Designing The Convent

Jill in the Convent

This past fall I designed The Convent by Jessica Dickey and directed by my colleague and head of the directing concentration, Halena Kays. The play is described as, “A group of modern-day women join a retreat in an old convent in the south of France and are baptized with ’80s pop, mysticism, hallucinogens, and sexual energy. The Convent is a dark comedy about desire, devotion, and the mystery of intrinsic divinity.” While each of the characters is on a journey of self-discovery, at its core, for me it is a story of mothers and daughters.

There is a company of seven performers, so a relatively small show (especially on the heels of Figaro in the shop). The costume design choices are pretty straightforward- each convent “guest” needed a travel outfit they arrived in, and everyone needed a convent robe.

Scene 1- Selecting nomen cards

The most interesting part of the process was quite subtle: as the play progressed and each character reclaimed her individuality, I asked myself, and the performers, how might the basic gray robe be adjusted to reflect the personality of each distinct character?

Halena is a fantastic director; it was important to her that the designers meet together as a group, in person, before the winter term ended, and that team building really solidified our collaborative process throughout the summer and into the fall. The demands of the script asked a lot of these gray robes, so we integrated them into the rehearsal process early, seeing where we needed gussets, determining how high to unbutton the side front seams, etc…

Scene 11- Wilma, Bertie & Tina

As we all considered how the robes might evolve over the course of the play, I gave a condensed version of my “why we wear clothes” lecture and invited the cast to consider their individual timelines, resources (what’s in their suitcase, what could they have acquired “in town,” or what might be a gift from another character?). Then we had to realistically map those ideas into seamless transitions that appear to be effortless quick changes. 

Statue in the Moonlight

There is a nighttime scene when four of the characters become statues. In collecting research I was very interested in the effect of drapery and veiling. As part of the process, we played with yards of sheer iridescent fabrics, first in the light lab to see how different fabrics behaved over the gray robe under different lighting conditions, and then in rehearsal to see how they moved, and what we needed to rig, simply settling on elastic loops and one hair clip.

The Epilogue-The Eccentric with Patti

The Mother Abbess transformed into a radically different look in the epilogue, so there were some juicy conversations there for sure. The script described her as a “crazy homeless woman” and none of us were interested in amplifying that trope as all. I happened upon the performance artist Daniel Lismore, who dresses himself fabulously and with great intention each day, using his body as a canvas. With a nod to religious iconography, and female mystic nomen cards which are central to the play, this final look was an amalgamation of some of the textures, details and fabrics used earlier in the show. I used a monologue by Mother Abbess as a touchstone for the color palette. During her fitting, as we were tweaking all the layers, I asked her to recite that speech and her realization of all the subtle details propelled the look from just being cool to having great symbolism as well.

During tech, we spent necessary time to choreograph and rehearse the quick changes. We had a fantastic team, and while time was precious, I am grateful Halena prioritized taking this time to iron things out before we tried to run anything. When we needed more hands, we had a PA, as well as the hair and makeup crew help. The show was not truly done until we opened, as the crew continued to shave time off those changes, and as the amazing Brittany Crinson, the hair and makeup designer, continued to fine tune everyone’s looks. 

In the process of designing the show, to best communicate my ideas, I made a template based on 1990’s zines and digitally collaged all the elements together. The student assistant was in charge of two of the characters’ robe evolutions and used the template as well. Using ProCreate on my iPad, I explored unfamiliar tools and brushes to create different collage effects, and spent way too much time making labels on a ransom notes generator.

It was incredibly gratifying to work on a show where I had the capacity to be at rehearsal often, and to work closely with the company to bring the costumes to life.

The Convent by Jessica Dickey

Director: Halena Kayes

Scenic Designer: Lauren Streng

Lighting Designer: Eliza Anker

Hair & Makeup Designer: Brittany Crinson

Costume Design Assistant: Rachel Pfeil

Production Photographer: Robert Coelius