Sometimes the little life details come together, and everything just clicks. It was one such moment when Marley Boone, Delaware Valley Opera Company’s new costume designer, discovered her calling.

 Marley didn’t start out with costume design in mind; she was studying to be an actor. (She can be seen on regional stages with companies such as Stagecrafters and Act II Playhouse.) So it came as a surprise during her freshman year at Michigan State University when a required core course lead to an “ah-ha!” moment.

Every MSU student working toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree was required to take a design class. Set design, lighting, and costuming were among the choices. Marley’s grandmother was a seamstress who had taught Marley how to attach buttons and other basic skills, so costume design seemed a like a good choice. “It clicked in my head very quickly.” She asked for a sewing machine that Christmas.

Soon she was working in the costume shop and designing for student main stage productions. By her junior year, Marley decided that Philadelphia’s active and diverse theater scene would be her next step. She landed an internship with the Arden Theater and moved to the East Coast.

Quick thinking and a creative eye are essentials for a costume designer. But the overall vision of the director must come first, Marley said.

“The first consideration in designing a show is the director’s concept. I could design something awesome but if it doesn’t fit the director’s concept, it doesn’t matter if it’s good. And the costume design blends with the other design elements. If the lighting has lots of crazy colors, then you don’t make the costumes with wild patterns. It’s collaborative.”

With the director’s concept in mind, Marley can pull on her experience as an actor, dancer and stage combatant (she’s trained in the quarter staff, rapier and dagger to name a few of the weapons in her arsenal) to create the right look without sacrificing the performers’ mobility.

This combination of creativity and theater experience fused together while she was creating costumes for the New Freedom Theater’s Black Nativity in 2016. There were three actors playing the Angel Gabriel simultaneously, she said. Each needed a pair of wings they could move in that could be easily attached to their costume during a quick lighting change.

“It needed to be a big reveal. I didn’t want the stereotypical white wings,” she said. She decided to draw on the production’s focus on African American culture and African pride. “I thought, what if I made them colorful, from African fabrics.”

A few snare drum harnesses, several yards of buckram, hundreds of foot-long strips of fabric, and a few copper pipes later (not to mention 40 or so hours of work) and the three- foot by three-foot wings were ready to go! (See the photo below!)​

Not every production requires such creative lengths, but every job has its hidden challenges. Sometimes the challenge can just be getting a foot in the door, especially when you are a new graduate building your resume. When Marley learned in late 2017 that DVOC was looking for a new costumer designer for their January 2018 production of Amahl and the Night Visitors she knew her young age and inexperience in opera costume design could be strikes against her, but decided to take the risk and apply. She was thrilled to learn that DVOC makes it a mission to give opportunities to young, rising talent. The Amahl production staff hired her for that production, and for the 2018 Summer Opera Festival.

“They give young a chance, and I thought that was so cool. I saw a lot of young people at that production meeting. Some theater companies only use veteran designers or actors they know. It can feel like you will never get your foot in the door, and DVOC is literally there for people to get their foot in the door, which is so awesome.”

Costuming the cast and chorus of three fully staged operas in just a few months is a daunting task, but Marley is excited by the challenge. She has four different time periods and four countries to convey through costumes: L’Elisir d’Amore is late 19th century Italy, Suor Angelica is set in 1920s America, Il Tabarro is 18th century Paris, and Faust is 16th century Germany. She described how each nation and each century has it’s own corset silhouette, military attire, children’s clothing and everything in between. It is possible that no one in the audience would notice if the wrong corset shape was used, but Marley would know! “I’m very detail-oriented. I don’t want my work to be incorrect.”

Detail is important, but so is time. Fortunately, she won’t have to construct every costume from scratch. She will be able to pull from DVOC’s costume stores as a starting point and add details or construct new pieces as she needs them.

“I’m a hard worker. I just get it done. I’ve stayed up in the past until 3am to finish a project. This is a lot. But I told myself, you’re gonna do this, and you’re gonna do this well.”

