Costumes have an uncanny ability to elevate the aesthetic of any theatrical performance — and the artists and technicians who create these transporting garments bring with them just the wizardry needed to develop theatre magic. We talked to two such designers for our second Design Issue, getting to the heart of what motivates their creative choices and keeps them coming back for more.

**Pictured:** Lindsay Lindaman (Credit: Peter Chapman)

Tell us about your Sioux Falls arts journey.

Lindsay Lindaman: I ended up coming out here for University of Sioux Falls (USF) in 2011 and that's how long I've been here. I, first and foremost, am an art teacher at West Lyon High School (in Inwood, Iowa) grades 7-12. I haven't painted in a long time, but I consider myself a painter. I love dealing with ceramics. That's one of my favorite mediums to play with — besides fabrics. I run Simply Ever After Entertainment, a kids entertainment company that sends princesses and superheroes to birthday parties and events. And through that is how I jumped into sewing. I've been able to hand sew for a long time — my grandmother taught me. But then I wanted more control over what my costumes look like and how they fit. And so I taught myself how to sew. A little bit of YouTube, but, for the most part, a lot of tenacity and just faking it ‘til I make it.

I have a minor in music, so I love getting to sing and perform. I like to moonlight as Taylor Swift for kids' birthday parties, which is really, really fun. So I get to sing and play guitar for that, too. In local theatre, I've worked on a decent amount of Spotlight Theatre Company stuff. I love making costumes for kids. Those are my jam. I've done Honk, and I also did Finding Nemo Jr. last year. And then I've helped with the Good Night Theatre Collective’s Sense and Sensibility and The Sound of Music.

Katharine Hults: I came to Sioux Falls in 2007 for Augustana College. I have a theatre major, where I focused on costume design shortly after I started. I entered as an acting major and decided that that was not for me. And then I found the costume shop. I learned how to sew as a child — my mom taught me, and I was always making clothes for my dolls. I made Halloween costumes for myself in high school. And so it wasn't a stretch to start working in the costume shop. It just kind of felt like home. I designed a couple shows while I was a student at Augie, like The Fantasticks and A Streetcar Named Desire. Those were both really crazy experiences, and I learned a lot just kind of getting thrown into a main-stage show as a student.

And then I graduated and kind of did a few random things here and there. I was an assistant designer on To Kill a Mockingbird with Sioux Empire Community Theatre way back in the day before it was The Premiere Playhouse. I did Beauty and the Beast Jr. with them… God of Carnage;Avenue Q; and The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe. And then it had been a while when I did Salem with Good Night. More recently, I got a call that USF needed a new costume designer/professor, and I sort of just fell into that. That’s where I am now, and I love it. There, I've been able to design Big Fish, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Unsinkable Molly Brown and right now I'm working on Steel Magnolias. I’ve also worked at the Washington Pavilion for the past 12-and-a-half years in the development office — so completely different, but theatre-adjacent.

How would you describe your wheelhouse aesthetic as a costume designer?

LL: I love me a ball gown. I just want to make ball gowns for the rest of my life. I've got that locked. I can do the steel boning, the corset, treat the grommets. As soon as you put me into historical costuming, especially the Sense and Sensibility cuts with the empire waist that was so difficult to figure out. I do not want to touch that for a long time. Proud of what I made, but don't want to touch it for a long time!

[Laughter]

KH: I love mixing prints and colors and putting things together in a way that sometimes make my students go, “What are you doing?” Kind of picking either a color or a print or a motif that sort of speaks to a character and really letting that shine through all of their outfits — or at least little peeks — to help create who that person is and help tell their story. So we know who they are when they walk on the stage before they say anything. I love that.

**Pictured:** Katharine Hults *(Credit: Peter Chapman)*

Where do you draw inspiration from for your design work?

LL: I really love cosplay. They create the coolest things, especially when they put their own spin on it. Something that they were inspired by, and then taking that a step farther in their own direction is so cool. People are so creative.

KH: I've been doing a lot of historical stuff lately, so obviously it's looking at fashion from the time period, but then trying to make it modern. Because black-and-white photos don’t clearly indicate what color they were wearing. I'm always going to choose to go crazy with color, because who says they didn't have bold colors back then? I really like fashion photos. I used to keep a huge stack of Vogue magazines that I would flip through every once in a while. And then just pop culture in general. Just kind of mixing and matching with things that maybe don't necessarily go together that can create dissonance.

