Village Theatre’s Blog

Village Theatre’s Wig Master Doug Decker was kind enough to put together a little something special to give us some behind-the-scenes action on the wigs our actors run around in on stage. Check it out!

_______________________

One of the questions I get a lot (right after “Is it made of real hair?”), is “Do you reuse wigs?” My answer is, “Oh yes.” I pull as many wigs from my stock as I can.

For Little Women, I lucked out. Jo had to have looong beautiful hair at the start of the story, and halfway through the show she cuts it all off to raise money. This, of course, means that she needed a wig with shorter hair. When we produced The King and I, I built Jen Paz a looong wig for the role of Tuptim. Honestly, when I found out I needed another long wig for the role of Jo, I was kinda hoping that I could use the same wig. When the costume designer Cathy and I got around to talking about Jo’s hair, it turned out she wanted her to be a brunette and I was able to reuse Tuptim’s wig. The ‘dos are a little different, but the two photos below are of the same wig:

I hinted to this a second ago, but I had to build Jo two other wigs after she cut her long hair to show that her hair was growing back over the course of the story:

I also lucked out with Meg. I had built two wigs for Krystle Armstrong for last year’s new work Once Upon a Time in New Jersey, and was able to put them right back on her:

My luck ran out with Amy; I had to make Shanna Marie Palmer a blonde:

- Doug Decker

After a rockin’ opening night performance, the cast and crew had a blast at the opening night party. Clockwise from top left: Executive Producer Robb Hunt, Michael K. Lee (Tommy), and Artistic Director Steve Tomkins; Brandon O’Neill (Mr. Walker), Director Brian Yorkey, and Michael K. Lee (Tommy); Cast Members of TOMMY; and Catherine Carpenter Cox (Mrs. Walker) and Rachel Lau (4-year-old Tommy).

Photos by TeamPhotogenic.

In case you’re wondering what the finished set looks like…

Obviously, a key part of any production of The Who’s TOMMY needs to be pinball machines. Very special pinball machines (you’ll see!). Here are some pics of what our crew has been building.

Looking down from the balcony, you can really see how the set is starting to take shape.

The crew is hard at work constructing the set for TOMMY; they have spent weeks building it in sections off-site. During the “load-in,” the set is brought to the stage in pieces and put together on stage. Doesn’t look like much now, but — just you wait!

One more make-up test for Alexis Clarke, this one for her “Spokeswoman” character.

In this test, Alexis Clarke begins as “English Woman,” then adds various accouterments to become “Nurse” and “Police.”

Alexis Clarke tests looks for “Fan” and “Lass.”

At this point in the rehearsal process, the perfect look for each character is still under development. “Make-up tests” allow hair, make-up, and costume designers — and the director — to finesse each design.

Here, make-up artist Danyale Cook experiments on actor Alexis Clarke, who plays multiple roles in the show including “English Woman,” “Lass,” and “Fan.”