. Then all the tribe runs back on stage with audience to dance and sing to the song “Hair” one last time.

The songs with in this musical and each character all had something different and important to say about what was happening at the time. With each new cast and time it brings something new to audiences everywhere.

The Original Actors in 1967

In order to really create a great show that would compare to other productions that where popular at the time and to tell the public the story that Rado and Ragni wanted to say, they would

have to find the right cast. The two main characters Claude and Berger were based on Rado and

Ragni. They felt that they should play the main characters, but the director was worried that they were too old already. Ragni did get his part in the end as Berger because they decided no one could do the part as well as he.

The summer of 1967 they started auditions to find the cast for HAIR. The actor Walker

Daniels was casted as Claude. They would find other cast members in less traditional ways and eventually they created the tribe.

How the Show Came Together

The first rehearsals were difficult, as they didn’t have their choreographer because she was

in a hospital. Freedman, the director, had a very hard time with the writers because they kept

changing the songs and the script. When the choreographer; Sokolow came back she and

Freedman fought so badly that he left the production a week before they were to perform and then

she took over. They first showed at the Public Theater as a work in progress. It was the first non-

Shakespearean work done there. It went very badly. But they worked out many of the problems

and the show opened on October 17, 1967. The show was a hit and the people loved it.

The show would go onto Broadway to be nominated for best musical and for the best

director at the Tony’s in 1968. However they wouldn’t win a Tony until 2009 when HAIR won

for best musical revival. HAIR the Love –Rock Musical would go on to national and world tours.

Everywhere it went to spread the message of love it was met with a loving audience. Every

production has its own take on the music and the story telling of the play. Our director had her

own view on this now rock classic.

Chapter 5: The Director´s Vision

When starting to work on a production after reading the script the next most important part

of the process is hearing what the director’s vision is for the show? What does she see happening within the story, what is important to her, why do this play? How does it feel, set, costumes and lights to them? These are all the questions we hope to get answers to when we go into our first production meeting with the director.

At the first production meeting with Roberta Gasbarre, our director for HAIR she talked about that we should look to the original production of HAIR, not the revival in terms of the songs and the way it looked. She felt that she wanted to bring the heart of the play back to Anti-War protesting in Vietnam and what it stood for. Also that the designers should have a clear look into

New York life style of hippie clothing and how they lived every day and this affected the look.

She also talked about that she saw a large cast if possible with many different types of

people: small, big, skinny, fat, tall and short and as many different ethnicities. She wanted a large

cast to help create a full stage and make the tribe.

Another major point she talked about was the first ten minutes before the play started to have the actors out in the theater house interacting with the audience. The Hippies would have done it the same way back then.

As far as the costumes were concerned she liked the idea that the actors could and should have some say in what they were putting on their bodies. When it came time for fittings, she wanted to have many options for them. She also wanted to come with me to pull costume pieces.

She had many ideas of what she wanted for the show and wanted to help me find them.

In the beginning she was very clear about what she wanted but I found as the process went on, things changed. This is a normal assurance with most productions but many times the communication got lost.

Director´s Notes: Roberta Gasbarre

“The movement of young people to the forefront of American society in the 1960’s changed the country. They refused to accept and questioned and explored everything, creating a new reality out of whole cloth for themselves and their children. HAIR—The American Tribal

Love-Rock Musical, was that movement’s song cycle and anthem—bringing the show’s message of joyous anarchy and passionate anger to mainstream America to be embraced in the safety of a dark theater. Conceived by Jerome Ragni and James Rado, two out of work NY actors, the show purposefully broke every theatrical convention as it strove to become the anti-musical musical.

The songs and scenes could be (and were) performed in random order, the cast (Tribe) switched roles and the show was actually UN-choreographed before it went to Broadway. The composer,

Galt McDermott, was not a hippie any more than Jim or Jerry: he was a well respected jazz musician who appreciated all types of music. He wrote the iconic score in two weeks. Ensemble theatre techniques allowed for experimentation, chaos and a totally new, exciting event that would influence theatre for generations to come. Ellen Stewart, the founder of the internationally acclaimed avant theatre troupe; La Mama, said: “Hair... has influenced every single thing that you see on Broadway, off-Broadway, off-off Broadway, anywhere in the world, you will see elements of the experimental techniques that Hair brought not just to Broadway, but to the entire world.”

But time (and many, many productions, including the hit 2009 revival) have obscured the reasons and rituals of that first flash of Hair’s crazy innovation. I was lucky to have seen the original, the less than stellar 1995 revival, and the sweet, nostalgic recent staging, and felt that the

18 university setting was a wonderful opportunity to dig into WHY the piece rocked 1968, and why it still moves us to tears today. We gathered a vibrant ‘Tribe’ of young, raw talent—unique and nascent powerhouse performers, designers and technicians-- and began to study. Articles, books, film clips, music playlists, ensemble theatre techniques and long Tribe talks ‘on the carpet’ (the huge rug that anchors our set onstage). Why was burning a draft card so dangerous? What is

Astral Projection? Why was (is?) everything illegal or at least controversial -- homosexuality, cross-racial love and tolerance, mind-altering substances? Why did we protest the war? What is the difference between a protest and a Be In? How could people be so pro-love and yet so hurtful?

And how do we stop acting and just let it happen? We built a breathing, questioning, raucous ensemble in only five weeks... and discovered stores of stamina, consciousness and (to use an old- fashioned word) love we did not know we had. Along the way we found our show—and brought it, kicking and screaming to life. Kudos to the GW’s Theatre & Dance Department and the

Department of Music for supporting this large and complex show, kudos to the 21st century freaks who are sharing it all with you tonight... and kudos to you for joining us to celebrate and mourn. Such an honor—such a pleasure.”

Chapter 6: THE HAIR IN HAIR

High and Tight Haircut

“First off, there is the high and tight cut, which is a variation of the buzz cut. The usual length for this haircut is one sixteenth of an inch. This is a length that is very nearly shaven. The reason that many men in the military and out of the military get this type of military haircut style is because it is known to make the face more attractive looking. With this haircut, there is more emphasis put onto the cheekbones and the eyes. Therefore, if you are interested in putting more emphasis in the regions of your eyes and cheekbones, the high and tight is the hair style to go with. The high and tight military haircut may very well be the most commonly worn military hairstyle” (SUWARNAADI).8

When I first knew that I would be creating the looks for HAIR as my thesis project, more

than anything else the hair was my biggest concern. For the show to be correct to the time in

which it took place and the statements that Hippies were making, the cast had to have long hair.

The long hair worn by hippies at this time was saying everything they felt and wanted in their

lives. They were expressing their ideas of freedom from the normal and what was expected of

them be their parents and society. The director was very clear on this part of the production. We

needed longer hair then what were the norms of our society today.

