Paris Francesca was a classic theatre kid while attending Rockville High School in the early aughts.
“I would star in the show. I would help choreograph the shows, and then I started helping costuming the show,” she said.
Following her 2010 graduation, she went to Hampton University in Virginia, where she majored in technical theater with a concentration in costume and design. “It was great. I worked every show from there until I graduated,” said the Bethesda resident.
Thanks to her father, who worked in musical theatre, she got her first gig at City of Peace at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in D.C. and has never stopped researching, designing and creating costumes that have been used in most area theatres. “Literally from there, I’ve been working since then,” which is great, she said, “because it’s a hard industry to get into.”
When Francesca accepts a job, she reads the script “a bazillion times,” paying attention to the stage directions. Next, she researches the setting and the period the show denotes. Then she looks at any past productions, chats with the director and finally begins putting her ideas on paper.
Her most recent job, “Hello Dolly” at Olney Theatre, had an interesting wrinkle. Not only was Dolly portrayed by a Black actress, but Director Kevin McAllister wanted a “more grounded Dolly. He didn’t want a Black actress playing a white character,” she said. “We wanted Dolly to be Black,” she explained.
She began envisioning fabrics popular during the 1890s, adding, “Kevin [McAllister] said he wanted a “Where’s Waldo” effect – where you looked on the stage, you can always see her.”
For Francesca that meant sticking with a brocade fabric that was popular in those days, but using a cheetah print, clearly not an outfit that would have fit in more than 100 years ago. During the show, this Dolly even wears pants, which was not done in the 1890s. “For our Dolly, it was fitting,” she said.
For “Hello Dolly,” which runs at the Olney through Jan. 4, she also created costumes for Horace and Irene Molloy. Outfits for the ensemble were designed by Julie Cray-Leong.
Francesca has already moved on to her next project, designing costumes for “Frosty the Snowman” at Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo. After that, she will build costumes for Theatre J’s “Chanukah in the Dark.” She also works with Step Afrika.
“They are very different shows. They require very different things,” she said. “It never gets boring. There is something different every day, every month.”
Like the actors, Francesca is not immune to opening night jitters. While she often wishes she could change a thing or two, she said “it feels dreamlike” to see her creative visions flourish on stage.
In fact, many of her design ideas come from her dreams. “I come up with some of my best ideas when I am asleep, and then I wake up and I sketch them.”
Her advice to anyone desiring to be a costume designer is “go for it! If you like it, totally do it.”
