Santa Fe Opera

Hey Everyone! Bear with me while I get the hang of this blogging thing!

I've been out here in Santa Fe since May 16. We worked regular hours the first 2 weeks--9-6 with an hour for lunch each day. No Saturdays the first 2 weeks, but last week we added that in. The Drapers, the leaders of each team in the Costume Shop, determine the next week's hours in a meeting on Thursdays. Tonight I just got home from working my first 9-9 day. We have a 30-minute dinner break when we go into the evenings. So actually, we're working 2.5 hours overtime when we work evenings. We're working 2 evenings this week, but the apprentice stitchers go home at 6 as usual. They may get to work evenings later, the closer we get to dress rehearsals. But right now, we can use the space to cut out big garments in the evenings!

There are approximately 70 people working in the Costume Shop. A few of us started on May 16, then a few more the week after, and last week the Apprentices started. SFO has a terrific apprentice program, in every area--production, front of house, A-V, Orchestra Services, and of course, singers. The Apprentice singers comprise the chorus, and sometimes get to sing smaller featured roles. There are 2 evenings of Apprentice Scenes, where all the Apprentices get to present scenes from operas, and the Costume , Scenery, and Lighting Apprentices get to design for the scenes. It's a great opportunity! I've never seen the Scenes--they take place in August, after I leave. One of these years I'll either stay for them, or come back.

Right now, the biggest problem is the smoke coming in from Arizona's Wallow fire. It's a pain to all of us, but just imagine what it's doing to the singers' voices! They started arriving late last week, and the principals for the first 2 operas started today, so the timing couldn't be worse! It's been so dry here, there are fire warnings, and water conservation measures, etc. We're all crossing our fingers for the arrival of monsoon season, when we get pretty regular afternoon showers that come in from Baja California. That'll help immensely!

The 5 operas Santa Fe is presenting this year are--Faust, La Boheme, Griselda, The Last Savage, and Wozzeck. Boheme and Wozzeck are remounts of rented productions (costume-wise, anyway!), so our main focus is fitting and altering costumes for the singers. Faust is a new production, and some of the costumes were made in Slovakia and shipped over here. We've been doing fittings the past few days on those costumes, as well as The Last Savage, which is set in 1963, so we have a fun "Mad Men" vibe going for that, at least in the scenes set in Chicago. There are scenes in India too, so we have purchased costumes for the chorus, and we're building costumes for the principals. Griselda has no chorus, and a small cast, so it has only 15 costumes! My team is building one dress--a Quinceanera-style dress for the daughter's character. Big, poofy skirt, lots of ruffles, etc. Should be fun!

Well, I think that's a good start. I'll post more on Santa Fe, and what we do around here for fun, when we have time! And about some other great qualities and programs the Opera provides. Hope you're all having a great summer!

Doris