You might not know the name Lindsay Anne Black, but if you’re a regular theatregoer you certainly know her costumes from shows like April 14, 1912.
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For this year’s Fringe she’s working on My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish-Wiccan Wedding (see Lisa Horner, page 37) and also After The Crash, about the complications facing people (and those around them) who survive brain injuries.
“In My Mother’s Wedding, I’ve focused on Claire, the title figure, using her costumes to suggests how she negotiates a new life. In the early scenes her outfits have hard lines. It’s the 90s, a dreadful era in fashion, and I have to admit that I raided my own closet.”
In one scene the characters end up in Hooters, which meant Black had to create more period costumes, at least one of them for a drag character.
“Yes,” she laughs, “several of the main characters have to feel uncomfortable in that scene, and I figure they’d just hide behind their purses.”
After The Crash, by Ruckus Ensemble in association with the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, has been touring the province for three years. Black stepped in to create a look that allowed the four actors to play the show’s many characters.
“I’m using colour added to the basic costumes and the props. That way viewers know who’s who and who’s related to whom.”
It’s unusual, she admits, to be invited to design for an established show. “But the producers wanted to shake it up and bring new life to the production.”
My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish-Wiccan Wedding runs to July 12 at Bread & Circus After The Crash plays July 2 to 12 at the George Ignatieff Theatre.
