Details - Makeup, etc.

Once you have your costume ready and checked off, here are some more details to consider as the performance gets closer...

Skeletons - Girls, please have your hair pulled back in a low pony tail and out of your face. Wear black shoes and come ready to have your face painted. (o: (We will not do the face paint for dress rehearsals, except one or two for practice.) We will need our skeletons to come a little earlier than everyone else to the performances so we can have plenty of time to get their makeup done. PLEASE let me know if you can help apply makeup on our skeletons for the performances! (jen.t.preece@gmail.com)

Mesopotamian Farmers and Two Rivers scene - See the note about "stage" makeup at the bottom. Wear neutral colored sandals or slip on leather-looking shoes. Try to avoid running shoes, bright colors, or anything with laces.

Tomb Builders - Dirt smudges would be great, not too over the top. Wear neutral or brown colored sandals or shoes. Old, dirty, worn out is good - but try to avoid anything with shoelaces.

Peasants - Brown shoes or neutral-colored sandals. You can do "dirt" on your faces for makeup if you like. Don't go too crazy, just enough to look pathetic. (o: You may also have your hair a little messy for the same reason.

Mummies - As with the skeletons, please pull your hair back in a low pony tail and out of your face as mummies are usually pretty bald. (o: Wear shoes that are as close to the color of your costumes as you can. (White shoes are fine.) If you would like, you may wear a little makeup like gray circles under your eyes, and maybe some wrinkles around your eyes and mouth. You could also make your face look a little pale. Keep the look fairly subtle and NO blood. If you plan to do a little makeup for the performances, it would be nice if you could wear it for one of the dress rehearsals or at our Wednesday afternoon performance so we can have you make changes if necessary.

Greek Choristers - If you would like, you girls could wear a little more bright makeup since we are going for the "pretty" look. I've talked to the girls about this, but just FYI for parents, I told them that it would look great if they had a pretty up "do" with loose curls. The look below is kind of what we are looking for. It doesn't need to be exactly like this. I may or may not have a gold headband or ribbon for them at our dress rehearsal on Monday. I'm having a hard time finding something and may just not worry about it. Have your daughter wear a white short-sleeved shirt and leggings under their dress as it is fairly see-through material. And don't forget sandals.

Toga Wearers - Wear neutral colored sandals and if you want you can do some "stage" makeup as mentioned below. No special instructions for your hair. Just remember you'll be putting on a toga and a ponytail or other up "do" may get messed up.

As for everyone else, we've talked to the kids a little bit about wearing "stage" makeup. If you would like to put on a little bit of blush and mascara or eyeliner and a little lip gloss or chapstick to make your child's face stand out on stage a little bit that would be great. Most of the boys cringed, understandably at this, so we aren't going to be strict about it by any means. Please keep it subtle - we don't want the girls getting all painted up like they do for dance recitals with bright lipstick, etc.

If your child has a more specific role that I didn't mention, you may e-mail me at jen.t.preece@gmail.com. Basically, just try to keep the details in "tune" with the rest of your child's costume and or scene they will be in. (They know what their scene is.) We will let you know if there are any minor changes that we need after our first dress rehearsal.

Props for the Musical

There are a few cast members who will be using props in the musical. Our Mesopotamian farmers will all have a small prop. Last week we let the student's pick what they would like to bring to pantomime in the background during their song. They chose small items like: a basket, a washboard, a piece of cloth to pretend to wash, a stick to pretend to beat a rug, a small shovel (not bright colors), a leather pouch that holds seeds (not really, but they will be reaching in to grab invisible seeds pretending to plant them).

We also have some cast members in charge of bringing items like a wheel, money holder, a crook, sandwich, a stone with hieroglyphics, etc. We will try to communicate these specific needs to the parents of the characters using them.

We would like to have the props checked off along with the costumes by January 15th.

Mesopotamian Farmers and Enkidu

This is the look we are going for with our Mesopotamian farmers.

It is similar to a shepherd in a nativity. However, as I have mentioned on other costume posts, it will be hot on stage so a big, fluffy bathrobe would NOT be ideal. Try to keep the clothing very lightweight like the clothing in the picture above. If you would rather not sew, you could use over sized T-shirts or over sized scrubs with a rope or other similar "belt" and khaki shorts or pants would work fine. The head wear could be any of the styles above. Also leather-looking sandals without socks would be a nice touch.

Try not to pick dark jewel tones like bright red, purple or black. Remember these are farmers so more earthy or less bright colors would be best. All of our cute farmers will be down on stage during their scene pantomiming things like farming, scrubbing clothes, cleaning pottery "dishes", cooking, caring for a baby, etc. It would be a good idea to have your child wear shorts and a plain T-shirt under their costume.

Enkidu is King Gilgamesh's right hand man. He will be dressed similar as above, but could wear a more bright, jewel toned or shimmery fabric to show that his "rank" is higher.  A fancier belt would be great as well (not a rope belt) and maybe a nicer hat like the red one above - or one in a similar shape.

Here is another picture for some inspiration. Enkidu should not be quite this fancy, but the draped material over the shoulder is a nice touch.