Maja Lisa FritzHuspen
2018 Summer Opera Festival ROLE: Siebel in Faust
 
What are you looking forward to most about preparing your role?
Siébel is a role I have wanted to play for a few years so I am excited to learn and play a new character. It’s fun figuring out how a character walks and how I can embody the character, especially pants roles. 
 
If you had to choose a pop song that best describes the character you are portraying, what would it be?
 "Our Day Will Come," by Amy Winehouse
 
What do you think will be the most challenging part about preparing your role?
Memorizing French. It’s harder for me to memorize than other languages 
 
Why do you love to sing opera?
I love the drama, the way opera feels in my voice and being able to create a show that audiences can watch and feel like they have been told a story 
 
Aside from singing, name a talent/stupid human trick/hoby others might not be aware of ....
I can pick up items with my toes...like while cleaning pens or pencils on the floor

NAME Robert Davidson 
2018 Summer Opera Festival ROLE: Mephistopheles in Gounod’s Faust
 
What are you looking forward to most about preparing your role? Singing that beautiful music over and over!!  Faust is a classic opera, and at one time was the most popular opera the world over.  It is beautiful melody after beautiful melody, and a real treat for the audience.  
 
If you had to choose a pop song that best describes the character you are portraying, what would it be? "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones.  I thought pretty hard about this one!  Although the musical treatment of the subject is quite different, Mick Jagger captures a lot of Mephistopheles' pride, cynicism, domination, and the air of being a grand swindler in his lyrics.  Those are Mephistopheles' driving forces.   
 
What do you think will be the most challenging part about preparing your role? Working the role into the voice, so that it comes out naturally.  It takes a lot of practice for me to really feel the music flowing easily, as it would from the character I'm portraying.  
 
Why do you love to sing opera? The physicality of the singing!  I love the feeling of putting it all out there for the audience.  It's tremendously rewarding to me, on a physical level, to sing this grand music.  I used to run and swim long distance, but for some years now I prefer to sing long distance!!!
 
Aside from singing, name a talent/stupid human trick/hobby others might not be aware of .... I'm really nuts about coffee!!! It's one of my little simple pleasures...I seriously can't get enough.  I love to try new roasts and beans. And it helps keep your wits about you while learning difficult music haha!
 

​Name: Tom Hasani
2018 Summer Opera Festival Role: Il Tabarro - Tinca
 
 
What are you looking forward to most about preparing your role?
I look forward to getting new music into my repertoire.
 
If you had to choose a pop song that best describes the character you are portraying, what would it be?
Raise Your Glass - PiNK
 
What do you think will be the most challenging part about preparing your role?
Memorizing the Italian.  Memorization is always hard, especially with a language that is not your first.
 
Why do you love to sing opera?
For the last century, the face of Opera has been very Eurocentric and mostly enjoyed by people of privileged backgrounds.  As a minority, I love to sing opera so I can show others that the world of opera is attainable.  I sing to give minorities like me a reason to step forward and sing, give enthusiasts a face on stage they can relate to.
 
Aside from singing, name a talent/stupid human trick/hobby others might not be aware of ....
I can fold my tongue into three clovers.

NAME: Doug Rowland
2018 Summer Opera Festival ROLE: Luigi in Il Tabarro

What are you looking forward to most about preparing your role?
It's nice to revisit an opera you haven't sung in a while. This is a role I have sung before but only in a couple of scenes. I also will have been involved in a production of this opera, but in a different role, a couple of months before our show so the opera will be in my head by the time rehearsals start. Also it's short but intense

If you had to choose a pop song that best describes the character you are portraying, what would it be? Bon Jovi's Livin On a Prayer

What do you think will be the most challenging part about preparing your role? Having to, briefly, dance.

Why do you love to sing opera? The whole collaborative effort to bring a production to life. To work with people of such wonderful vocal ability and beauty.

Aside from singing, name a talent/stupid human trick/hobby others might not be aware of… I like photography
 

Kirsten C. Kunkle
2018 Summer Opera Festival ROLE: Giorgetta in "Il tabarro" 
 
What are you looking forward to most about preparing your role? I love Puccini, and this is one of his darkest operas. "Il tabarro" has a Hitchcockian vibe to it, and I'm looking forward to creating that suspense with my colleagues onstage. 
 
