René Millán with the cast of La Jolla Playhouse’s production of AMERICAN NIGHT: THE BALLAD OF JUAN JOSÉ, by Richard Montoya, developed by Culture Clash and Jo Bonney, directed by Jo Bonney. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Lisa Wylie calls her job “the best job in the universe,” and she giggles when she talks about the fun she’s currently having backstage as a dresser/quick-changer with the crew of American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose at La Jolla Playhouse.

After 20 years in the theater business as a wardrobe and hair person, Wylie has seen it all. But American Night, she says, is a particularly wild production as far as costume changes goes.

“There are nine actors in the show,” she tells me over the phone. “I tried to count last night and I think there are something like 75 characters. It’s only a 90-minute show, so pretty much every time you turn around, someone is changing their clothes.”

If you haven’t seen American Night, this likely sounds absurd. And if you have seen it, you know it is absurd. Wonderfully so. After watching as Teddy Roosevelt, Lewis and Clarke, Bob Dylan, Mexican police officers, Jackie Robinson, members of the KKK, and a multitude of other characters come and go from the stage, it’s easy to imagine a backstage scene of riotous confusion. But Wylie promises that by opening night, she and the crew’s three other dressers had choreographed the quick-changes into a dance of precision.

“We pretty much have it nailed down that if [the actors] reach with their left hand, their shirt’s going to be there, and if they reach with their right hand, their tie’s going to be there,” she says. “With American Night, these actors are expert quick-changers, and the cast is so funny, even backstage. We really just laugh and joke our way through the night. As long as everything is pre-set and in its place, we don’t have any worries.”

Lisa Wylie

As much as Wylie loves her job, the fun follows a good deal of hard work. Dressers, she says, are traditionally the first to arrive in the theater and the last to leave. She estimates 350 costume pieces in American Night, and each one has to be accounted for, steamed or ironed, if necessary, and then pre-set (put in the right place) each night.

“Our call before an 8:00 show is 5:00,” she says, “and we usually leave the building at 11:30. There’s also laundry to do. Actors’ costumes, if it’s next to their body, according to their union contract, have to be laundered every night. So after the show, we do that, too. It’s a big job.”

Among those estimated 350 costume pieces are 5 rolling racks worth of clothing, 30 wigs, and lots and lots of accessories. And though Wylie knows she’s good at her job, it’s these accessories that provide the confirmation.

“We have lots of gun belts and hats and mustaches. The Neil Diamond character even has fake sideburns and fake eyebrows, so there’s a lot going on,” she says. “If you are a good enough quick-changer that you can not only put on a shirt and pants but also a gun belt and hat and a lapel pin, you’re doing pretty good.”

Aside from the feel-good factor of managing all those characters and costume pieces, Wylie's job has other perks, too.

“You have surreal moments where you stand backstage and realize there’s an actor running toward you in his underwear," she says. "You think to yourself, ‘This is my job!’”

American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose runs through February 26th.