How to turn Children into Fish
Costuming: Finding Nemo, Junior.
By Cheryl Newman
WSTB Note: Costuming for an adult productions is daunting enough. Undertaking the outfitting children as animals and creatures typical of a junior production is a challenge in an entirely different league. Cheryl Newman share how she met the challenge of costuming the cast of Nemo Jr.
More often than one might hope, a theatrical costume designer is tasked with turning a human shaped actor into an animal. Think The Lion King, or Charlotte’s Web, or The Little Mermaid, or a recent project of mine: Finding Nemo, JR – with about 60 kids, many of whom required 4 costumes for a one-hour show.
You might think – just buy some onesies or Halloween costume, no big deal. But the trick is to make costumes the actors can move in, that do not hide their facial expressions, that do not take away from the acting, and that represent the human elements of the character.
For example, Nemo is a clown fish – but he is also a little boy. The audience must relate to him as a little boy, because real fish don’t actually have families.
I chose to put Nemo in an orange swimsuit and rashguard, because the costume should look like it belonged in the water.
I added sparkly stripes because the director wanted maximum sparkle. Nemo wore a backwards baseball cap to look more like a little boy. An important plot point is that Nemo has a “lucky fin” that is smaller that the other one. I attached fins to the sleeve, cut off one sleeve and made that fin smaller. Nemo also had a tail on the back.
Marlin, Nemo’s dad, had a similar costume, but with pants and a bucket hat to look more like a dad.
Dory is a completely different kind of fish. She is a child-like character, so I wanted a little girl style dress, with ruffles. I added yellow gloves to look like fins and a tail. Sequins represent fish scales, and a headband helped hide the hair. Fish don’t have hair – it was an ongoing issue. We pulled Dory’s hair back with blue sequined clips to add more sparkle and look like a fin.
My favorite character is Crush – a sea turtle who is absolutely a surfer dude with a bunch of kids. I used tie dye, baggy shorts, and hats that change the actors’ head shape to look more like turtles. For Crush, I chose slick, shiny fabrics with a reptile print.
Another challenge was an octopus who had to ink herself onstage. Her pink belt has strips of black satin hidden inside. When she pulled on the velcro, the “ink” fell out.
This show has so many sea creatures: lobsters, sharks, a barracuda, a grouper, eels, a manta ray:
For each type of fish, I included elements to reference the shape: bell bottoms to look like tail fins, gloves with fins sewn on, headbands with fins – and giant wings for the manta ray.
For each type of fish, I included elements to reference the shape: bell bottoms to look like tail fins, gloves with fins sewn on, headbands with fins – and giant wings for the manta ray.
I believe this show set a new personal record for amount of sequins onstage. Luckily, I had a dedicated team of parent helpers. I gave each a bag with supplies and a sample, and they worked quickly. I was sad to see this show close. Many children’s theaters have Finding Nemo in their seasons this year – hopefully I shared a few fun ideas.
The next time you go to a show, pay attention to how many costumes there are.
Cheryl Newman recently quit her day job to do theater stuff. She is currently the costume designer for Wheaton North High School, BAM Children’s theater in Hinsdale and Brightside Theater in Naperville. She also directs wherever she can, currently it’s the Drowsy Chaperone in Westmont. Come see it!