No problem. Understandable. I edited my first post to make my intent clearer.
Alan Cumming made a special point to thank the dresser who painted the swastika on his rear every night, proving, along with Sutton Foster's nod to her dresser, that actors do appreciate the extra effort put forth by dressers, that they understand that teh job can be difficult.
glad to see it be appreciated. from what i have read it is a real art to be good at it. some actors are grateful, but some may be hard to please (is that right? they all can't be gracious)
as far as the swastika, i always wondered why that wasn't a make up thing. i suppose they do their own make up so it would fall under dressing.
i love reading this thread. if people who have no concept it is also an eye opener. broadway is wayyyyyyyy different than movies. i know they both use dressers, but i am not even speaking of that.
thanks for all of your knowledge, experience and know how DIVA et al who has contributed with experience. the only dressers i have had are the blue rinse brigade volunteers who really do their best to relax us, get us into costume and give us encouragement. feature extras don't get dressers either. (lol) no disrespect to their ages...bunch of lovely ladies. even at that level, it is nice to have someonce care about what you look like in your costume. sometimes they take it very serious, like they are backstage somewhere huge. :)
Yea!
And back to the question.
Frankly, only a small percentage of the population should ever be seen without clothing.
Consider the tip to your dresser "hazzard pay" for having to see you without any clothes on.
^^
my husband is one of those who never understood the "tipping" thing for EVERYTHING as he put it coming to North America. I had to remind him tipping started in England at the Tower of London and tips being left for those bringing in goods under the tower bridge.
- i think dressing actors and doing special little things for them is fantastic. you love the job, you do it well, and are appreciated i bet.
- Diva, another thing, do you get work via word of mouth by other actors, or recommendation? have you had any unappreciative "diva" types who really don't give a toss about you or are rude and ungrateful? there has to be at least one. i would not expect any names, just curious.
with your experience, is it a kind of a job where you would only do the big names or do you go where hired? i suspect they only want very experienced people for the big names/shows. it is like any career or profession. you hire the best so you get the quality of service you want.
How does one become involved in this line of work? It sounds exactly like what I'd like to be doing. TheatreDiva, those anecdotes are ridiculously fascinating.
BWW can be so catty and uninteresting, but then you find a thread like this and remember why you came here in the first place!
I get work in various ways. I do a lot of designing and dress when I can.
I've had every type of performer you can think of. But, where one person sees trouble, I see an opportunity to make the show run smoother.
I really need to write a book...
^ i honestly think you do. this is an aspect that i think people would love to read about. theatre people mostly perhaps, but it would catch on. i think it is great stuff!
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