I knew that the long hair wouldn’t be a huge problem for most of the girls but maybe a

few. I decided on the first day of classes in September 2011, months before the show would be in rehearsals or even casted yet, that every professors would request on my behalf for the students not to cut their hair.

This did work for many of the actors in the show but after the cast was chosen there were

some big question to face. Looking at the major characters in the piece, did they have long enough hair for the look? If so did we like it and if not what were we going to do? If we did get

8. SUWARNAADI. “Military Haircuts for Men: Flat Top, High and Tight Haircut.” 16 Sept 2007

20 wigs they had to look good with not a very big budget. We could easily spend the whole budget on one wig. Then the question of how would these wigs stay on securely when the actors were moving so much on stage, especially with their heads?

The first step was to look around for wig shops. Roberta and I had to have clear idea of what hair styles we envisioned for the main characters; Claude, Berger, Hud and Woof and which wigs would fit their personalities best.

One day just Roberta and I did some window-shopping at a mall in Wheaton just to feel out what we both were thinking. To check out styles and prices, this was an important part in our decision when choosing the wigs.

THE WIG SHOPPING DAY

After we looked at wigs at the mall we decided that it would very important to have the actors and Sigridur, my thesis advisor, with us next time we shopped for wigs. Also because we wanted so many people to be there for the shopping we had to go on a weekend morning before rehearsals and before I had to go to work at the Folger. Going back to the shop in Wheaton was out of the question. It was too far. Thankfully I found a little wig shop just down the street from the Folger which made it easy for the students and everyone else to get there.

When everyone got there we started to look over the selection of wigs in the shop. Then we got started fitting Claude’s and Berger’s wigs. The first one we chose for Claude played by

Blake Eisenberg was a very pretty, long and brown just like his natural hair color with a little wave to it. The wig looked much like Veronica Lake image Roberta had reference to for his look.

The moment we put the wig on Blake (we all realized it was the right one) we knew and he knew it was the one. He kept moving his head in different ways to see how the movement affected the wig. It was perfect.

Then we went on to Berger Played by Sam Game it was not quite as quick and easy to find

him a wig. We first looked for a red wig because he is a natural red head. We were looking for a

wig that would be very curly and crazy. He needed to look like a wild man. We tried a red one

with a tight curl. It didn’t seem to work very well and we felt he needed more volume on the top

of the wig. We also didn’t like the red color. We then tried a loser curled wig brown/auburn in

color with red highlights and a longer length. He really liked the wig and we thought it would

work with some adjustments. I would need to color some of the highlights and cut some of the

length out of the wig.

We went on to Hud who I had just met for the first time, but we know we had to find a

nice large Afro. That would look natural and give Roberta her Jimmy Hendricks character that she

saw Hud to be play. We try one but the color looked not real and was not large enough either. We

found it, he became Jimmy in the very moment and we tried a scarf and it worked well.

The last wig we had to find for the boys was for Woof played by David Chamberland. I

first thought of a short and tightly curled dark brown wig, almost animal looking. But once we put

it on him it just didn’t work at all. Next we try very long loose big curled light brown colored wig.

The wig was great on him. It looked like he wasn’t even wearing a wig.

After finding all the boys’ wigs that worked we looked around the shop to find three of the same wigs for our “White Boys” number with our Supremes girls. We did find some that were perfect in style but to expensive so kept looking around the shop. We found three wigs that worked. The shop owner even gave us a lower price when we asked for three of them. We were done and happy to find all the wigs we needed.

At the end of the day I was really glad to have brought everyone along for the shopping trip. I think it was very beneficial for the actors and their character development to see themselves

wearing the wigs. I was grateful to have Roberta and Sigrid there. They were very helpful and it

was a wonderful collaboration.

FITTINGS

During the first round of fittings when the actors arrived, I began looking at the length of

their hair and if they needed to be wigged. It became clear that only about half of boys would

need to be wigged which a good thing was. But we still needed more wigs. Thankfully I had

pulled several wigs from Washington Revels and Montgomery College, so we had many to

choose from.

As the fitting went on, each actor got to try a few wigs and we could see what worked for

them. We found that putting head-bands on the wigs helped to keep the wigs on as well as

creating a “hippie style”.

We did have to deal with two girls that needed to be wigged in the tribe. One actress,

Lizzy Marmon had very short hair, and she was struggling with finding her character and her place in the tribe. So when she came in I had her in full costume and we started trying on wigs.

She told me that her inspiration for her character was Janice Joplin. When I heard this I went to a long curly and little bit crazy brown wig. As soon as she looked at herself in the mirror it clicked and she just knew who she was. I found it so just amazing, how one costume can change the whole picture.

One of our actresses, Marian Ackun-Farmmer had long purple tinted extensions in her hair. When we met she told me she wanted to wear an Afro in the show for the tribe. We talked about the wig which I thought would be great for her character but I told her that there is no way we could but a wig on over all her hair and have stay on during the run of the show. Moreover she

would never be able to get her Supremes wig over all the hair. So after we talked it over she knew

she would have to get rid of the hair extensions. But she told me that she wouldn’t be able to take

them out until the weekend before 1st dress. She told me that she had to go home and have her

mom take them out or she could lose her hair. So we decided this was the best way to haedle the

problem and she was happy to get her hair redone. This was a great resolution to the problem and

we were able to have someone else in the cast with an Afro which was really common during this

time. Many African Americans wanted to grow their hair out natural and this created the Afro.

TECH WITH WIGS

Tech is when all the technical aspects of the show like lighting; set movement and sound

are worked out for the show to run smoothly. Some costumes and costume pieces are used.

The wigs were in the costume shop but because I wasn’t there and I had not labeled them

yet they had a hard time finding them. Carmen our DT called me and I let them know where they

were and the other ASMs went up to find them.

They found the wigs and used some costume pieces for the tech run. In the report that night they said that Berger’s wig was not working. Roberta felt the wig shape and style was not right. Also the brown color that I used to cover the red high lights was coming off into people’s hands.

The next morning I came in before tech. I washed, cut and re-styled the wig to hopefully save the wig and save us from having to spend more money on another wig. When Berger came in we tried it on him and it seemed to work much better.

15 WIGS AND GETTING ACTORS READY

On the first dress rehearsal we had all the actors that were in wigs come early for their wig calls. I had to show the wardrobe crew how to pin in wig caps. I had to make sure that all the crew was putting enough pins in to the wigs, so they wouldn’t come off during the show.

By the next night most of the actors were able to pin everything in themselves and the wardrobe crew was able to help those that needed it. We only had two wigs fall off that night.

One wig was on one of the nuns and when he took off his habit the wig came off too. He had to quickly put it back on without pinning it back. When he got back on stage and he started moving around it came right off.

