Olivia West
@oliviawcourant
The school’s winter musical, Anything Goes, wrapped up on Saturday, March 16. While the talent of the students was evident on stage, audience members don’t often think about what goes into the making of the costumes and props.
Senior Danie Emond and her mother Tami are a mother-daughter duo who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure the show goes smoothly. Danie is the props mistress and is in charge of managing and keeping track of the props, both the larger ones and the handheld items, and Ms. Emond is costume chair, and organizes a team of volunteer parents and students to create costumes.
Ms. Emond began sewing for the theatre program in 2009, when her eldest entered the high school. “One of our first shows was Wizard of Oz,” Ms. Emond said. “My younger daughter, Danie, was a Munchkin; I think she was 8 years old. We made all of the Munchkin costumes.” For each show, Ms. Emond comes to rehearsals after school nearly every day and works all day Saturday with her team to get the costumes ready for the performances.
In the most recent show, Anything Goes, Ms. Emond made sure to concentrate on the details of each outfit. “Everything has to be historically correct,” she said. “For example, ladies wore hats and gloves and their arms were always covered. So, we have to ‘morph’ old prom dresses into fabulous period gowns. Remember, this is the time before WWII. Men had wide lapels, double-breasted jackets, and cuffs on their trousers.”
Because she grew up with a family that was very active in the theatre program, Danie became involved with the program from an early age. While she used to perform in shows, Danie started participating backstage in seventh grade. “I’ve always been very artistic, so I love making things,” Danie said. “Because of this, when I was a freshman, I immediately knew that I wanted to work with props.”
The props for each show vary greatly. For the play Letters to Sala, Danie worked with over 300 props, most of which were personal letters. In contrast, the most recent play had several small props and a few large items that were used multiple times. “In this play there are two bars, which are used a lot,” Danie said. “Because they’re on a ship, every other scene or so is in the same location. However, each time they’re at the bar, it has different items on it because it’s at a different time.”
Freshman Clara Bloom also works with Ms. Emond by helping to sew and tailor costumes. She said that she loves to work with both of them, and is inspired by Ms. Emond and her skills. “Ms. Emond is always teaching me new things and has so many creative and fun ideas for costumes,” Clara said.
Both Danie and Ms. Emond dedicate a lot of time to the theatre program in order to make the show is a certain quality. “The theatre program wouldn’t be the same without Danie and Ms. Emond,” Clara said. “What makes shows so interesting are the costumes and props, and they work tirelessly after school and during the week to make everything perfect.”
