Paradise Untapped

Recently, at the theatre I volunteer at, I was asked to do costumes for a staged reading of Paradise Untapped— a new play written by Jack Wolfram and directed by Catherine Blake Smith. Synopsis from Theatre Puget Sound: "Deborah Milton and Mary Shelley entered our world a lifetime apart in England to world-renowned intellectuals, tethered across time by shared fiery intellect, circumstances of birth, and creative compulsion. As both yearn to make a name for themselves and share the stories each feels that only they carry, their isolated connectedness illuminates centuries of stories untold, writers never written, and a Paradise Untapped."

Although I had a budget of $0 (yes, you read that right, I had NO money to work with), I enjoyed having to rely purely on my own resourcefulness...minus the bedsheets I bought from Goodwill for $4.

I started by combing through my own wardrobe, and that of the theatre. I had yet to measure the actors, but I figured I could just start with them trying on the things I already had. The rest would be supplemented from their own wardrobe, or the wardrobes of their cast-mates. To help with narrowing down what still needed to be sourced from the actors, I created these fun costume 'moodboards' containing both what we had, and what we needed.

Originally the front image was blank, but I went back and added photos of the actors in costume. Luckily, I had a lot of items in my own wardrobe that were vaguely period looking. You might recognize my birch eye shirt, black wool peacoat, and stays. The main things I needed to source from the actors were shoes. I made one custom item: the night shirt that John Milton wore using a tutorial from Vincent Briggs (that's where the bedsheets came into play). I didn't have the time to add all those funny loops in my original design, inspired by actual clothing from the time, but you still got the impression of his slightly ridiculous character with the wig and slippers he wore. I also had to adjust the fit of Percy's pants and Mary's dress.

The show itself was wonderful! My only gripe with the costumes was that The Creature's Shawl kept slipping off their shoulders. Oh well! I'll provide a couple safety pins next time :P

Check out the gallery for more production photos!