Photo courtesy of Jacqueline Keidel of Off Madison Avenue.
The costumes for this particular performance were designed in San Jose by Melissa Nicole Torchia. Torchia’s exquisite design, along with extensive research on the relevant styles of the time in which “Silent Night” is set serve as the model that the Arizona Opera is working to replicate.
Kathleen Trott, who works as the costume shop manager, as well as one of the two resident designers at the Arizona Opera, is managing the challenge head-on with her team of designers and apprentices.
“Our cast is bigger than the cast at San Jose. So, we have a gap in the amount of uniforms that exist,” says Trott. “That means that they have to come into existence somehow, to match the uniforms that are coming from San Jose – both in color and in their distress level, because these guys [characters] were stuck in the trenches for weeks at a time – which is much of the premise of ‘Silent Night.’”
The process begins in the costume shop, with cutters and drapers taking measurements and making paper patterns for the uniforms. From there, the fabric is then cut and sent on to the apprentices, who stitch the uniform mockups – usually out of a cheaper fabric, as a way of ensuring that quality fabric is not wasted in the event that measurements for certain cast members are incorrect. Once measurements are confirmed and costumes are fitted, the real pieces are then made.
The most crucial step of this process, particularly for this show, is the distressing of the fabric. Given that these soldiers will be set in war time and will have spent most of their performance in wet, muddy trenches, staffers in the costume shop then have to evenly distress each uniform. They will do this by using materials like paint, sandpaper and even wet clay.
The process is set to continue into the new year, with staffers at the theater company continuing their creative work. Though much of the work can appear to be very tedious, it is all a part of a joint effort to do the story justice, and to truly bring the performance to life in new and exciting ways for attendees to the show.
During this opera season, “Silent Night” will be performed in nine locations throughout the U.S. The show will come to Phoenix, March 1 to March 3. For more information on the Arizona Opera and its upcoming season, please visit its official website.
