Welcome Backstage - Piazza Costumes

by Kristen Leinbach, Dramaturg

The process in bringing The Light in the Piazza to life continues to be an incredible journey. In order to recreate the idea of the 1950’s a lot of time has been and continues to be spent on the design elements of the show.
Our costumes are a crucial part of not only helping the actor’s to feel like they are in a different decade but also establish a consistent world or our production.

The costume designer, Ashley Cook stated the following….

“The design process thus far for The Light in the Piazza has been a great experience. This is such a beautiful story, and the music is so gorgeous, I was excited to work on it from the start. It has also been such a joy to work with such a talented director and this team of talented designers.

For this production, our director wanted the costumes to be really stylish, classy 1950’s. These are all fairly wealthy, stylish people and therefore need to look really sharp. He also wanted me to take inspiration from old technicolor films. I have decided to achieve this with a lack of patterned clothing. Everything is pretty solid and clean which, along with the use of brighter colors, should add to the technicolor feel of the show. I also took a lot of inspiration from the short story that the musical is based on. I love the description it has of the way Clara changes the longer she spends time in Italy, with the Nacarellis’. I wanted her costumes to reflect this change. Color is very important in this production. We wanted there to be a visual difference between the Italians and the Americans in both the cut and color of their clothing. Not only are the colors of the costumes a way to differentiate the Americans from the Italians at the beginning of the show, but it will be used to illustrate the changes that these characters have.

We just started fittings with the cast, and so far, these have gone really well. It is always a little scary because if things don’t fit,you have to go back to the drawing board. But for the most part, everything has worked out great. Other than that we are in the midst of building some dresses for the production, which has been such a fun experience!”

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Light In The Piazza

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by Emme Corbett, dramaturg As a senior student studying history at BYU. One of the first concepts you learn as a history major is that when you study history, it is vital that you do not bring your modern-day biases with you. As strange as some past behaviors or occurrences may be to our modern eyes, understanding the reality of what life was like in historical societies allows for a more authentic and rich study of the past. It also becomes evident fairly quickly that no matter what point in time you’re studying or where you are in the world, there will be commonalities across many cultures. The shared similarity of the human experience allows these connections to occur, so it is no surprise that researching various time periods could be related back to Caesar in Ancient Rome. It was necessary in our dramaturgical research to explore three major time periods that are encompassed within this play in one way or another. These time periods are first, 49 B.C. Rome, when Julius Caesar first became a dictator of Ancient Rome, and the setting for the original script. Second, 1599 England, when William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar was first performed, most likely at the Globe Theatre. And third, 1919 Italy, when Italy was recovering from participating in the First World War, and the setting for our performance at BYU. This weakened state created a situation where authoritarianism could ensue. It was an interesting experience to be able to connect the culture of Ancient Rome to that of Italy in the early 20th century. The reason for choosing this production of Julius Caesar to take place in 1919 Italy is not random. The significance of that time period is to draw upon the reality that history repeats itself. An aspect of history that is repeatedly detrimental to countless societies is when a group of people finds itself weak and vulnerable--whether that is due to lack of resources, a change in leadership, exiting a war, or simply evolving generations--and a power vacuum is created. This moment in time when desperation allows for someone to assume leadership (based purely on the need to rely on anybody) and provide temporary relief is often too quickly turned into an authoritarian government. The third time period that we also had to account for in this production was the time of Shakespeare in 1599 England. Some of the questions we had to ask ourselves were: Why Julius Caesar? What elements from the story of Caesar’s assassination did Shakespeare feel would resonate with his audience? From these questions and further research on the Elizabethan period, we discovered that, like in 1919 Italy, there was a concern with the succession to the Crown. Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne at the time and created conflict among the people beyond her just being a woman in power. Queen Elizabeth never married and subsequently never bore any children, thus failing to secure a successor who was in her direct line. Another element of the play that related to Shakespeare’s audience was the role of the plebeians. Their behavior in the play could symbolize how the lower class in the Elizabethan Era, while uneducated and changeable, contribute largely to the success of their society.

Welcome Backstage - Piazza Costumes

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