Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Dressing Ricky Martin

I sat down at The Civic Theater to talk to Mary Harris about dressers and wardrobe.

Mary got into costumes on a whim about 20 years ago at the Pine Hills Lodge in Julian.

"One of the guys in a show up there was a stage hand for the local 22 and saw my work. He told me the 905 could use an over hire for the costume shop. I called the business agent at the time and got my name on the list."

The local 22 is the stage hand's union and the 905 is the local wardrobe union.

I had no idea what an over hire was.

"When we're doing a show and we're really busy we would hire extra people--this is back in the day, we don't really do this anymore--but back when the costume shop was in the theater and we did all the sewing here and all the fittings here, there weren't enough people in the union to do the work so they would bring in extra people as over hires to complete the project. There were only about 20 people in the union back then but now there are 50. I put my name on the list and they called me."

You may wonder what other theaters use union dressers and wardrobe.

"The Sports Arena, The Center for the Arts in Escondido. The Balboa Theater has the same parent company as The Civic so they're both union houses. The Globe doesn't, The Rep doesn't, and The Playhouse doesn't. Of course the smaller companies don't either."

Mary got into the 905 through the San Diego Opera costume shop and is the department head on the theater side.

"My responsibility is every piece of wardrobe that comes to the theater. It's my responsibility to get it here, rack it, count it, take care of it, repair it, wash it, whatever needs to be done to get it onto stage for a rehearsal."

What about the Broadway San Diego shows?

"Oh, with Broadway San Diego I just go in as a regular worker. I go in, sometimes I do laundry. Sometimes I dress a principal, sometimes I dress the chorus. I'm just a worker bee. The touring shows always have wardrobe people with them. Usually there's at least one but there can be two or three on the bigger shows. I take my instruction from them. There's always a union steward on to coordinate the show schedule."

What shows come to the Sports Arena besides Dancing with the Stars?

"There's a lot of one day shows like So You Think You can Dance but the Disney on Ice shows will come through and those are four or five days. I did costumes on the Rockettes. That was three days and it was the first time The Rockettes had ever been to the West Coast. They were really great and that was a big show but most of the time the arena shows are one day. Every now and then you get a band that's really hot and they'll do two days. When I worked on 'N Sync and Ricky Martin, they both had two shows."

So there you have it. If you want to help Ricky Martin or The Rockettes get dressed, join the local 905.

Mary Harris

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Best Kratom Capsules: Top Brands, Benefits & Where To Buy

Next Article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema

I sat down at The Civic Theater to talk to Mary Harris about dressers and wardrobe.

Mary got into costumes on a whim about 20 years ago at the Pine Hills Lodge in Julian.

"One of the guys in a show up there was a stage hand for the local 22 and saw my work. He told me the 905 could use an over hire for the costume shop. I called the business agent at the time and got my name on the list."

The local 22 is the stage hand's union and the 905 is the local wardrobe union.

I had no idea what an over hire was.

"When we're doing a show and we're really busy we would hire extra people--this is back in the day, we don't really do this anymore--but back when the costume shop was in the theater and we did all the sewing here and all the fittings here, there weren't enough people in the union to do the work so they would bring in extra people as over hires to complete the project. There were only about 20 people in the union back then but now there are 50. I put my name on the list and they called me."

You may wonder what other theaters use union dressers and wardrobe.

"The Sports Arena, The Center for the Arts in Escondido. The Balboa Theater has the same parent company as The Civic so they're both union houses. The Globe doesn't, The Rep doesn't, and The Playhouse doesn't. Of course the smaller companies don't either."

Mary got into the 905 through the San Diego Opera costume shop and is the department head on the theater side.

"My responsibility is every piece of wardrobe that comes to the theater. It's my responsibility to get it here, rack it, count it, take care of it, repair it, wash it, whatever needs to be done to get it onto stage for a rehearsal."

What about the Broadway San Diego shows?

"Oh, with Broadway San Diego I just go in as a regular worker. I go in, sometimes I do laundry. Sometimes I dress a principal, sometimes I dress the chorus. I'm just a worker bee. The touring shows always have wardrobe people with them. Usually there's at least one but there can be two or three on the bigger shows. I take my instruction from them. There's always a union steward on to coordinate the show schedule."

What shows come to the Sports Arena besides Dancing with the Stars?

"There's a lot of one day shows like So You Think You can Dance but the Disney on Ice shows will come through and those are four or five days. I did costumes on the Rockettes. That was three days and it was the first time The Rockettes had ever been to the West Coast. They were really great and that was a big show but most of the time the arena shows are one day. Every now and then you get a band that's really hot and they'll do two days. When I worked on 'N Sync and Ricky Martin, they both had two shows."

So there you have it. If you want to help Ricky Martin or The Rockettes get dressed, join the local 905.

Mary Harris

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Lil' Paul Williams (who made Kensington history in 1983) is STILL ALIVE!

Next Article

U-T Drops Hawkers

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.