As costumes go, this show's main costume is certainly not elaborate or ornate. A pair of black sneakers, some jeans, and a black hoodie would seem to be a simple costume to find. Have you ever shopped for a black hoodie? I'm guessing if you have your requirements were something like this: black, with hood. Besides the optional feature of a zipper down the front, this wardrobe staple seems fairly standard and certainly easy enough to find. But the eleven rejected hoodies hanging in the wardrobe room beg to differ. Who knew black hoodies could vary as much as they do?
In addition to the typical demands of size and shape, the hoodie needs to fill a few requirements. This show is very active and Matt spends the entire time under hot lights, so the hoodie needs to be light weight. The hood on the hoodie is also crucial, as it plays a major role in the show. Matt favors the double weight hood, where the inside of the hood is the same texture as the outside, and it needs to be large enough to hide his face. The hoodie that was lightweight had a single layer hood, so that was out. But the hoodies with the larger hoods tend to be too bulky. There was even talk at one point of dissecting the hoodies and putting the hood from an XL hoodie on the body of a smaller hoodie, although this Franken-hoodie idea was quickly dismissed. Matt is now wearing a hoodie that is lightweight enough and has a good double layer hood. It's not perfect and needs to be stretched out before it is worn, but in the surprisingly varied world of the black hoodie, it is as close as we could hope to get.
Zoë Chapin is the Assistant Stage Manager for Clay.
