The Festival Playhouse’s winter offering, Intimate Apparel, will run from May 17-20. The award-winning play from acclaimed playwright Lynn Nottage follows the life of Esther, a youth African American woman who works as a seamstress in a 1905 New York City.

Partially based on the life of Nottage’s own great-grandmother, Director and Professor of Theatre Arts Karen Berthel describes Intimate Apparel as “a love story, a tragedy, a story of survival and success.” Berthel says that the show’s strength lies in its powerful depiction of “point of views haven’t been shared throughout history.”

With five African American characters in a cast of six, Berthel says she is “thrilled that we are doing these shows… its part of our mission to make sure that we are putting on plays that are increasing diversity at K.” Recently, the Festival Playhouse has emphasized diversity through their productions of Raisin in the Sun (2016-17), In the Heights (2016-17), and For Colored Girls (2015-16).

A love story, a tragedy, a story of survival and success

Amira Kamoo ‘19, who plays Ms. Van Buren, says that Intimate Apparel is unique because the show primarily made up of two person scenes – “just Esther and her individual relationships with [her] clients.” Theatre Arts major Karishma Singh ‘19, who plays Esther, says that the role is interesting because of how much her character changes “because of the relationship that you have with that person. It’s very interesting for me to move through the spaces and as soon as I step into that room, it’s a different feel.”

Esther is the only character who is on stage for the entirety of the play, and cast member Kat Russell ‘18 says the show does an excellent job of portraying how the race, class, and gender of her fellow characters force Ester to take on “these different personalities in order to interact the correct way.”

Clara Valenti ‘21, who is helping to design costumes, says that the centrality of clothing in the play makes the task especially complex. Because many of the costumes are supposed to be crafted by Esther, there is a “a whole added layer of theatre magic that [we] have to pull off.” Valenti says that the audience can look forward to costumes that have been designed to reflect the race, class, and identity of the characters.

Intimate Apparel will run from May 17-20, and tickets are free with student ID. All shows will start at 7:30 p.m. except for the Sunday, May 20 show, which start at 2:00 p.m. The May 17 performance will feature a talkback with the cast. Tickets can be reserved at festivalplayhouse.ludus.com.