Waitress!

Jenna baking pies!

This summer I designed Waitress for Michigan Stage, a new professional company in the suburbs of Detroit.

I often counsel students is to understand why they decide to take on a project. (the paycheck is an acceptable answer.) For this project, I fell in love with the music and the story; I was also impressed with the mission of the organization.

The budget was adequate for shopping a mostly contemporary show, with enough wiggle room to heighten things a bit. I also used took this opportunity to practice my vector skills and laser print a stencil for Earl's t-shirts. The production team was amazing and I was very well supported by a shop manager, stitcher and brilliant wardrobe supervisor.

Detailed laser cut stencil

Once I had completed my inspiration boards, and all the necessary paperwork, I had an absolute blast thrift shopping. It had been years (definitely sometime before the pandemic) since I've had the capacity to really hit the stores, shop with an open mind, and keep my fingers crossed to solve the puzzle of this giant scavenger hunt within the budget, guided by a pretty tight color palette. Finding almost half the show Memorial Day weekend when all the local thrift stores were 50% off provided the contingency I needed later on. The show is rather cinematic and requires some creative solutions for transitions- especially for Jenna, who never leaves stage! There were also some "easter eggs" for anyone keeping track of Jenna, her mom, and the color story that developed for Lulu at the end.

I was very happy with how the show looked, and was glad to be a part of bringing this production to the community!