Costumes for Mrs. Mannerly

A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed Sharon Sobel, who designed the costumes for Mrs. Mannerly and Making God Laugh.  I'll keep what she told me about Making God Laugh for next week, but thought you might enjoy hearing about upcoming costumes in Mannerly (because it opens tomorrow night!).

For Mrs. Mannerly, Sharon's main costume inspiration was pictures of Kay Thompson, specifically Kay Thompson in Funny Face. Sharon also said that she saw Mannerly as a woman who is "secluded by Manners." Although Mrs. Mannerly is set in the 60's among lots of cultural and political turmoil,  none of that really seems to exist.  Instead, Mannerly's world is still all manners and etiquette and creates an interesting mindset for her.

In theory, Jeffrey is slightly trickier to costume because the same actor that plays Jeffrey also plays the four other children in the manners class.  In theory, you could do quick changes or alter part of the costume to help with those changes; instead, Mark McCarthy, who plays Jeffrey, changes his body language and voice for each of the kids while maintaining the same costume.  Jeffrey, himself, is a very mature 10-year-old, and his costumes reflect that.  He gets those trendy 1960's hush puppy shoes, a sweater vest, and a rather sharp suite for his big manners test at the climax of the play.  He, like Mrs. Mannerly, is also a character that uses manners and appearance to create an outer character that is more polished and "mannered" then his inner self, and Jeffrey's costumes do a great job of showing his more formal outer self.

If you want to see the costumes in person, well then you will just have to come see the performance!