The other wig that came off was during “Star Shine” when Berger did a flip.

On the last night I used spirit gum on Berger’s wig and Roberta and I gave the wig another hair cut. The actor playing Berger was afraid to use spirit gum but I insured him that if we used the remover it would be fine. This worked because the wig stayed on and came off easily when the show was over.

UP KEEP

The wardrobe crew had to spend time every night brushing out a few of the wigs and re- styling them for the next night. I had to make sure they understood how to brush out the wigs correctly without pulling out the hair or creating more knots.

The wigs for the show worked really well in the end. I am so glad that we were able to have so many good looking wigs, also that they stayed on.

Chapter 6: Bring the Vision to Life through Costumes

“The Hippie look, one of the many anti-fashion statements of the 20th century, defined the 1960s. Hippie slogans such as ‘Peace’ and ‘Love’ reflected the desire to find an alternative way of living, where an individual could drop put of society to focus on the spiritual life, instead of being a slave to money”.9 The first few production design meetings I brought in research images of what people were doing at the time and how they looked. As I went through the research with the director, she made it clear that New York east coast Hippie clothing would be the look of our show. She was inspired by deep colors and dirty rough look. This was very different from the west coast

Californian Hippie dressing in brighter and neon colors. Now that I had the director’s vision in mind I could figure out the best way of pulling the costumes together with the number of cast and budget in mind.

When I started working on the show a co- worker of mine told me that her under graduate program had just done HAIR few years before. So I thought about the possibility of the renting costumes, because of our large cast and small budget. Maybe this would be the best way to costume the show. With the cast at this point up to 33 people with 5 band members we needed a lot costumes.

However after doing a deeper look into what the Hippies were doing with their clothing and get a firsthand account of how they thought about dressing, I talked to my dad, who was a teenager in New York at this time.

He said “I would go into a second hand shop and find an old tail coat that he would wear that with jeans”.

I also found that this was the first time in history that second hand shops and thrift shops became more known and used by people especially the Hippies. They found things that could

9.Powe-Temperley, Kitty. 20th Century Fashion: The 60’s Mods & Hippies.(Lodon: David West Children Books, 1999)24

create a statement about who they were and what they were about. Also the idea of repurposing

clothing and making them one’s own becomes a way of creating identity and rebelling against

society norms.

With all this I decided the best way to create the show would be not to rent but to find all

costume pieces in our stock and other stocks around town. I also thought stores and my own and

others closets would be a great place to find pieces. When I came to this conclusion I told

Roberta what I thought about costuming the show. She completely agreed and so we went

forward with this concept in mind. We talked about the idea of finding everything and that it

would be a show that we create together, creating a truly collaborative piece.

The first thing I did was to go down to our stock room and pull everything that I felt

would work or bring inspiration to the show. After filling up a rack with clothing, I had Roberta

come in a look over the things I found. She told me what worked and some ideas of what she was

thinking we should find. After looking through everything she told about the number of the cast

and how many costume we needed. This would be my first challenge of the process how would

we costume so many on a small budget. Then she told me that we would be able to pull from the

theatres around town that she worked at.

Over the next few weeks I started on sketching out my ideas of what the main characters

and tribe would look like. Then I had a meeting with Roberta to show her my sketches. She liked

a lot of my ideas, and she had some good ideas of what else I should do to make the characters more authentic to the time. After meeting with her I was able to finish up my renderings and

could create lists of what I would have to find or make.

In the first week of January before we were back to school and while Roberta was not

busy with the Discovery Theater, she would take me to four different storages all over Maryland.

One early morning Roberta met me at Forest Glen Metro Station to go on our hunt for the clothing that would help to create the world of HAIR.

The first place she took me to would be her own house. First we looked through her trunk from the last show she worked on and we found the perfect leather fringed coat for Berger. Then we proceeded in to the house and she took me into the basement to her own personal stock room.

She had three wardrobes full of costumes and boxes of hats and other costume pieces. We found some really great coats and then went on to our next location.

As we traveled to next place we also were able to have small production meeting in the car about what I thought about specific characters and Roberta was able to tell me her concepts and hopes for the costumes. We also got to know each other which was an important part of the process.

We got to the next location; The Washington Revels. I started looking for what we needed and found in their ethnic section lots of great pieces. I was so glad to find a lot of our dream sequins, the Native American costumes, and a lot of wigs. At the end of pulling I got to meet Kate

McGhee, the shop manager and a designer for Revels. This was really great because she took my information and she said she would keep me in mind for jobs in the future. What a great networking chance!

The next place we went to was the Smithsonian Storage where we found great things, such as ethnic costumes and house robes for the moms.

At the end of the day we went to the Wheaton Mall to take a look at wigs. We looked at some really great wigs but them we decided that we needed to bring the actors with us next time.

The next day she met me at the metro again and went to Montgomery Community

College. When I went into the stock room I was shocked to see how big it was and how many

great costumes they had. I found the marching- military jacket for Hud, inspired by musical artist

Jimmy Hendricks. I also found the nuns’ habits and mom’s house-coats and more wigs. I also met the manager of their costume shop; Emily Long. She took my information and would keep me in mind for design work.

After these two days I felt really good and ready for all the students to come in for fittings.

Going to pull with Roberta was a unique experience, this was the first time I had ever pulled this many costumes, and with the director right by my side. I found it really helpful getting Roberta’s reaction on pieces right away, instead of waiting until she saw fitting photos. But I found it hard to because she was choosing some pieces that I didn’t really think would work for the show. We did a lot of talking about the concepts of HAIR and I felt that we were on the same page. I really liked the direction the play was going in, the look and feel of the costumes were right. I got to know Roberta pretty well, and she got to know me. I felt this was very important to Roberta and the way she works. I thought it would only help me with creating the show.

DESIGN PRESENTATIONS

This is when the productions team talks about their ideas and concepts for the design of the show. Also it is chance for the cast to meet the designers. They can see who we are so they can feel comfortable coming to us about ideas and questions about the production

I started my presentation by showing the cast their characters my renderings. I told them what our concept was for the costumes; I would take the same approach that the Hippies had to their clothing. I wanted the look to be as real as possible, so I would have to find all the costume pieces and make them unique. At this point I talked to the actors about making their own costume pieces. I told the actors that by making their own jewelry and helping with embellishments on their costumes, they would help to create their characters on stage.

I also told the actors about my trips to several costume stocks with Roberta and all the amazing things we found. We would have many opinions for the tribe members. I let them know that I really wanted the actors’ input on the costumes choices. Another important element to the design was that if they felt strongly about their character looking a specific way they should not be afraid to tell me. They needed to know that this was collaboration.

FITTINGS

When we started fittings we wanted to be as ready as possible for the actors so we wouldn’t waste any time.