What is some of the design work you’re proudest of?

KH: I'm really proud of the work I did on The Unsinkable Molly Brown. That show came together really well, and I went into it without a whole lot of a plan. I was like, “I don't really know who these people are or what I want them to do or look like.” And it just all sort of fell into place. And we finished the last can-can skirt — there were 12 of them — minutes before they needed them for a dress rehearsal! The timing and the finished product were just things I'm really proud of.

LL: I think that, as a costumer, I would so love to have the genuine education in how to costume for theatre. I've just learned by the skin of my teeth, but at my root I just want people to feel really good in my costumes. I don't think that they can portray the character accurately if they don't feel comfortable. And so the fact that Avianna (Steen) in Sound of Music loved her “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” dress so much that she wanted to keep it and run away with it makes me feel so good. She is happy and she was able to portray the character so well because she felt comfortable, so I met my goal even if I might still think about tweaking or technicalities. I want to make my actors and actresses happy and comfortable. I love that.

**Pictured:** Local costume designer Katharine Hults (left) with Ellie Erickson (right) in a piece designed for University of Sioux Falls’ *The Unsinkable Molly Brown* *(Credit: Peter Chapman)*

What is it about the process that keeps you returning to the work?

KH: It feels insane. The late nights and throwing stuff together, I've had so many moments of thinking, “This is the last one. I'm never doing this again. What am I doing?” And then the phone rings… I just love it. It's the creation — it's the working with actors and, now at USF, it’s working with the students and creating the relationships with them and seeing them grow as workers in the shop and actors on stage. It’s so fulfilling that I get to help influence these people who are going to go do their own awesome thing in the world. Teaching was never something that I was going to do. But now that I have that, it's such a cool connection that I get to have with the students that showed up on a given day.

LL: I think that I take a lot of inspiration from being involved in every single aspect of theatre in some way. I've been the performer, I've been the lead, I've been the backstage crew. And so I've been able to see how costuming can go from that first time being introduced to the performer, through the quick changes, through the second weekend and it's vintage and you don't know how to clean it… I guess I really enjoy saving the day in those moments.

For the Premiere Playhouse’s Footloose, I did backstage help for Maddie (Lukomski). I had to help her with the fastest quick change with her red boots and jeans into a totally different outfit. And, man, we had that down like clockwork. Getting to understand costuming through that lens — where does the mic sit on it, how do I need to interpret the fit of the costume to be able to make sure that it can be as quick of a change as possible, does it need to be zip-tied, etc. I like the trials and errors of it all. It’s always interesting, fun and exciting, and it never gets old.

Describe the moment of seeing your actors react to your costumes for the first time.

LL: I'm usually so panicked trying to sort them all out! I’m like, “No, don't touch that yet. Hey, this is right here. Okay, no, your costume's still in my car yet. Hang tight. Okay, no, that's not for you. Okay, don't touch anything.”

[Laughter]

It is very energizing and panic-inducing, but then once you see them all on their bodies lined up, you're like, “Okay, we did it. It was worth it.” I can just look and stare a little bit, kind of remove myself from the situation, and just get to sit in it. It's always really nice.

KH: Absolutely. So obviously I see them all hanging on a rack for ages, and I think they're going to go together just fine. But I don't put them together until costume parade when everybody puts them on. And then I can say to myself, “Okay, they do look good together. I do know something.” Getting to see them individually in the shop as people come in to try things on, and then making little tweaks — when you see them all together, though, It's just the coolest thing. Especially when it's a period piece and you know the actors as modern humans and you throw them in an 1890s outfit. It works. They fit in the world that they’re portraying. I helped make that make sense. And that's just really fulfilling, and it's super fun to sit back and see the transformation.

LL: I love what you said about seeing them from modern people into their costuming, because both of us have worked with (USF student actor) Em Mercer, and so when I saw your pictures of her for Earnest, I was like, “Oh my gosh, I had her dressed up like Rapunzel and you have her dressed up as an old woman, and somehow it works!” It’s so cool how we can transform people into totally different things.

