Costumes with Daneé Grillo

Daneé Grillo is the Costume Shop Manager and Resident Costume Designer at Plymouth State University. Originally from Beacon Falls CT, she received her BA from Keene State College with a concentration in costuming and scenic design. Grillo worked as a scenic designer at Peacock Players in Nashua, NH before settling into Plymouth State’s costume shop. 

The Clock: How long have you worked as Plymouth State's Costume Manager?

This is the beginning of my ninth year here. 

The Clock: How would you describe what you do? 

Basically, I take care of the shop, I take care of basic maintenance, I make sure things are stocked, I give student workers things to do, and then when it comes to designing shows, I’m the one who goes to the director and finds out what they need and works to put it together. That’s really in a very small nutshell. 

The Clock: Do you design all the shows at Plymouth? 

I do. On occasion they’ll have somebody come in and do a guest design. That hasn’t happened in a few years, but I think the last time was when we did Oklahoma!. I can not remember what year that was. About four or five years ago I think. Other than that, unless I have a student take on a student design, it’s just me. 

The Clock: So the show is decided, you get the script, what do you do? 

I read the script about three times, at least. First time I read it just kind of as a reader, just to enjoy it, just to kind of get the feel of it. And the second and third time, I go through and I make notes on everything, anytime a costume might be mentioned, or anything that might be mentioned that has to do with how people dress...take notes on time period, all that. 

The Clock: And then what’s the next step? 

After that, I start doing some sketches for the director to look at. Not all costume designers have time to do them. Sometimes I just don’t have time to color them in, like Wedding Singer, there’s too many costumes. But I like to have some sort of sketch so I can show the director, because it’s easier to erase something on a page then it is to change an en- tire costume once it’s already made. So, that makes it a lot easier, and it also helps sort out my brain. I find it’s much easier to look at everything and go, OK, here’s what I need, here’s what I don’t have. 

The Clock: How would you say the element of costumes enhances the overall production? 

I think it’s kind of two parts for that, one of which is, it does help the audience visualize what we’re going for. The psychology of color alone is really powerful to people. But also, it helps the actor kind of put themselves in the place of their character. I’ve been told by more than one person that a costume design actually helps them develop their character. 

The Clock: Was there a particular show you worked on that stands out? 

Oh my goodness, so many of them. I’m trying to think of a specific one here, because a lot of the shows I work on really stood out. We did an opera called Orpheus in the Underworld, which is a crazy funny opera, and I thought I was going to go insane, because we had three weeks to put it all together. Even with a student assistant, it was completely out there. We have the gods up in the heavens, and then they go down and have a party in hell, and we have to dress them appropriately. There was a whole group of people who had to be a field of corn, so we had these foam corn hats, they’re somewhere in the back. It was just so strange, and I felt like we completely pulled everything out of absolutely nowhere. But as it turns out, it looked really good. That was kind of one of those moments where I looked and went, OK, I guess I can handle that. As crazy as it was to put together, it wasn't one of my better organized ones. Then we’ll do something like Les Miserable, and I have loved that show since I was a kid, so that one was wonderful to work with because I finally get to delve into it the way I wanted to. A lot of the shows stick out for me for various reasons. I like to say that whenever I work on something, I end up proud of it. If I don’t, I’ve done something wrong. 

The Clock: Do you have your Halloween costume planed? 

I never get to do Halloween anymore. Fall is the busiest theater time, and by the time I get home, I don’t want to see a sewing machine. It’s such a shame because Halloween is my favorite holiday. I just do not have time. I need to really plan ahead and do things in the summer. This summer was kind of busy though. I’ve thrown around ideas for stuff, but nothing seems to have come to fruition just yet. I can usually throw something together last minute if there’s a party. 

The Clock: If you had any other job, what would it be? 

Outside of theater, or... 

The Clock: Let’s say outside of theater. 

I could absolutely see myself doing interior design. I have a thing for that. Or flipping houses, because I enjoy taking things apart and putting them back together. 

COURTESYPHOTO/PLYMOUTH STATE