If you had to choose a pop song that best describes the character you are portraying, what would it be? "You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse
 
What do you think will be the most challenging part about preparing your role? The words! This opera is very wordy, with lots of dipthongs and tripthongs in speech-like patterns. 
 
Why do you love to sing opera? There is such a joy in singing some of the most beautiful music in the world. Once you add creating a character, building relationships on stage, and conveying the intense emotion behind the music, nothing else can compare. In many ways, opera allows the raw emotions that are present in humanity to be seen in a way that doesn't exist in any other medium for me. It's taking the best of music and the best of theater and combining it with glorious vocalism. Opera fulfills me in a way that nothing else can. 
 
Aside from singing, name a talent/stupid human trick/hobby others might not be aware of .... I have always been a voracious reader of literature and mystery fiction. I have written and published academic papers and book reviews, but I've never actually published any of my fiction writing. It's something that I thoroughly enjoy, and if I had not been a singer, I probably would have pursued writing as a career. 

Rachel Cetel
2018 Summer Opera Festival ROLE: The Monitress in Suor Angelica

What are you looking forward to most about preparing your role?
Not only is Suor Angelica a one-act, but it also has an all -female principal cast.  I have never been a part of anything like this before! It will be really fun to have a “girl power” type of opera experience this summer. In addition, I have sung with several of the members of the principal cast before in other venues.  I am definitely looking forward to collaborating with these talented ladies, many of whom are my friends!

If you had to choose a pop song that best describes the character you are portraying, what would it be?
Rockwell’s Somebody’s Watching Me- This sounds very silly, but the first thing that came to mind when I read this question were the lyrics “I always feel like somebody’s watching me”.  (I am probably showing my age with this song! ) The Monitress is a disciplinarian, and her eyes are everywhere. She is constantly calling the sisters out on their transgressions.

What do you think will be the most challenging part about preparing your role?
Figuring out the nuance of each particular character I speak to in the opera.  A lot of this will come once I get to know my cast-mates better.

Why do you love to sing opera?
Singing is just pure joy and magic to me.  I can think of very little else I would rather do!  I am a voice teacher who also truly loves performing.  Singing makes me a better teacher, and teaching makes me a better singer.  Opera is such a rewarding discipline because so much goes into it.  It’s not all about singing correct notes and rhythms; it’s about exhibiting true artistry.

Aside from singing, name a talent/stupid human trick/hobby others might not be aware of ....
A guilty pleasure of mine is reading cheesy “chick-lit” fiction.   I also am told that I am an amazing cook.

Jessica Rose Nelson
2018 Summer Opera Festival ROLE:  Novice in Suor Angelica
 
What are you looking forward to most about preparing your role? The first time I sang this opera, I was the Mistress of the Novices. Now I'm the Novice. It is quite entertaining preparing the other side of the conversation. 
 
If you had to choose a pop song that best describes the character you are portraying, what would it be? Backstreet Boys - Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely
 
What do you think will be the most challenging part about preparing your role? Having done the opera twice in Italian, it is a bit of a challenge relearning it in English.
 
Why do you love to sing opera? Opera is so expressive, and singing opera is truly a full body experience. It's fun, fulfilling, and you get to work with many wonderful people. 
 
Aside from singing, name a talent/stupid human trick/hobby others might not be aware of .... I enjoy reading ridiculous cozy mysteries and sci-fi books while I'm at the gym. 

Julie Smith
2018 Summer Opera Festival ROLE: Suor Dolcina in Suor Angelica
 
What are you looking forward to most about preparing your role? I look forward to discovering how this character fits into life at the abby.  I also get to sing beautiful Puccini music!
 
If you had to choose a pop song that best describes the character you are portraying, what would it be? I'm not sure of a pop song, but the first song that comes to mind is "Food, Glorious Food" from the musical Oliver.
 
What do you think will be the most challenging part about preparing your role? Fleshing out a woman who only sings about food.  
 
Why do you love to sing opera? I love how emotional and colorful the music is.
 
Aside from singing, name a talent/stupid human trick/hobby others might not be aware of .... I love reading web comics and drawing house plans.