**Pictured:** Local costume designer Lindsay Lindaman (right) with performer Avianna Steen (left) in a piece designed for Lindaman’s event company, Simply Ever After Entertainment *(Credit: Peter Chapman)*

What’s your dream design project?

KH: My students ask this question all the time: “What's your dream show?” And honestly, I don't know that there's a single show where I feel like I really need to address those characters. It's more getting to do something in a weird way or getting to rethink something. My first main-stage show, The Fantasticks, I got to go crazy with the design aesthetic, and it was so fun. It’s your standard, classic musical, but we set it in the ‘80s. I checked out books from the library and I found ‘80s tropes. When a director trusts you and lets you do your thing — it’s more fun when I get to play.

LL: I'm a little opposite. I want direction. You give me the vibe you're looking for, and then I'll meet that. But if a director is like, “Hey, this is the show — go do it,” I’m like, “I have choices? What do you mean?!” As far as a dream show, I think that I would have fun with Cinderella because I know I can do it and have the right knowledge. I also think that Wizard of Oz slash Wicked would be so fun, especially for the Emerald City scenes. You can do whatever you want with green and, oh man, that would be so fun.

What piqued your initial interest in costuming?

KH: So when I was a kid in children's theatre, my mom was the costumer for most of my shows. And so I was surrounded by costumes at home. She was sewing animals and all kinds of crazy stuff. In middle school, we had this big costume warehouse that we would borrow our costumes from for the high school and summer theatre productions. They would say, “Go through this giant closet and find what you want to wear for your character.” And so I got to put together some really fun costumes for myself, obviously within the brief of what the show was. Even then I was playing with mixing colors. I recently saw a picture of me in West Side Story when I wore a yellow lace dress — I was one of the Jets’ girlfriends and it was like a three-quarter-length, yellow-lace, poofy skirt dress. But, of course, I put on a teal sash. I found some teal shoes in that closet that fit me. That maybe sparked my love of weird mixing. The actor puts in the work. The director does the work to make the show what it is. But until they get those clothes on, especially if they change how you move, you're not fully in that character until you're dressed. It’s the final piece.

LL: When I was two, I got a hold of paper towels and scissors and I would cut them up and I would make them into clothing for my Beanie Babies. Through that I learned how to hand sew from my grandma Kathy. When I was seven or eight, my great grandmother sewed through her finger with a sewing machine, so I refused to touch one. I was terrified I would sew through my hand. And then one day I just got inspired by Pinterest and I took my mom's sewing machine to college. I decided to make myself a skirt, and it wasn't terrible. (It wasn't great, either.)

I was Laurie in Oklahoma in high school my sophomore year, and my main peasant dress was actually my aunt's homecoming dress from the ‘70s. I wore that through most of the show. And I've worn that dress multiple times. It's still in my closet. And I love how that dress got to have a moment in its time and then getting to live that moment in 2007 with me — it is cool that clothing can have all of those different histories all combined into one garment. I’d say Disney also of course influenced me quite a bit, and I think that's pretty obvious to anybody who's ever known me. I'm also very inspired by how costumes move.

**Pictured:** Local youth performer Avianna Steen models a piece designed by Lindsay Lindaman for the Good Night Theatre Collective’s *The Sound of Music* *(Credit: Peter Chapman)*

How has design served as a positive creative outlet for you?

KH: I like being part of helping to tell the story. As someone who was an actor for a while and decided that that's not my thing anymore, it's a way that I can still be involved in this art form that I love so much. It's the way that I can help create characters. I can help my students think about how to create and let them have some ownership of that creation. As I get older, I get more and more introverted. And so I can be behind the scenes doing the work, but I still get to have my heart on stage.

LL: When I saw Wicked in 2010 in New York, at the intermission, I went up to my father and said, “I'm going to do that someday.” And then I worked backstage for Footloose, and I had the time of my life checking in with everybody, fixing things, making sure everything is okay. I love being able to check in with the performers and make sure they know that their comfort matters to me.

As an individual, I wear a lot of hats and I'm in charge of a lot of things. I've got about 150-200 students. I teach nine courses. I run a business, and we're close to 150 events this year alone. So anytime that I can put on an audio book, I can put on my favorite album and just sew a straight line and hear the steady hum of the machine, there's a lot of peace in that. The sounds of sewing machines. Such a great noise.

Existential Threads