Chris Banyas
Staff Writer
There is an electric feeling in the air, for which the upcoming performance of “The Philadelphia Story” is responsible.
As I am guided through the various workshops of the Stephens Performing Arts center, I stand on the stage in awe.
Theatre professor Norm Schroder enters a door marked “Costume Shop” ahead of me and leads me inside.
Three women are hard at work.
One perfects a red wig that sits atop a mannequin’s bald head, another stands at a table working on a garment, while the last sits at a desk across the room, adjusting something out of sight from the doorway.
These women are Camie Parsons, Ali Chlarson and Amelia McDaniel.
One retrieves a dress from a closet full of dresses.
“Would you like to see it on a mannequin?” she asks, holding the black-and-white-striped dress up before me.
I follow her to one of the many unclothed bodies in the costume shop and watch as she dresses it, worrying at every ruffle and fold of the fabric until it sits just right.
This dress represents hours of work from many individuals, and is only one of the dozens that surround the room in various stages of completion.
Written by Phillip Barry in 1939, the play revolves around the character Traci Lord. As the play opens, she is preparing for her wedding to mining heir George Kittredge.
The arrival of her ex-husband, as well as reporters, quickly complicates the situation.
Katherine Hepburn starred in the original play as Traci Lord, and went on to reprise the role in the 1940 film version with Carey Grant and Jimmy Stewart. It is considered to have re-launched her career.
Traci Lord will be played by ISU’s Melissa Bodily in this production.
“It’s a great cast. We have a younger department right now, and so it’s really wonderful seeing students have breakthroughs and moving along so well and seeing the characters come around,” said Schroder.
The costume design for the production has a unique tie-in with the Pocatello area: a man named Edward Stevenson.
“It’s remarkable that he grew up in Pocatello,” said Tara Young, director of undergraduate studies in theatre and dance at ISU.
“His house was on the grass of where the Marshall Public Library sits right now. [He] lived here through his teenage years, moved out to California, him and his mother, and worked for 45 years in the film industry as a costume designer,” continued Young.
Young is working as the costume designer for the production of “The Philadelphia Story.”
Stevenson worked for many years at RKO studios, but also worked in the fashion industry. He was well-known for his wedding gowns, and often incorporated ideas from the films he worked on into his fashion line.
“Several of the designs I’m taking directly from Stevenson’s collection. I’m modeling Traci Lord, the main character of the show, after Lucille Ball because Stevenson worked with her exclusively from 1953 to 1968 when he passed,” said Young.
The play was originally set in 1939, but will be set in 1952 for the ISU production to better fit in with Stevenson’s renderings and “the Lucy look.”
There will be a display of Stevenson’s work just outside the Bistline Theater.
“The Philadelphia Story” will debut at the Bistline Theater in the Stephens Performing Arts Center on Oct. 11.
It will then be performed Oct. 12, 14, 18 and 19. All shows will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $15 for adults, $14 for faculty, staff and seniors, $10 for children under age 18, and $7 for ISU $7 for ISU students with valid IDs.
For pricing or general information regarding “The Philadelphia Story,” contact the Stephens Center Box Office at 208-282-3595 or online at www.isu.edu/tickets.
