Our very own Instructor JD Nowland is involved in the making of the costumes of the "The Heiress" at South Coast Repertory.
By PAUL HODGINS
The Orange County RegisterThe ball gown dominated the room: big, billowy and red as a fire engine.
"It's kind of hard to miss, isn't it? That's the whole point," said Maggie Morgan, admiring the garish creation she had designed.
We were in South Coast Repertory's costume shop, deep in the belly of the Costa Mesa theater, and it was a buzzing hive of activity. Less than two weeks remained until the first preview performance of "The Heiress," a play based on a Henry James novel about an unmarried woman named Catherine, her wealthy doctor father, and the man with suspicious motives whom she wants to marry.
Augustus and Ruth Goetz's play is set in 1850 Manhattan. Morgan, the production's principal costume designer, and her team were hard at work creating long gowns, cutaway coats, vests, top hats and all the other accouterments that wealthy New Yorkers wore a decade before the Civil War.
"The play opens with this really bright, over-the-top dress," Morgan said, gesturing to a series of drawings she had made, all pinned to a wall near the bright ball gown, which was draped on a dressmaker's form and just beginning to be adorned with lacy filigree. Six of the sketches showed Catherine's costumes; other than the red dress, they looked quite drab. "After the red dress she goes into quiet colors, slate blues, some browns," Morgan said.
Catherine is customarily a conservative dresser, and her clothes' dull colors reflect her restrained and unsatisfied life, Morgan said. "The red dress is her first evening gown and it's a little much. It kind of makes everyone squint. It shows that she's awkward and naïve in a lot of ways."
Catherine has fallen for a confident and flashy-dressing young gentleman named Morris Townsend whose intentions aren't clear – he could genuinely be attracted to Catherine, or he could be after her family money. We know that Morris has squandered his inheritance in Europe, and that Catherine's father doesn't trust him.
"He dresses fairly fashionably," Morgan said, showing a cutaway coat with a richly textured vest and a block-felt top hat that belong to the character. "We want to give the impression that these clothes cost a little money."
'I LOVE DELVING INTO HISTORY'
Morgan, who studied graduate-level costume design at Yale University, returned to her undergraduate school, UC Davis, to teach – first part-time, then as a full-time associate professor. She now divides her focus between that campus, South Coast Rep, and other projects. She makes her home in Los Angeles. "Southwest Airlines loves me," Morgan said.
Projects such as "The Heiress" are among Morgan's favorites. "I love delving into history." Morgan uses many sources, including photos from famous historical clothing collections at London's Victoria and Albert Museum and other, more surprising places.
"There's a wonderful museum collection of Western dress at the Kyoto Costume Institute. That's a great resource," Morgan said.
Morgan has done her homework when it comes to 1850s New York haute couture.
"The ladies had corsets and full petticoats. Dresses were big, but not as big as the full hoop skirts of the Civil War era. Those are gigantic, and weren't possible until the steel hoop got invented in the late 1850s."
Besides Catherine and Morgan, other characters' costumes hint at their personalities and station in society, Morgan said.
"Dr. Sloper is usually in a conservative black frock coat. He's always in blacks and grays – very much the New York professional, just as certain professions have their uniforms even today – the pinstriped suit for bankers, for example."
Hats are an important part of the look.
"Gentlemen's hats were stovepipes, but not too tall. The action takes place for the most part in the Slopers' parlor, so the men don't wear their hats but carry them."
Morgan brought out a stovepipe hat. It looked a bit Mad Hatter-ish. "We decided for a slightly curved shape, which was popular at the time. This is (made out of) blocked felt, but they could also be made out of beaver or satin. I've even seen straw top hats."
Morgan and her crew have just three to four weeks to bring her designs to reality and alter any existing costumes from SCR's large collection for the production. "We can't get started until the actors start their rehearsals – we need good measurements. Then we just hit the ground running."
As with most SCR shows, the budget for "The Heiress" means Morgan's team can't make every costume from scratch; they have to be creative. Costumes must be rented if they can't be found in SCR's collection. Sometimes she rents from suppliers in Hollywood.
Such costumes might be ages old, but they can carry fascinating secrets, Morgan said.
"On another historical play here at SCR, 'The Countess,' we had to rent two pairs of pants for our lead guy," Morgan recalled. "I got this really sad pair of pants from Western Costume. The waistband was rotting out."
When she began to make alterations, Morgan got the shock of her life. "There was a label inside that said 'Clark Gable, 1939.' Those pants were from 'Gone with the Wind.'"
Morgan treated them like gold. "The label got removed and preserved in a safe and then put back on when we were done. Those pants weren't just a costume – they were a piece of history."
Contact the writer: 714-796-7979 or phodgins@ocregister.com
