American University, Washington, D.C.: Last fall, Ted Hill (CAS ’25) got a rare opportunity for a student: he worked as the costume designer for the Department of Performing Arts (DPA) production of Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea. As full designer, Hill was charged with creating the show’s costumes from conception to completion. The play is a loose retelling of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, where a Little Rain Cloud falls in love with a human. Created by Julia Izumi and directed by Nick Martin, the production sold out in Katzen’s Studio Theatre in November.
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Last spring, I had the chance to design costumes for a one-act play that had never been performed before. I assumed it would be easy, considering the cast was relatively small and the play only ran about fifteen minutes, but it was one of the most challenging projects I have ever taken on. You don’t realize how much inspiration you draw from past productions of a piece when you’re trying to design it. Even if you try you best to separate yourself from what came before, you can never fully rid yourself of a color palette or an interesting silhouette once it’s worked its way into your head. I never realized this until I sat down and started thinking about costumes for this play. Starting completely from scratch felt daunting, and I worried I would fail to convey the message put forth by the director and playwright. It’s really insightful to hear what Ted Hill has to say about their process for designing the piece. The idea of starting with the characters and their intentions is a great place to start from regardless of the production history of a piece.
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