Amy Ballew
Cutter/Draper
"Stuff" played by Shrikar Bellana
Everybody
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Draper
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Designer: Abbie Hagen
First hand: Virgo Denning
Kent State University
Spring 2024
For this production, I draped the jacket with a train for the character "Stuff." The initial challenge to this build was the triple casting for this role. This piece needed to fit three different performers of varying body shapes.
"Stuff" Rendering
"Stuff" played by Zoe McConaha
Final Fabric fitting
"Stuff" played by AT Sanders
During my initial conversation with the designer, we discussed various ways to make this garment fit our three different body shapes since we were only building one jacket. The main body of the jacket was based on the bomber style which meant it didn’t need to be fully fitted to each performer. This shape along with buttonhole elastic at the cuffs and waistband allowed the garment to fit our three sizes.
When patterning, I drafted everything to the circumference of our largest measurements and the length of our tallest measurements. When fitting I requested to see the performers in size order from largest to smallest to maintain fitting adjustments that would work for each performer. This technique worked well and by our last fitting we were able to focus on length adjustments only.
Going into technical rehearsals we ran into an additional challenge. From the beginning, the plan for all the “stuff” that would be added to the body and train was that it would be vacuum-formed pieces to prevent additional weight. The craft team ran out of time to create those items and when we were in the performance space it was determined that vacuum-formed items would not give the desired look. This meant that actual items were added thus creating a lot of extra weight. Not only was adding weight a general problem to solve but at the start of the rehearsal process, one of our performers had seriously injured their shoulder and could not wear the weight without further injury.
Thankfully, with the support of faculty and staff, we were able to solve the weight problem by installing a hiking backpack frame inside the jacket. The loose fit style of the jacket gave us the space to install the frame and ultimately became the support structure for the weight and aided in the adjustability of the garment. Our injured performer was able to go on in the garment without additional strain or damage to their shoulder.
I’d like to thank Michelle Souza for the idea of installing a backpack frame and a special thank you to Marti Coles for owning the exact style of frame we needed and donating it to the production.