The following week we started the first round of fittings, which was just for the tribe costumes. No other parts in the show had been casted yet. So because the cast was so large we would have fittings for three days back to back from 10Am to 5Pm to get everyone in for 20- 30 minutes. These days didn’t feel long because all the actors and I were so excited and happy to be there and they were a part of the creative process.

As the actors came in we would try on their costumes that I had put aside. For the main characters they would have very specific look to help tell the story of who they were in the play.

For the main characters it was pretty straight forward for I had pulled the costumes from my renderings. We just needed to see if they fit and what else we still needed to find. For the other tribe members we would go through the three racks of clothing that we had put together and see how the actor felt in the costumes.

As we went through the fitting of the main characters we were able to see what we would have to build for the show. For Ariel Warmflash, who played Jeanie a pregnant flower child, we found that after her fitting we would need to do two things. Redo her belly to make it smaller and fit more snuggly. The dress was not big enough so we would have to build a new dress.

Then we had Blake who played Claude in for his fitting. His shirt was a light weight linen

shirt, white in color and having the Hindu look that Roberta was asking for, was too small. So we

decided that we needed to find the right fabric and build him one. Once we created this shirt

pattern we could just use it to make more shirts for the tribe and just the fabric to make them.

A major question that I asked all the actors as they came in was how they felt about not

wearing shoes for the production. It was a normal for Hippies to be bare foot. I was happy to hear

that every actor was totally okay with no shoes and some preferred it. We decided that they would

only wear shoes at the end of the show with their winter coats. This would show the contrast

from the start of the show, which is happy and bright and full of love and peace. The end of the

show is full of death and sadness which war brings.

At the end of every fitting we took pictures of every actor in the full costume. I would use

these pictures for the director to see the outfits we would also use them when we were shopping

and looking for more costume pieces.

After all the fittings there were many things we still needed to figure out. First we needed

a lot more jeans. In addition we would need winter coats for everyone in the tribe. We needed to

go shopping for Supremes girls’ fabric and for our flower child and more fabric for shirts.

We also knew that we needed to get supplies for jewelry making and antiwar pins. We

would also need flowers for actors to put in their hair and more trim for head-bands.

SHOWING ROBERTA PICTURES

While the designer is having fittings, he/she often times takes pictures so they can remember what each actor's look. This so he/she can see how the costume is working and to show the director.

After the fittings that week we met with Roberta for the wigs shopping and then we looked over all the pictures. This was a very informative meeting because she felt that about more than half the costumes we had chosen for the actors would work. Her biggest concern was not that the clothing was wrong for the time period but that they were the wrong for the characters themselves. We would have to re costume a few of the characters now knowing what they each were like. As the designer in that monument you want to understand everything that was not working and talk about how we can fix and make what the director wants.

She went on to say that the actors had chosen inspirational people to base their characters on and she expected the costumes to reflect these people. I had been costuming the actors according to the fit and style that worked best with their bodies and what they liked. But now with this new information I can make now and informed choices with the costume pieces.

To make sure that we were all on the same page I felt the next step would be a costume parade on the Monday; the day of the designer run, this would help me understand what Roberta was looking for and how I could create the right looks.

We had a small misunderstanding that Monday. I got an email from the stage manger asking me about when the actors should get dressed for the run in costumes. I was confused we were doing a costume parade. This was relayed back to the stage manger and she took care of everything. We were back on track for just a costumes parade.

COSTUME PARADA AND DEISGN RUN

A costume parade is when all the actors get into their full costumes and line up in front of the director and designer. We talk about what is working and not working for each actor and their character and what can be done to change it for the better. The design run is for all the designers to see the show in full run from start to finish. This is done to make sure they know where the

32 characters may need help with quick changes. Also for the designer to make sure they have all the costumes that the show has called for.

The actors started to come at 5:30PM to get into their costumes. It was crazy having 32 actors all getting into costumes at once in the costume shop. I was so excited to see everyone in costume. Then we all waited for Roberta to finish the production meeting with the other designers.

Then we started the parade. We had three actors come in front of us and the ASM took the notes on everything Roberta said. The first costumes she had a lot notes on was for Berger’s and Claude’s jeans. They just weren’t quite right for the show. She said she wanted them more fitted jeans and I felt that they shouldn’t be too fitted. I felt that from my research of the hippies weren’t just about looking really hot and sexy in fitted tight clothing it was more about who they were as people and they wanted to change the world. Also she thought Berger’s vest was not special enough, I did agree with that. She wanted something made from leather that would have nice movement. Also his loin cloth was too large and long, it looked too much like a cod piece.

Claude’s shirt was too big but we could just take it in and reshape the arm.

There were some actor’s outfits that were not the right look to go with their characters, so this would be a chance to costume some more looks for the show. Roberta was saying some many different things that I had a hard time following everything she was saying. Also I think I was shocked by how much work we already had done and now we had more work. I was overwhelmed and was very glad to have Sigridur there to asking questions that I just could not think of. On every character now she was tell us a list of things that she would rather see them in or how to change the costumes to make them what she wanted. At the end of everything I was so glad we did the parade because now I had clear understanding of everything she was looking for

in each person’s costumes. She was specific about the elements of their acting and how their

clothing could affect their movement.

Now that I had all that information we could re-costume the actors according to their inspiration, which in long run made thing easier. Also they had casted the other numbers like the

Dream and Dead End, which were another 20 to 30 costumes, which we had not fitted yet. At least we could move on to second fittings and fit all the costumes.

I was frustrated during all the notes because when we first talked about all the 30

something people in the tribe and their costumes there was nothing specific about each actor

having a character. We talked and looked at the tribe as a general hippie style look. Only for the

many characters did she give me a clear idea of what she wanted. So I went about designing the

tribe with ideas of what hippies would dress like as group not according to personality type of a

person. But this was a good lesson for me to learn as a designer that things can always change and

that as the designer you have to learn how to let go of some parts of the design and move on in the

process, be fixable.

At this point we moved on to the design run at the XX building after everyone got out of their costumes. The run started and then half way into run there were numbers that were never

blocked or sung before. This made me very nervous.

After the run was over I thought the numbers that they did fully were really good and well

done. But I did feel very confused and had lot of unanswered questions at the end of the show

about quick change times and movement. The second half was hard to understand because there

was a lot of stopping and starting and no sense of timing. I really could not tell were the quick

changes would happen and some of the blocking was not done yet, so I couldn’t really tell how

34 the costumes would react with movement. I hoped I would be able to become back on another day to watch a run.

SHOPPING WITH SIGRIDUR

For this show the director really wanted us to stay with found pieces from costume stock rooms and thrift stores. However with a cast of this size and some of the very special pieces in the show we needed to shop for fabrics and a few costume pieces. Before we went out shopping we created a very detailed list of everything we would need down to the yards of fabric. Then we went shopping.

We met up at G Street to buy our fabrics for the show. I got there before Sigrid and started pulling fabrics for Jean’s flower child dress and found these pretty wax pattern prints. But when she came I showed her what I found and she liked them, but she felt that they were a little expensive. She wanted us to go to Jo-Ann’ first and see what we could find.

We went to Jo Ann’s quilt section and we found the perfect fabrics and for half the price.

We were very successful we found wonderful fabrics to make some of the different shirts. We also found fabrics for the outfit for the “Black boys” song. I was really happy to find a lot of packets and hippie colorful buttons to embellishments on jeans and vests.

Then we went back to G Street to find very special fabric for our Supreme girl’s dresses. I also knew that we still needed to find the right fabric for our leading boy; Claude. We found beautiful lightweight gauze, to make his shirt. That was the end of our shopping trip that day.

After our costume parade and design run we decided to get some more things that we were missing. We need new outfits or pieces to help us create the characters that Roberta was looking and described to us.

We first went to find the lining for the Supremes. Then Sigridur suggested that we should

try Ross for some more options for the actors that we had to start over with. Their outfits were so wrong. We found so many wonderful pieces because the hippie style is back in fashion now. We

found all the right colors, cuts and patterns.

While we were there we went to check out the jeans too. As I looked through them I kept

in mind everything that Roberta said about the boys. Then we found a pair of red jeans for Berger.

I knew they were different from the original design but I thought they made sense for his wild

crazy self.

Then we found a pair of gray jeans for Claude that looked great in the fit and that I could

age them and change the color to make them work.

Then we went on to the party store to find the Dream pieces like Lincoln’s facial hair and

some more wigs. Finishing up at Target we got the right period underwear to go under their skirts

and dresses.

SECOND ROUND OF FITTINGS AND PROBLEM SOLVING

During the second round of fittings normally the designer is trying on a few new things

that didn’t work the first time round. They will also check that anything that may have made since

the last time is fitting correctly and if we need alterations.

Going into the second fittings I had a few major things in mind. We had to fit all the

Dream costumes and come up with all new costumes for the actors without costumes. I also had

to make certain that we creating the characters personality through the costume choices.

The three Moms and Dads costumes were a really important contrast to the young Hippies

with their long hair and no shoes. The parents’ looks was a cookie cutter style, with the moms in

fitted knee length dress with aprons and dads in suit jackets and shoes. Also all the dads had short

hair and moms had their hair up and back not free and out like their kids. The fittings for the

parents went well, only a few alterations.

The Principals also were a contrast to the Hippies and their ideas of freedom. The

principals were a symbol of society and the restriction on what and who they should be. So I put

them in graduation robs that were black a great contrast to the colorful clothing on stage. The

robes were easy to fit the actors.

The Supremes were beautiful red sequence dresses that we built. Sigridur made the dress

patterns and we cut them out and made the dresses. During the fitting we checked the length of

the bodices to have them hit mid thigh so the length of the shirts would be correct. And we took

the side seams in on the dresses so they would show the girls figures off. They would still be able

to put the dress on and take off fast.

For the white girl trio I looked at Janice Joplin and other rockers at the time. We found

two flowers printed dresses and they fit well on the girls. The other girl is based on Janice and we

made a large bell shaped shirt and pants out of gold velvet fabric. During the fitting I took up the

pants hem and opened up the neckline of the shirt.

Next I had fitting for the Dream. It goes through the history of America and iconic figures

in the American history. So much happens during the number very fast. There are so many parts

that everyone in tribe had another part in the dream. There were a lot costumes to fit and alter.

Due to the amount of different costumes in the dream I had to pull some many different

pieces. I didn’t know the size of the actors when I pulled the costumes so the fittings were very important to make sure everything would work.

There were four Native American parts in the show. When the actors came in we had

them try on suede shirts and pants and feathered head dresses. I was really happy that everything I

pulled worked and the only alteration we had to do on the pants was to hem them.

Then we had a few important presidents in our history such as Lincoln who was played by

an African American girl. She wore a black top hat and black coat and had some facial hair.

During her fitting we had to come up with better way to attach the hair. The change was so fast that we decided to use elastic.

For our George Washington, played by Berger in the play we found this great blue

Washington coat, wig, and hat. The major problem I foresaw was he changing his two wigs. He had to go from the tribe look to Washington quickly. I worried if the wigs would stay on for the rest of the show, with the quick changes.

The thousand-year-old monk had to look like she was burning on stage. To do this I used orange and red fabric that I sewed together. Then during her fitting we worked on draping it on her like a toga and see how the red fabric would engulf her when they set her on fire. For the other three monks I created orange pieces and in the fittings showed them how to drape it around themselves covering their tribe costumes.

Another part of the Dream was the three nuns played by three men in the tribe. I hoped that the nuns’ costumes that I found would be big enough for the boys to fit in. They all worked pretty well I just had to add panel in the back of one to accommodate this actor’s large shoulders and back.

The actor Philip Horowitz, who played Margret Mead, when he came in for his fitting, first we fit his wig, then his heeled shoes and last the coat with a fake shirt. The look of this

38 character was a little old lady from the 1950’s in her nice coat and dress. But in the end of the scene the actor flashes everyone, revealing that she really is a man.

First we had him try a nice curly short wig, nice contrast to the hippie’s long hair. Then he tried on pumps in size 16 that I had ordered especially for him. They fit him perfectly. Last was the coat, which was long enough, but the sleeves were a bit short. So we decided to add a fur trim to the hem line. It would totally work on him.

During the second round we had re costumed many members of the tribe to bring the actors and their personality to life. We took all of Roberta’s feedback from the costume parade to create the right looks.

For one of the actors named Davey, we had to change everything. He had leather pants first and button down patterned shirt. Roberta’s reaction to the pants was that they were to structured and stiff for Davey’s character because he was a free spirit. Her description of him was

“Peter Pan”. He never wants to grow up. So I put him in a relaxed fitting pair of green velvet pants. They sat right at his hip line. The actor felt great in them and for his top we put him in just an open vest.

Another actress that we had to completely start over on was Jen. She was in a little natural colored dress and top that were from Roberta’s closet but she hated the look. She said it just didn’t work. It was too drab looking in color and the style. We put on her a colorful halter dress, that Sigrid and I found at Ross and it looked beautiful on her. She is a busty girl and it showed some nice cleavage but not too much. Jen was still able to do all her movements without worrying about coming out of her dress. We did need to fit the back of the dress because it was a little big.

One more actor that we started fresh with was Daniel. His costume started as very bright pants and blond wig but Roberta said that his character is a yogi type person, very calm and

peaceful. We changed him to nice pair of linen cream colored pants and light colored linen top. I

also changed his wig to a long brown wig. He looked like a guru. It was great; exactly what

Roberta was talking about. The major alteration we had to do was to take in the pants.

THE JEANS AND PANTS ON MAIN CHARACTERS

When costuming a show there are always the one or two costume pieces that become the

“problem children” of the show. For this show it became the jeans. Something that should have been so simple became increasingly difficult to figure out.

During the second round of fittings the two main characters Claude and Berger had a lot of new things to try on. Berger tried on the red jeans that we got at a store and I thought that they looked great on him. We fitted them the way that Roberta had asked for and we took pictures to show her. I also tried this beautiful leather fringe vest that Sigrid owned personally would have been perfect but too small.

A major part of Berger costume was this fringe loin cloth that we made from a dance belt and leather. When he had it on during the costume parade there were a lot of problems with it. So

I cut it down and made it thicker.

Then for Claude we re-fit the white shirt that we made for him because Roberta wanted it more fitted and sexy. The gray jeans fit him well but I knew we would have to get color out and dye them.

That night I got an email from Roberta. That she was unhappy because she heard from

Berger that he had red jeans in the show and that was not what Roberta had approved in my renderings. I asked her if she could please give them chance. I told her I could let the actor wear them the next day for rehearsal.

When I came in the next day the gray jeans that I was bleaching turned yellow. When

Roberta came in she wanted both pairs for the boys to work in. That night I got an email saying

no to the red jeans and the other jeans. She said that they had to have blue jeans. I told understood her reaction she wanted Berger and Claude to look like they way are costumed traditional. I was just trying something different, and it was not right for the show.

We had to find some more possibilities for jeans. I found a few more pairs of jeans in stock. Then a few days later Roberta came in with lot jeans that she liked. This was great we could fit the pant together, so we had the boys try them on right there. Now we had two pairs for each that worked just in case something happened to them during the show.

I feel like this part of the design I over thought I was trying to recreate something that was so iconic to the show and the time period and created more work for myself.

TECH WITHOUT COSTUMES

There are two main ways to do tech; for costume designers, with or without costumes.

Without costumes is done this way in many school settings and some theaters. With costumes and all other tech items is done for the actors and other designer and will take longer. At GWU for theater production we have always done tech without costumes and the reason for this is we would need a crew to be there to handle the costumes. It makes tech go faster without the worry of costumes.

The week of tech Roberta asked if they could be in full costumes for the two day tech run.

This is something that GWU doesn’t do normal for theatre production unless asked for a head of time. This was because we didn’t have a wardrobe crew ready to help the actors or clean clothing after a12 hour day.

On the other hand I was also still working on many of the costume pieces during the tech weekend since I was told that costume would only be used at first dress on that Monday.

After a few emails we decided on a few important costumes pieces and wigs to be used during the tech. I do understand with this play why the director and actors would have liked the costumes during tech for many reasons. One reason that the costumes could help the actors is to get deeper into their characters and see how they move in their costumes. Also for the many changes that happen within the show and see how they all worked together. Finally and most importantly is our Director, Roberta to see how her show and all the elements of the show are coming together on the stage and if it works.

FIRST DRESS REHEARSAL

First dress is always a very crazy time due to the fact that no actor has done the show in full costume yet. As the designer I am faced with many questions from actors and crew hands about what to do or wear. The best way to be ready is having the entire “pieces lists” ready for the actors and all the costumes as well organized as possible. The costume pieces list is a full list of all the costume items the actor wears over the course of the show.

The first dress pre show prep took a lot of time. First I took all the costumes down to dressing rooms with the grad students. Then we put up all the “pieces lists” up at each actors station. Normally it is the responsibility of the wardrobe crew to check in all the costumes after the show. Due to the amount of costume pieces for each actor, the “pieces list” became the responsibility of the actors to check every day. They had to make sure that all their costume pieces were there ready for them to use.

Next I went through the racks and wigs with our wardrobe crew. None of them had ever done costume crew before so they needed some instructions. I helped them to understand what their role was back stage, in helping the actors, maintaining the costumes and the wigs.

However, a major problem we had to face during this first dress was that none of us had seen the show all the way through. This was because of the way the show was directed and blocked and that fact that a lot choices had not been made until the last minute. Due to this the designer run and the crew view were not full runs of the show. In turn we had no way to know where the quick changes were or how long they would take. The best way to deal with this was to have the crew just ask the actors if they needed help with changes.

We called the actors in wigs half an hour before everyone else for “wig call”. So I could show the wardrobe crew and actors how to put the wigs on correctly. Also as the actors came in we would show them their list of costume pieces and have them check if they were missing anything.

Once the show started it was great to see all the actors together on stage in their environment and in costumes. The first quick change was the three Supreme girls. It went well but one wig fell off and their mic packs were coming out in the back of their dresses. All the things that work during the change could be fixed with some planning and the right placement of costumes before the show.

The next major change was the Margret Mead character from his tribe costume. He totally missed his entrance and when he came out his hat was off the wig and he had on a black lipstick which I had not approved. I talked to wardrobe after the show and they told me the following:

“He kept taken off his costume because he forgot his under garments and was too focused on his makeup, which was wrong too”. So I told the crew they had to dress him and let him know that it

was their job to dress him and to put on the makeup. The makeup should only be applied after he

is dressed.

The last major change of the show was when Claude goes to war and comes back in a

military uniform. This change happens in under a minute. He goes from wig and full costume to

uniform. He was really late and didn’t even come close to his entrance. The costume was

something we needed to rig and also go over the change with the dressers.

The last major problem had been in “Star Shine” Berger’s wig came off because he does a

flip. We would have a talk with him about how it was pinned on and maybe entertain the idea of

using spirit gum.

The major change the Roberta asked for after the last dress was that she felt that Daniel

tribe character looked too much like Claude. She said that something would have to change;

mainly the color of his shirt was to light and made him look like Claude. But she was very happy

with everything else.

SECOND DRESS REHEARSAL

At the second dress of the show as the designer you feel not as nervous about the whole

show. You have seen it once through with all the costumes and now know where things may have

gone wrong. Your attention can be focused on quick changes going right.

The Supremes change went much better they looked great and the wigs stayed on. Except

in the very last second when the one of boys dips the girl back her wig came off. We just talked to

her about watching how far she moved her head back.

The Margret Mead change went perfect and he looked great.

However Berger’s wig did fell off again, so we needed to use spirit gum. Also Roberta wanted him to get a little bit of a hair-cut to help keep the wig on better.

Claude’s military uniform didn’t work again; he didn’t make it out time. Sigrid made a few suggestions on how we could make it work better and rig the costume better. She also suggested different shoes. I also don’t really like that Claude has to run back and get into his tribe costume again.

After the performance Roberta decided to give notes to the actors while they were still in costumes which caused a hold up for the wardrobe crew’s post show work, especially the washing of the costumes. So we just had to wait for them to finish, I do understand why directors do this sometimes because the notes are important and sometimes it is important to relay them when they are fresh. Next this happens to me I just have to relax and take it as chance to look at them in costumes longer.

FINAL DRESS REHEARSAL

By the final dress rehearsal there isn’t much left to do with the costumes because by this time all the problems should have been solved. But one never knows if an actor will damage a costume or something else could happen. One just has to watch and see. Also at this point we are looking to make sure that the cast was wearing everything correctly and at the right time in the show.

When I got there, Roberta asked to see Ariel in the 1000 year old Buddhist costume because she didn’t think it was working correctly. So Roberta put the costume on herself to show me what she thought it should look like but the major problem was the red fabric. We put in the under layer to make it look like they were burning her alive but it was too heavy. So one hour before the curtain I was backstage cutting out the red fabric before the show.

Afterwards I had to deal with Berger’s wig and make sure it didn’t fall off again. Roberta wanted to help with this too. So we got the wig on and she felt like it needed to be shortened.

After cutting the wig we used spirit gum around his hair-line and I explained to him that it wouldn’t be painful to take it off with spirit remover, if used correctly.

I started running around with my camera to get as many pictures of the actors in costumes in close up photos for my portfolio. I am really glad that I did this because sometimes I don’t remember to do it.

During the run I felt like we had done our job well watching all the different scenes and costumes working well together. All the wig problems were worked out and no one lost their wig.

However we still had a little problem with the military costume change. It still took too long and he wasn’t fully dressed when he came out.

Sigrid said that she would work on the jacket herself in the morning and workout what was going wrong. Also we had Claude come back into the shop during the day and we would run the change together. We reassured Roberta that we would have the change worked out by opening night.

We had photo call that night. It was hard because the actors really weren’t listening well.

Rebecca had to yell at them a number of times to be quiet. Also it was hard to get my shots in that

I wanted because the school photos were happening so fast.

I think that they should give more time to designers to take photos, if it is our thesis show.

All the designer should be allowed to have a photo call list. I am really grateful that I got the pictures before the show. I did get some great group shots and the photos I took backstage are perfect for seeing more details.

OPENING NIGHT

Opening night is always very important and exciting point of the production process because your work is done and the world gets to see it. However, before opening night there is the work from the night before and the designer can be working up until the curtain call.

On the day of opening I had to deal with two major problems. We had to get Claude’s military uniform rigged and ready for us to run the quick change before I had to leave for work.

Sigrid took up this task while I worked on the other problem, which was one of the dresses in our

Black Boys number was falling apart.

I found the perfect bright red colored lace to make another skirt out of and had just enough. This project did take a lot of the day and when I was done, we were ready to run the quick change for Claude.

The three of us went down to the stage and ran the change a few times. It seemed to work now. So Sigrid would run it again with wardrobe crew before the show and I left for work.

I came back to the after party to meet up with my family. My dad who was a Hippie himself told me that he owned the very same leather jacket that I put on Berger. Everything went well in the production that night especially the quick change with Claude.

Conclusion

The result of months and months of work was a wonderful show that had a very clear and

cohesive design that I am very proud and happy with. I found what really helped to bring this

piece together was the team-work. For a show of this size and the nature of the show we need to

collaborate, so it was very important to work together. Also let your work go and be

At times I did feel that it was very hard at times to keep up with the director and

production team. But this is the job of the designer to know what the director wants at all times.

I learned some major points that will keep in mind for many designs to come. It is

important that you should always ask questions no matter what it maybe. Keep the lines of

communication always open with stage managers and directors. So that you are always in the

loop of what is happening at all times. I wish that I would have been talking with Roberts more

throughout the process. When we started the process we talked a lot about everything in the show

and what she wanted. However as things went on I fell short in reconnecting to her and her

vision.

Communication! This will save you a lot time in the long run. You can’t expect your director to have made major casting choices early on in production. It may ever happen very late in the process so having many options is important. Finally have fun with what you’re doing or there is no point.

This was a hard and trying show in many ways because of my own short comes but overall I really enjoyed the subject matter, the actors and production team and I look forward to my next design adventure.

FULL COLOR RENDERING

IN WATER COLOR

HAIR

BERGER SAM GAME

HAIR

CLAUDE BLAKE EISENBERG

HAIR

HUD JAMAR BROWN

HAIR

SHEILA KAYLA KNAPP

HAIR

JEANIE ARIEL WARMFLASH

HAIR

WOOF DAVID CHAMBERLAND

HAIR

CRISSY LINDSAY MARTIN

HAIR

THE TRIBE

HAIR

THE TRIBE

HAIR

MARGRET MEAD PHILIP JOSHUA HOROWITZ

HAIR

HUBERT LONDON CLARK

HAIR

THE SUPREMES

HAIR

WHITE GIRLS - TRIO

PRODUCTION PHOTOS

HAIR

Woof leading the tribe in “Sodomy”

HAIR

HUD singing “I’m Black/Colored Spade”

HAIR

The Supremes Sing “White Boys”

HAIR

Margaret Mead saying hello to the kids

HAIR

White Girl trio singing “Black Boys”

HAIR

The whole cast in the Dream

HAIR

Claude leading the tribe in “Manchester England”

HAIR

Berger Singing to Claude “1930’s

HAIR

Sheila starts the song “I Believe in Love”

THE TRIBE

HAIR

Berger, Sheila and Claude all singing together

HAIR

Claude has come from war dead.

REFERENCE MATERIAL

Taschen. The collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute: Fashion: A History from the 18th to 20th Century. (China: The Kyoto Institute, 2002.)603

Milles, Barry. Hippie, Great Britain: (Octopus Publishing Group, 2003.)373

Crill, Rosemary, Jennifer Wearden and Verity Wilson. Dress in Detail From around the World. (Lodon: V&A Publications, 2002.)163

Powe-Temperley, Kitty. 20th Century Fashion: The 60’s Mods & Hippies.Lodon: (David West Children Books, 1999.)24-25

Milles, Barry. Hippie, Great Britain: (Octopus Publishing Group, 2003.)208-09

Tortora, Phyllis G. and Keith Eubank. Survey of Historic costumes: A History of Western Dress: Fourth Edition. (New York: Fairchild Publications, Inc., 2005)figures pag

Milles, Barry. Hippie, Great Britain: (Octopus Publishing Group, 2003.)145

Peacock, John. The 1970’s. (Lodon: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1997.)27

