A Senior Project in the Intensive Music Major for Jackie Lee

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Imagine a world where one piece of apocalyptic news is followed by another, where humanity’s self-extinction is an ever looming threat, and your opinion of mankind sinks lower and lower every waking moment. Ok, now stop imagining. It’s this one. Well, at least it is for Pike, a pessimistic misanthrope disenchanted with the state of the world. Mars Dome is an uplifting musical comedy about Pike’s attempt to escape the world’s problems by going on a manned mission to Mars, but he finds love and learns to appreciate life on Earth as he trains to leave it all behind. This show seeks to explore the idea that life doesn’t have to be perfect to be worth living and remind us there’s still good on this planet worth sticking around for.

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Mars Dome was my first foray into costuming an ensemble by myself, having previously only worked either on shows with smaller casts or alongside a team. The show featured quirky one-off characters, such as a conspiracy theorist or off-brand Dungeons & Dragons creatures. One of my largest challenges was figuring out how to construct a false belly out of a pillow and flip phones for a pickpocketing scammer. With each actor sometimes playing several characters throughout a single musical number, I had to work through quick changes as well as a limited budget, pulling most of the pieces used from each actor's own wardrobe. Some of my favorite projects from this production include designing a space training program's logo and meticulously cutting out and hand ironing each onto a t-shirt, as well as crafting goblin ears and picking out an astronaut suit for our lead. A more intense costuming process than what I was used to, I loved every second of it and knew that it was something that I wanted to continue to pursue in the future.

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Performed April 29-May 1, 2022.