Kaidi Williams

The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee

book by Rachel Sheinkin

Costume Coordinator: Kaidi Williams

music and lyrics by William Finn

As an intern for the Theatre Arts Training program at Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, MN I was not only a classroom assistant for ages three to seven but also the costume coordinator for the high-schoolers’ musical. I worked closely with the cast of 21 teenagers to develop their characters and decide what they should wear on stage. Written for only nine actors, the eleven other roles seen below were developed by this cast. Read more

Marcy Park	Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre	Olive Ostrovsky
William Barfee	Leaf Coneybear	Chip Tolentino
Vice Principal Douglas Panch	Bee Host Rona Lisa Peretti	Comfort Counsellor Mitch Mahoney
The Parks: Marcy, her younger sister, their nanny	The Schwartzandgrubenierres: Logainne, her dads	The Ostrovskys: Olive’s absent parents
The Barfees: William, his younger sister, her friend	The Coneybears: Leaf, Marigold, their parents	The Tolentinos: Chip, his young siblings, their mom

“Life is Pandemonium”

“Magic Foot”

My costuming process began with talking to the cast about what elements I, as a costume designer, think about when I begin developing the look for a character. I then tasked each of them with making a collage of images and words showing details of their character they hoped to communicate to the audience. I asked them to consider such things as their character’s economic status, age, favourite colour, relationships, influences, ambitions, quirks, and more. Each student returned with a clear, rich concept for their character’s costume. Based on this preliminary information, watching rehearsals, and talks with the director I pulled a few options for each student that I thought would work.

During fittings the actors and I worked together to make an outfit that would work for them as an individual, in the context of their “family,” and also as part of group numbers with the whole cast. The few items that could not be pulled straight from stock I set about making, altering, or buying. In addition to the clothing, shoes, and accessories, I also chose glasses for each character. The director and I decided that after quite a few characters were given glasses, we should work with the “nerd” image attached to spelling bees and give every single actor a pair of glasses that fit with their character. As the only person responsible for the costumes, wardrobe, and hair for this production, I was also responsible for doing all of the laundry and styling hair during tech and every performance.

I had a wonderful experience working with and getting to know these kids; I hope to work in similar situations in the future.

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