Feeling Distressed

Post-grad life is exciting in many ways. I’ve gotten the opportunity to do what I love more than anything in this world: watch TV, and also get a good sense of what a freelance lifestyle can look like. Applying to jobs every morning, keeping myself in the loop, on the pulse, if you will; and sending cold emails left and right. It feels like being a publicist of nothing.

I recently finished a gig at CO/LAB theater group, a non-profit specializing in devising works for and by artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities, which has been so wonderfully refreshing. Everyone there has such a beautifully wholesome commitment to their work and each other. Good news: I enjoy stage managing theater!

Speaking to the title of this blog post, I want to take a moment to share another passion of mine in the theater world, more specifically, costume fabrication. Looking back on my time working in the undergraduate costume shop at Tisch, I had the pleasure of becoming one of the dedicated shop distressers. It’s possible that destroying is a therapeutic outlet for me, or I just have a strange adept skill for destroying things, but I came to enjoy artificially aging clothing far more than sewing or other crafts. I enjoy thinking about clothing through its wear and tear, and giving it its own tragic/dramatic story. It feels like writing or direction to decide where and when a character falls in the mud, or survives a battle.

Here are some examples of my fun times in the dye room: