This weeks performance of “Once On This Island” presented by Sinclair Community College’s Theatre Department, features ‘timeless stories’ and an ‘astonishing’ performance from students, according to Patti Celek, marketing manager in the Theatre and Music Department.
“Island’ tells many stories,” Celek said in an e-mail. “Set during a storm on a tropical island, it has ties to current events, yet the stories are timeless; love versus prejudice.”
The musical opened on Oct. 15 and will be playing through the 23rd in the Blair Hall Theatre in Building 2. Wednesday the 20th there will be a matinee at 10 a.m., a Downtown Dayton Thursday Nights performance at 7 p.m. on the 21st which will include pre-show appetizers with a cash bar and 8 p.m. performances on Friday the 22nd and Saturday the 23rd. The Saturday night performance will be American Sign Language interpreted. Tickets cost $15 for adults and $10 for students/seniors. Thursday night tickets cost an additional $5.
Those who go to the performances will see the ‘high energy and commitment of the student actors,’ Celek said.
“The dancing and movement will stand out,” Celek said. “Choreographer Rodney Veal has done a wonderful job helping to tell the story through a dance-driven style.”
The focus of the production is that the performers are a group of story tellers that present the story of Ti Moune, the principle character, who takes a journey throughout the course of the play to find her true love, Kathleen Hotmer, manager/instructor of the costume shop in the Theatre and Dance Department said.
“She is accompanied by four god characters that are sort of modeled after four different voodoo gods,” she said. “The God of all things water..Goddess of love..Demon of death..and the Earth mother.”
The audience can expect to see a Caribbean theme throughout the show with costumes that are from a recognizably different, but not specific, time period, according to Hotmer. The concept of the piece allows for a lot of theatrical opportunity and excitement that Hotmer said she does usually get to do.
“They are timeless,” Hotmer said. “This is something directors like to say a lot. They ask for things that are timeless; you won’t be able to recognize where on the planet it came from or what time period it came from.”
Costume Shop
There are 18 performers in this musical and each one wears at least two of the 60-80 costumes that had to be built or rented by Hotmer and her eight student workers.
“Each performer has a foundational costume and then other pieces that change their characters to others they will have to embody during the show,” Hotmer said. “Some of them are more elaborate than others.”
While some costumes are rented from other playhouses, most of them are made right here on campus in the costume shop, Hotmer said. And even when costumes are rented they still need to be touched in some way.
“It’s nice that we are able to rent costumes so that we don’t have to build everything,” Hotmer said. “But sometimes it’s hard to build stuff and rent stuff because they don’t look the same.”
While Hotmer does most of the research and finds a general look for each production, her students take part in most decisions when it comes to designs.
“I try to, as much as I can, treat this room like a learning lab and give them the opportunity to explore and discover the decision making with me,” she said. “When I have students who have had a lot of experience I try to get them to make decisions about how things will be constructed, but sometimes that’s not possible because they don’t know yet what they are doing.”
Carol Conquest, Theatre major said that she enjoys everything about costume designing and has learned so much working with Hotmer for the past year. The four days and 18 hours a week she puts into the construction is all worth it on the opening night.
“ I love everything about costumes; the fabric, design. Sewing is actually a hobby of mine outside of school,” she said. “It’s really satisfying when you see something you have made on stage. A sense of accomplishment.”
For any students interested, Hotmer’s costume class is offered in the winter quarter as a three credit hour lecture and a one and a half credit hour lab per week. It teaches everything about costume fundamentals, including the design and construction.