Juror #7 steps onto the stage dressed to impress, and getting comfortable in her magnificent bright blue shoes was a process in and of itself. This page of my website will recount my explorations with the world of costumes and properties in Twelve Angry Jurors.
Juror #7 took on a whole new light the day I first stepped into costume. Every detail is tailored specifically to her personality, wants, likes, and dislikes.
I wore a beautiful offset hat in this show, which I had to learn how to take off and put on again with the help of a hat pin. I had never used a hat pin before and was surprised at how long it took me to learn how to place it in my hair without lightly stabbing myself in the head! The earrings are clip-on, which were also unfamiliar to me, but were easy enough to become comfortable wearing and taking on/off. Tha coat is stunning in color but very warm to wear! Luckily, the first thing I lose upon entering is My coat. My purse is uniquely shaped; somewhat like a miniature suitcase. We learned very early on that the purse is opened the easiest when sitting on a flat surface.
This was my first time being placed in a wig for a Klein Theatre production! It was very exciting to meet Kyna, our wig designer, and explore how the wig was going to work with my hair color, skin complexion, and physical activities throughout the show. The very front of this wig is actually my own hair, brushed back to help blend the wig with my natural coloring. It takes me and one dresser about 10 minutes to get the wig on, pinned, styled, and hair-sprayed into place; and after the show, about 5 minutes or so to carefully remove. The wig is styled in a French twist, so it is extremely heavy in the back and full of Bobbi pins. The more I wore it, the more comfortable I felt handling it for longer periods, and the better my posture has become! Since the wig’s weight requires me to float the crown of my head and keep my back straight to support it.
My favorite part of my costume has to be my assorted jewelry, which takes longer to put on than the actual undergarments, skirt, and blouse combined. Juror #7 wants people to hear her approaching from the jingling of her costume bracelets and necklaces. Most notably, she wears a “diamond” encrusted parrot brooch near the shoulder of her blouse. This brooch is meant to imitate the vintage Cartier diamond animal collection. Kevin’s idea for this was: Juror 7 saved up for months and months to buy herself one of these brooches from the store she works at or a neighboring store–she is very stylish and lavishes in showing off in a room! *Fun fact: red nail polish was often seen as scandalous or unseemly for its flashiness, so matching my red lips to my red nails was a fun way to emphasize how much Juror #7 loves to catch the eyes of anyone in her vicinity.*
At a costume fitting in late August, the show’s costume designer, Kevin McKluskey, and I discussed how to make myself appear as though I’ve been living in this style of clothing for all of my life. He taught me how to sit properly in my chair; not breaking eye contact and using my peripheral vision along with the back of my legs to sense the chair as I approached and eventually sit down on the very edge of the chair. Another thing I learned about sitting in my skirt, was how to properly brush my hands lightly down the front or back of my skirt before sitting down and directly after standing up. Also, we reviewed how to cross my ankles and angle them to the side or just as likely keep my knees and ankles together in front of me. I also learned how to handle my coat and gloves with delicate care, and not carelessly disregard them as I might with a sweatshirt or jacket nowadays.
Pictured here is a screenshot from the short educational film “Emotional Maturity” by Crawley Films produced in 1958, and was used for a visual reference on how to sit politely on the edge of my seat.
Pictured here is a photo of me in a performance sitting like so!
Inside my purse, is a lovely pink handkerchief, a comb (in case of an on-stage wig emergency), my gloves, a pack of chewing gum, one *fake* cigarette, and my makeup compact. Kevin informed the ladies on stage who’s characters come from a higher status that their compacts are truly vintage and must be handled with care. I learned how to carefully push the buttons and open/close the compact in the safest ways on stage. In tech rehearsals, we realized that the mirror inside My compact would pick up the lights from above me and bounce around the walls! So, I had to be sure when I used my compact, it faced slightly downward to avoid reflecting any light.
In the show, I had to kneel and fall onto my side–which was not an easy task to complete in a pencil skirt. We decided that it would be likely that I wouldn’t want to scuff my shoes, and would have opted to take them off and set them aside! Alas, then arose the task of learning how to politely remove my shoes and put them back on later. The gif to the right is taken from a British commercial/short film for “PanthÉ Shoe Fashions” produced in 1950, and was used as a reference for the way I cross my legs before taking my shoes on/off. I learned later from Kevin, that this posture was to avoid putting stress on the waistband of ladies’ dresses/skirts and to avoid having to lean too far over and expose beneath one’s neckline.
Lastly, I had to learn how these clothes would affect my ability to fight the heat. Not just under the stage lights, but the heat within the world of our play. My very first lines in the show are concerned about the heat, and as the play continues, we all proceed to fight the hot conditions as best we can. I do this by shedding my outermost layers as fast as possible, dabbing my head and neck with my handkerchief (to avoid sweat ruining my makeup), fanning myself with my hat or handkerchief, adjusting my sleeves and shirt from sticking to the sweat forming on my skin, and by getting a drink of water from the cooler when necessary.
We had a myriad of conversations as a cast about what the most effective way to fight the heat would be, and the importance of not over-indicating our intentions. To put it simply, when it’s hot, you don’t want and fan your face with your hand because it shows the audience what the conditions are, you fight the stimuli by remedying the problem: AKA, cooling yourself off!