A Date with our Wardrobe Mistress

This past weekend, we had a chance to stop backstage and catch up with Margo Beirne, our endlessly friendly Wardrobe Mistress:

Hairspray Hairline: How long have you been here at Signature Theatre?

Margo Beirne: My first show was First You Dream in September 2009 but I was hired into my current staff position in the spring of 2010.

HH: So your title is Wardrobe Supervisor.What exactly does that entail? 

MB: The one sentence answer is that I make sure all of the costumes and wigs are maintained during the run of a show and make sure that the show goes smoothly every performance from the costume perspective.  So that breaks down to supervising a crew of 2 people on Hairspray who do the wig maintenance.  A third team member and myself iron and steam the costumes, and the whole team performs all costume and wig quick changes during the show.

HH: Has working on Hairspray been different from other shows you’ve worked on?

MB: This is not the first time I've worked on a Hairspray production and it is always a big endeavor.  The "Welcome to the 60s" quick change is a challenge every night and I LOVE doing those crazy fun changes.   Signature always challenges me whether it is a new musical that changes up to opening night or a repertory where we have to keep two shows organized and ready at once.  Hairspray has a great cast to work with and they have been making this show fun on and off the stage.

HH: When in the process do you start working on the show?

MB: I work under Tiffany, the costume shop supervisor, so I begin talking with her once the costume designer turns in her renderings.  That is just to start easing me into the show.  I don't really jump in until a week before tech when I get all of the information from Tiffany about the costumes and the stage manager in charge of costumes gives me rehearsal times for our quick changes.

HH: Can you tell us a little bit about Mr. Darcy and his role back stage?

MB: Mr. Darcy is my 11 month old black lab mix who lives in my office.  He is in charge of eating dropped food and giving kisses to anyone who wants to play.  He was featured in an earlier blog post that picture the wigs in my office! 

HH: What has been a favorite moment so far in tech for Hairspray?

MB: On Friday, the orchestra joined us in the theater for the first time and that is always my favorite because the final element is added.  The energy that the orchestra brings reenergizes all of us at this point in the process. And, they sound AMAZING!!  My other favorite moment was that we nailed the magical transformation quick change for Edna the first time around!