Costuming Sickle: "A sense of magic and history"
Below are the costume renderings for Iryna (played by Adelin Phelps) created by Sickle costume designer, Andrea M Gross.
About the design:
"My research for this project started with traditional embroidery and folkwear, and the history of Ukraine. The costume design features pieces of traditional garment forms blended with modern (1930s) garments, but more folk elements than are typically seen in the documentary photographs of the Holodomor.
This is intended to bring a sense of magic and history to the play, grounding us in it as we witness the incredible resilience of these women. For example, there are meanings behind the symbols stitched on a Vyshyvanka (embroidered shirt), and I assigned particular symbols to the characters we meet in the village, even though these treasured garments would not have been daily wear at the time.
Regionally specific garments and color schemes also get blended and combined as a bridge between the very particular circumstance of this story with the experience of people across the country, and perhaps as a bridge into the current war and oppression being resisted by Ukrainians."
— Andrea M Gross, Sickle Costume Designer
Research images:
ANDREA M GROSS (Costume Designer)
Gross has been an active member of the Twin Cities theater community since she arrived in 2005. Her previous designs with Theatre Novi Most include The Human Voice (2019) and Dancing on the Edge (2018). Known primarily as a costume designer and maker, she is also a company member of nimbus theatre and of Wonderlust Productions, and a founding member of the Minneapolis-based costume rental business The Costume Collective. She has taught costume history and textile surface design at Gustavus Adolphus College and the Art Institute International. Her design work (solo and a Rubble&Ash –a collaborative partnership with Barb Portinga) has been seen at The Jungle, nimbus theatre, Walking Shadow Theater Company, Wonderlust Productions, The Ordway, Park Square Theater, The History Theater, and Theatre L’Homme Dieu. She holds a BA in Theatre and German from Santa Clara University and a MFA from Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. www.agrossdesigns.com