Milles, Barry. Hippie, Great Britain: (Octopus Publishing Group, 2003.)316

Milles, Barry. Hippie, Great Britain: (Octopus Publishing Group, 2003.)331

Milles, Barry. Hippie, Great Britain: (Octopus Publishing Group, 2003.)206

Milles, Barry. Hippie, Great Britain: (Octopus Publishing Group, 2003.)241

Taschen. The collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute: Fashion: A History from the 18th to 20th Century. (China: The Kyoto Institute, 2002.)203

Taschen. The collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute: Fashion: A History from the 18th to 20th Century. (China: The Kyoto Institute, 2002.)566

Clarke, Duncan. The Art of African Textiles. (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2002.)back

Harris, Jennifer etd. 5,000 years of Textiles. (London: British Museum Press,1993)298-99

Clarke, Duncan. The Art of African Textiles. (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2002.)98

Harris, Jennifer etd. 5,000 years of Textiles. (London: British Museum Press,1993)271

Olian, JoAnne. Everyday Fashions of the Sixties as pictured in Sears Catalogs. (New York:Dover Publications, 1999.)29

Milles, Barry. Hippie, Great Britain: (Octopus Publishing Group, 2003.)133

Costumes Pieces List

Glasses Olive green shirt Marian Ackun beaded necklace Vest Tan winter coat w/ fur Jen Gorfine Jeans Peach shirt Long Pattern dress leather bag colorful silk dress Gold tie dye pants and Bubbliest monk fabric Mud cloth poncho top 2 necklaces gray pants and top mom dress 5 rings rice hat Apron black underwear Underwear Lizzy Marmon Brown necklace Gold tie dye pants and Purple Colorful skirt Blue necklace top Reddish shirt one bracelet green and purple mom dress w/ apron necklace afro wig winter coat with fur brown bracelet sup. Wig brown wig Glasses red dress 3 bracelets Rachel Johnson Dominique Bonessi one necklaces light brown jacket Purple and pink skirt Animal printed dress winter scarf Pink tie dyed shirt long bright colored dress Vest Lindsay Martin Jeans crust jackets Jean shorts light tan shirt leather coat Blue dress colorful vest Bag blue bag yellow glasses flower dress and hip scarf flower head band US grant blue coat tan gloves shirt crop jacket yellow belt Wig purple and green shirt pink necklace brown hat Buddhist monk fabric green band purple and red scarf blue pants Michelle Jones winter gloves Winter Tan wool coat underwear Haruka Nakagawa Jeans yellow necklace Blue Dress bright Org. tunic London Clark Gray top and pants Bright colorful tunic green pattern skirt flower head band Scarf w/ flowers white shirt wooden necklaces green and purple Belt necklace black coat rain coat red dress 3 bracelets cream pants sup. Wig Hat Victoria Neinman- Vigo Bowtie Kayla Knapp Jeans

Flower top Scarf 3 necklaces GW wig Leather coat Davey Gonzales Indian coat Rachel Weinstein Vest mom dress red and yellow poncho green pants Head scarf Bright pink shirt brown jacket 2 necklaces pink skirt blue necklace Indian shirt and pants Belt Moriah Ray Headdress Bracelets light Blue top Belt Jeans Nick Harmish 2 necklace Noel Behailu Blue shirt Black coat African Tunic striped pants top hat light weight colorful shirt 2 necklaces red dress gray coat leather bracelet sup. Wig 3 necklaces Wig facial hair Jeans leather jacket black underwear Belt Philip Horowitz Chelie Setzer David Chamberland Pink shirt Brown shirt Fur vest leather vest cream shirt Jeans tan pants peach shirt Belt yellow sweater 2 necklaces Buddhist fabric m.m coat head band 3 necklaces hat 1 bracelet Gloves Blake Eisenberg Slip Lily Sondik white shirt Indian top and pants Red Jacket Jeans Shoes Brown tunic Army jacket 2 wigs Brown jacket tan pants Underwear Tie Daniel Kaufman colorful necklace moms beads Yellow shirt jeans jacket white over lay Julia Wanger linen pants Green and pink top Sam Game hop shirt Green skirt Leather jacket Wig Dirty top jeans vest tie skirt Scarf leather vest GW coat and vest Sean Mckinley Ariel Warmflash Wig green pants Flower child dress lone cloth green shirt Belly Wig Vest

99 leather vest Necklace Indian top wig Cream shirt nuns habit /dress Matt Rist under shirt Necklace t shirt Glasses leather vest Indian headdress Sean Kelly Jacket bright jeans black tail coat Richard Grant blue shirt striped pants African style top sweat vest Belt African style coat suit jacket Olive green pants grad rob and cap Max Schwager hat coat / scarf 3 pants

100

Bibliography Clarke, Duncan. The Art of African Textiles. San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2002. Crill, Rosemary, Jennifer Wearden and Verity Wilson. Dress in Detail From around the World. Lodon: V&A Publications, 2002. DeBenedetti, Charles. An American Ordeal: The Antiwar Movement of the Vietnam Era. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1990. Gitlin, Todd. The Sixties years of Hope, Days of Rage. New York: A Bantam Book, 1987. Grode, Eric. HAIR: The Story of the Show That Defined a Generation. Philadelphia: Carlton Books, 2010 Harris, Jennifer etd. 5,000 years of Textiles. Washington: Smithsonian Books Issitt, Micah L. Hippies: A Guide to an American Subculture. Santa Barbara: Greenwoood Pree, 2009. Macfarlane, Scott. The Hippie Narrative. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2007. Maraniss, David. They Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace Vietnam and America October 1967. New York: Simon &Schuster, 2003. Marwick, Arthur. The Sixties. London: Oxford University Press, 1998. Milles, Barry. Hippie, Great Britain: Octopus Publishing Group, 2003. Olian, JoAnne. Everyday Fashions of the Sixties as pictured in Sears Catalogs. New York:Dover Publications, 1999. Peacock, John. The 1970’s. Lodon: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1997. Powe-Temperley, Kitty. 20th Century Fashion: The 60’s Mods & Hippies.Lodon: David West Children Books, 1999. SUWARNAADI. “Military Haircuts for Men: Flat Top, High and Tight Haircut.” 16 Sept 2007

Taschen. The collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute: Fashion: A History from the 18th to 20th Century. China: The Kyoto Institute, 2002. Tortora, Phyllis G. and Keith Eubank. Survey of Historic costumes: A History of Western Dress: Fourth Edition. New York: Fairchild Publications, Inc., 2005 Turner, Tracey. The 70’s: The Decade That Style Forgot. China: Prion, 2006 The Vietnam War: opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1998

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Zaroulis, Nancy, and Gerald Sullivan. Who Spoke Up? American Protect Against the War in Vietnam 1963-1975. United States: Library of Congress Cataloging,1984

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