Editor’s Note: A correction has been made to correctly reflect Marina Turner’s gender identity.
It takes a lot more than actors and directors to make a successful theater production. For audiences to believe the story they’re being told, costume design can make or break a show.
Kristin Boyd, Robert Moore, Patric Trower and Marina Turner are working behind the scenes in Indianapolis theater companies to bring stories to life on the stage. As costume designers, they find pieces to create a wardrobe, hem and take actors’ measurements.
Mirror Indy caught up with them to learn more about their day-to-day responsibilities, their favorite pieces and how they got into costume design in the first place.
Robert Moore, Naptown African American Theatre Collective
Over the past 15 years, designer Robert Moore has worked on Hollywood productions such as “Dream Girls” and the 2023 musical adaptation of “The Color Purple.”
This year, he came to Indianapolis for Naptown African American Theatre Collective’s (NAATC) production of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” The play, written by August Wilson, tells the story of Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, who worked as a blues singer throughout the 1920s.
Ma Rainey’s costume, Moore said, is among his favorites. Given enough time to research and prepare, Moore was able to make a period-appropriate wardrobe that looked good from every seat in the theater. Using photos of the late singer and of popular fashions of the time period, Moore settled on a royal purple color for the dress with a trim lace, he said, to give it a “1920s flavor.”
More recently, he worked with the Indianapolis Black Theatre Company for its first production, “Toni Stone.” Moore created the Indianapolis Clowns baseball uniforms.
“Working with NAATC was a delight,” Moore said. “Having worked in Hollywood on multi-million-dollar productions, (NAATC) couldn’t have been any better.”
Kristin Boyd, Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center
Boyd worked in the fashion industry after graduating from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. Though she did theater in her small-town high school, she never thought costume design could become a career.
After making costumes for her film school friends at the University of Southern California, Boyd and her husband moved to Indianapolis in 2019.
Here, she switched gears from film to theater. She’s worked on “What the Constitution Means to Me” for American Lives Theatre, “The Berlin Diaries” and “And I Will Follow.”
As the “costumes and properties artisan” at the Phoenix Theatre, Boyd uses the directors’ vision for the play to craft a wardrobe.
Her favorite piece? A Christmas tree costume worn by an actress in the annual Christmas show in 2023.
“It’s the most fun I’ve had,” Boyd said. “It was a giant Christmas tree and it moved, with a big hoop skirt with Christmas-themed panels draped over it.”
Marina Turner, Cryptid Entertainment
Turner has been sewing since they were in kindergarten. While attending Hanover College on an acting scholarship, they joined the costuming department, and they’ve been creating costumes ever since.
A real estate appraiser by day, Turner has worked on a myriad local productions, including “Hello, Dolly” and Indy Drag Theatre’s production of “HairSLAY.”
Recently, Turner lent their talents to “Bigfoot Saves the World,” for Cryptid Entertainment, where they brought two mythical creatures, Bigfoot and Mothman, to life. They described these costumes as “wearable props,” with pieces that could be easily removed as Mothman goes through different developmental stages.
Many of the wardrobe pieces for this production – including a Hawaiian shirt for Bigfoot – were thrifted. Turner designed and pieced together four versions of the Mothman costume, which included wings, legwarmers, a corset and a cocoon – which consisted of a wraparound skirt, a capelet and a hood – which was removed onstage to reveal Mothman’s final form in the last act of the play.
Patrice Trower, Indiana Repertory Theatre
While working for the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey for four years, Trower created an eight-foot-long octopus tentacle for the production of “Shipwrecked.”
“My favorite pieces are usually the weird and interesting things that merge into what is considered props,” Trower said.
Now, she lives in Indy and works as costume technician and shop manager for the IRT. She’s been at the IRT for roughly three months.
When describing her position, Trower said she’s in constant contact with the costume designers hired for plays, working to ensure the shop will be able to create the costumes on time and within the budget, and works to make sure the costumes being made are in line with what the showrunners want.
Trower will oversee the costume shop for the IRT’s upcoming productions of “A Christmas Carol,” “King James” and “Nina Simone: Four Women.”
Editor’s note: The caption of the cover photo has been edited to clarify that the Christmas tree costume was created by Kristin Boyd, but not modeled by her.
Mirror Indy reporter Breanna Cooper covers arts and culture. Email her at breanna.cooper@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @BreannaNCooper.
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