With a play as surprising, explosive, and touching as The Motherfucker with a Hat, Costume Designer Ivania Stack faced a complex task in bringing each of Stephen Adly Guirgis’s unique characters to the stage. Assistant Director Christopher Mirto spoke with Ivania about the challenges and rewards of creating costumes for Guirgis’s vivid play.
What are some of the challenges in designing costumes for The Motherfucker with the Hat?
Finding the right research has been a challenge, because while there are thousands of photographs of glossy, hip, perfect city people, there are very few photos of real, regular people who feel like these characters. These characters are uniquely poetic in their use of language, but they also feel very much like people that exist. And they don't live in ads on the internet, or even in some photographer's gritty inner-city black and white photos. They are somewhere in between, a place that's familiar enough that not many have bothered to take pictures of it. And since I feel it’s vital to ground the design of these clothes in the research, I just had to look harder!
Which character are you most drawn to and why?
I am most drawn to dear Cousin Julio. He is an oasis of calm and comfort and kindness. But I have to love and empathize with them all (and not judge too harshly!), or else their costumes become caricatures.
Which costume was the most difficult and why?
Victoria's maybe? It has been a fun puzzle to figure out how to give her clothing that suggest the taste and class of a person who once held a high-profile career, but who has slid a bit and spends a lot of time on the sofa.
What was one of your favorite shows to design and why?
I recently designed Our Class at Theatre J, and loved the color palette the design team came up with. It was a challenging play for costumes because each member of the ensemble needed one outfit for the entirety of a play that spanned decades. Ultimately the costumes gave the actors room to transform themselves as the play progressed.
As you worked with Serge on the design, what was one thing he said that influenced you the most?
That this is a romantic comedy. It can be easy to only see the anger and betrayal and heartbreak and addiction in the story, but Guirgis’s language is so quick and energetic and profane that the play has the rhythm of poetry and humor. This point of view has had significant, though subtle ways of influencing the costumes.