Datebook: In the last week of March, the costume department at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley should have been concentrating on finishing touches for “Ragtime,” which was to feature 100 costumes with early-1900s aesthetics. Opera San Jose should have been well into costume builds for “The Magic Flute,” which calls for a bird-catcher dressed as a bird, among other gaudy designs.
4 comments:
It makes me really happy to see people in the theatre industry supporting other people in the theatre industry by paying them to make masks to donate. This is such a nice thing to read because some out of work snitchers are getting paid, and masks are being made to be donated to help keep everyone safe and healthy. This article brings up something that I had not heard before at all which is that when private individuals make masks they “betray a lack of central leadership and coordination.” I don’t think I fully understand what they mean because I can’t figure out how making masks when there just simply isn’t enough in the world would be a bad thing. So I think I will do a little more research on that, but overall I think it is a good thing that there are so many volunteers making the necessary supplies to help keep the general public well and fight this pandemic.
It's nice to see our industry keeping its head up and supporting those in need with their newly found copious amount of time on their hands. I've recently started making masks for Joanns Make to Give campaign which has so far donated 44 million masks to hospitals, general practitioners, and retirement homes across the country. Having only started this week I've only completely 25 but as Rube and AutoCAD have winded down I'll have more time to do so in the coming weeks. One thing I've found particularly frustrating is the lack of accessibility to resources. With all the craft stores closed, it took 5 days to get a fabric order in which would have normally taken a 15 minute trip to Joann's. It's also been more difficult navigating the online ordering process as almost everything is out of stock. Elastic and bias tape which are both helpful for making masks are out of stock within 20 miles of where I live and I've thus been making my own bias tape which is a bit time consuming when you need 80 inches her mask. But it's a pandemic what did I expect?
It is so wonderful that so many theater’s costume departments have started making masks for medical professionals right now. It is so inspiring to see the theater community turn to support the cause and do everything they can do to support medical professionals right now. The idea of shops using CNC routers to create face shields for medical professionals to use is so wonderful as well. I myself have a lot of cotton fabric laying around the house, so I have had the opportunity to make reusable fabric masks for all of my friends and family and will be donating a batch to my local hospitals in New York soon. I am so glad that so many people are making masks especially since the government is issuing new guidelines that everyone should be wearing masks. It is so great to see the theater community come together and use its knowledge and skills to help the world.
That's my base of operations, baby! Proud of my local and regional theatres for putting their excess resources to good use. I don't have the resources at hand to make and donate masks or face shields, but now really would be the time to do it, because I'm right in the thick of my costumes stagecraft mini, so my sewing skills would be getting quite the workout. I had a job lined up with TheatreWorks over the summer that has been canceled for the time being due to the ongoing issues regarding Coronavirus, which is a bummer because I really really want to work with them. They were the 2019 Tony award-winning regional theatre, and I have seen many of their productions; even if I didn't like the story, I always loved the tech. I hope this whole Coronavirus situation clears up soon so that theatre professionals can return to work and theatre-goers can return to enjoying a media they love.
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