Costume designers dressing cast for ‘skid row’

Actors in a theatrical production are supported by a large group of behind-the-scenes people and the spring production at Kasson-Mantorville High School is no exception.
“Little Shop of Horrors” is a musical set in skid row in the middle of the last century and while most of the costumes look rather normal there are a few unique aspects. In particular, there are talking, man-eating plants.
Putting together the costumes for the production falls to three local women, Ingvild Herfindahl, Kathy Brumfield, and Jen Smith, who have been costuming the KM actors for at least six years worth of performances.
This performance was brought some unique challenges, Herfindahl said.
To begin with, she said, because of COVID restrictions and the school’s Prom schedule there was a shorter-than-usual time frame to get the costumes ready. Usually, she said, students also help with the making of the costumes but because of the timing of the performances and COVID that was not possible this time.
“We’re all busy people,” Herfindahl said, so they met early in the process to decide who would do which costumes. She said she got the “bums on skid row” and was tasked with finding torn and stained clothing, a job that included basically destroying the clothes with bleach, dye and cutting holes in them.
“It is a whole new skill set, tearing them apart,” she said.
Smith did the costumes for three girls and had to sew several dresses while Brumfield got the main characters including Audrey II, the man-eating plant.
While the trio is experienced in making the costumes, Herfindahl said, they still learn something new with each production.
After getting the costumes made, she said, there was still the need to “tweak” them to get a proper fit.
Area schools are good about sharing costumes with each other, Herfindahl said. In the past KM has used costumes from other schools and now, as the costume collection grows, they are starting to lend their costumes to other schools.
“Little Shop of Horrors” has been a learning process for the actors and crew as well, she said. Actors had to memorize their lines and learn choreography while everyone has learned about what is necessary backstage to have a successful production.
In this play, she said, a puppeteer is involved with talking man-eating plants and has to learn how to coordinate that with the voice of someone else.
The KM production of “Little Shop of Horrors” is based on the original 1982 version of the musical by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. That, in turn, was based on the 1960 movie by Roger Corman.  A movie version of the musical was made in the 1980s.
The play had its first live performance last weekend.
There will be live performances again this week, Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 1, at 7 p.m. and on Sunday, May 2, at noon.
For those who miss the live performances, the show will be streamed on the Internet the following weekend, on May 7 and 8 at 7 p.m. and May 9 at 2 p.m.