Her Life Is a Dress Rehearsal -- Costume designer Erin Billings '00 creates magic for student productions

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December 02, 1999

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HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

On Halloweens past, while most kids were decked out in store-bought Wonder Woman outfits or jury-rigged pirate suits, Erin Billings ’00 and her siblings were roaming the neighborhood in "magnificent costumes" that their mother had lovingly and painstakingly sewn by hand. When she reached high school and had pretty much lost interest in trick-or-treating, Billings was still in love with sartorial splendor. Not only did she learn to sew, she began to design clothes for herself as well.

Two years ago, when she transferred to Harvard, Billings’ interest in designing became more than academic – she became a costume designer in earnest, adorning scores of young thespians in nearly a dozen student productions.

"There’s really nowhere else I know of where amateur costume designers can design and construct entire shows all by themselves," says Billings. "Because of the huge amount of student-designed theater on campus, Harvard offers really amazing opportunities for designers to develop their creativity and skills before going on to professional design."

And that’s just where Billings plans to go. After graduation she hopes to intern with the American Repertory Theatre or the Huntington Theatre in Boston and design for other local theaters. Then graduate school, and then, she hopes, a professional career designing costumes for stage and screen.

If her costume work for the H-R Gilbert and Sullivan Players’ production this week of H.M.S. Pinafore is any indication, Billings has more than hope going for her. Add talent, sensitivity, diligence, and vision. The director of Pinafore, Marisa Echeverria ’01, says of her designer, "Erin is one of the most talented and inventive costumers I’ve worked with at Harvard." Echeverria, who has also teamed up with Billings on a summer production of Lend Me a Tenor, adds, "She has a wonderful way of expressing character through costume."

That’s no accident. "The first thing I do when I set out to design a production is to read the script a couple times to get a really good sense of what the play is about and who the characters are," Billings says, "Because clothes that people wear always carry huge social codes with them, it’s really important that a designer truly understands the characters that she is working with. After getting a grip on a play, I normally jot down initial ideas, talk to the director and set designer about time period and general design themes, and then I do the research."

The production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta has been a formidable, if welcome, challenge for Billings. "For H.M.S. Pinafore I researched old books and catalogs with mid-19th century fashions." In this endeavor, the young designer had some help from one of the playwrights himself. "For further inspiration, I also looked at some of the original sketches that Gilbert drew for the production. He made a habit of drawing quick, comical sketches of scenes in all his musicals."

And that’s only the preparation. Then comes the sketching, searching for fabrics, designing, cutting out patterns, and "building the garments." Despite that for the last two weeks Billings has put in six to eight hours a day on the project, it is always – like her mother sewing the Halloween costumes – a labor of love.

"I love the feel of fabrics," she says, "I love to wander around fabric stores . . . and imagine color combinations. I love the limitless options in costume design." And, she adds, "I love the theater and its huge imagination."

H.M.S. Pinafore will open tonight, Thursday, Dec. 2, in Agassiz Theatre, at 8 p.m. Other shows are at 8 p.m. on Dec. 3, 4, 9, 10, 11; matinees at 2 p.m. on Dec. 4, 5, 11. Tickets are $8-$10 for evening performances, and $6-$8 for matinees. There is a $3 discount for students and senior citizens. For ticket information, call the Harvard Box Office at (617) 496-2222; TTY (617) 495-1642.