The Loras Players team came out on top, winning $500 for the Best in Show category last Saturday at “Project Runway: Dubuque Style,” hosted by Broadway and Hollywood costumer and Loras alum Barak Stribling (’81).
The day began with Stribling calling out, “Good morning, designers!” to the 47 eager participants seated in St. Joseph’s auditorium in Hoffmann Hall.
Stribling aimed to emulate fashion consultant Tim Gunn, who mentors contestants on the hit reality TV show “Project Runway” on which last Saturday’s event was based. The “designers” formed 11 teams representing George Washington Middle School, Mazzuchelli Catholic Middle School, Dubuque Senior High School, Rising Star Productions, Fly-By-Night Productions and the Loras Players. The day for the designers began at 8 a.m. and lasted until the end of the runway show at 9:30 p.m.
This event was sponsored by Duck Tape® and was partially inspired by the company’s Stuck at Prom® promotion that invited high school students to create prom outfits entirely out of duct tape and post pictures of themselves online, with the winner earning a cash prize. Cathy Goodman, professor of communications at Loras, decided that she would use that concept and reformat it so that she could have Barak Stribling come back and help commemorate the 100 Years of Loras Players. Goodman wanted something that would “involve the community” and wanted to feature Barak Stribling because he “made it” in the industry. She is a huge fan of the reality T.V. show “Project Runway” and loves the phrasing that Tim Gunn uses. Duck Tape® agreed to sponsor “Project Runway: Dubuque Style” and provided 312 rolls of colorful and zany Duck Tape® for the designers to use for their costumes. Besides the thrill of creative design and having fun, designers had the extra incentive of bringing a cash prize back to their school, community theatre organization or non-profit organization.
Before the frenzied costume creating began, Loras sophomore Charlene Becicka remarked that she was excited to “make other connections with other people who do theatre in the community.” She would later have a great opportunity to do this because the Loras Players team – which included Whitney Arnold, sophomore Steven Dobihal, Alex McCarthy, Courtney Rippoli, and Becicka – would be working in the same room as the team from Rising Star Productions. A student from Mazzuchelli said she wanted to do “something different instead of watching cartoons on a Saturday morning.” The more experienced team from Fly-By-Night productions stated that they joined the competition because they “love the creative process” and remarked that all of their members were directors and were very involved with their community theatre.
A hush came over the excited designers as Barak Stribling made his preliminary introductions, and then Cathy Goodman reviewed the point system that would be used during the judging that evening. Next a team member picked a character name from a sewing kit box. Each team would have to design the costume and present a back story for their character which they would present to the judges during the runway event.
A sixty-second shopping spree came next. Earlier, a person from each team had grabbed a pair of scissors out of a bag. This pair of scissors had a number on it that determined the order in which teams could go “shopping.” On the table and scattered on the stage were rolls of wallpaper, shredded paper strips, newspapers, rolls of paper, and stacks of hundreds of Duck Tape® rolls in little boxes. After some fifteen minutes of initial planning about what kind of materials they could use, each team stampeded on stage for one minute, frantically shoving items into a big plastic bag. Teams were told at the beginning that they could use up to 20 rolls of Duck Tape®. The colors were outrageous: Funky Flamingo, Camouflage, Atomic Yellow, Blue, Leopard Print, Blaze Orange, Brown, Island Lime, Purple, Chrome, Plaid, Tie-Dye, Teal, Zebra Print and Flames.
After the hectic “shopping,” designers were hit by a “curveball” typical of any reality T.V. competition. Their scissors that had decided the order also had some pieces of colored tape on them, and these patches of color represented a penalty or perk that a team received. For example, the Rising Star team was awarded a pair of scissors for each team member—a perk that gave them advantage over all the other teams who had to share one pair of scissors between them. That same team was also penalized, however, by another team’s perk—Rising Star was forced to display the Flames and Plaid Duck Tape® on their costume even thought it did not fit in with what they had in mind for their character. Other groups had Duck Tape® or other materials stolen from them by opposing teams. After all of these changes, some teams were left feeling frustrated, while others, such as the Loras Players team who was assigned an Extra-Terrestrial costume, seemed to be just as happy with this shift in the game.
Beth Jenn, a Loras ’09 alumna, said that she and the other members from the Rising Star team decided to participate to “get [our] name out there” and have some fun. Megan Schumacher, director at Rising Star Productions, said she thought it was “awesome to meet Barak because he costumed on Broadway…I can’t want to talk to him.” In regards to the Project Runway event itself, Schumacher said, “I love that [Loras] is doing it. We all want to be on the show. I watch it all the time.”
Armed with their supplies, teams sprinted to their designated rooms in Hoffmann, where they were often forced to share their space with one or two other teams. The pressure was on, and each team pulled out all the stops while competing for prize money for their school, community theatre or favorite non-profit organization. To make the proceedings fair, teams were set up to compete against groups with comparable skill levels – middle school vs. middle school, high school vs. high school, and community theatre groups vs. Loras Players. The two high school teams were actually both from Dubuque Senior and enjoyed taunting one another across the room. Middle school teams got into the spirit as well and fired up their imaginations while coming up with interesting stories and costume designs for their characters. One design was inspired by the school’s production of “Aladdin” – the “fairy tale villainess” was a “daughter of Jafar” and the students incorporated dark, sinister colors like red and black in their impressive Duck Tape® dress.
Another “curveball” that was thrown at the contestants was the challenge of including a small pile of random stuff—for example, two pillows and an ugly green sash, or a roll of bubble wrap and a seashell necklace—into each of their design. The items in the pile could be changed—i.e., the pillows could be torn apart and their insides used for stuffing—but they must be used. The display of these items had an effect on how the costumes were scored later.
During these proceedings, Gerri Goodman sat in the seats to support her daughter, Cathy, who had worked so hard planning and organizing this event. Goodman had helped out with the other events that have helped commemorate 100 Years of Loras Players, during Karen Morrow’s performance accompanying on the piano. Goodman has seen four children graduate from Loras and she is also proud of her husband, a Loras alum, who designed St. Joseph Auditorium’s light board, part of which is still used at Loras today.
A few teams came very prepared, with their own mannequin just like on“Project Runway.” Each had their own table to work with, and some sketched their designs on the boards in the room. One team received a wild card as their character assignment so they chose to design a costume for a woman in Phantom of the Opera. In another room, Loras Players shared their scissors to cut out individual scales for the skin of their alien costume. Their room was full of laughs as they pretended to be on the actual show, dramatically declaring “This was my dream!” and getting along well with their competition working alongside them. The Rising Star team struggled to figure out how to incorporate the Flame tape which clashed with their original color scheme. They triumphed in turning lemons into lemonade, however, when they were given a lot of purple and yellow tape. They were assigned a “show girl” character who they originally wanted to be called “Lola.” Considering the color of their Duck Tape®, however, they changed their character’s name to “Loras.”
As they worked away, hunger pains were staved off by the food provided by Cathy Goodman—an assortment of muffins, apples, water bottles, milk—and their own parents. Goodman remarked that the moms and dads of middle school and high school students were so supportive, and that about 20 parents helped out by nourishing the young designers.
The students from the acting group Troupe 69 work as costume supervisors at Dubuque Senior High School and are used to being “incredibly creative.” A few of their team members were going to move onto an All-State Competition in Forensics in Speech. When asked why they were participating at the event at Loras, they said, “We want to use our skills and expand on them.”
Doug Donald, professor of communication arts and director of the Loras Players, found himself torn between cheering on his wife who worked with Fly-By-Night Productions and supporting the Loras Players team. Afterwards, he said the event was “a long day but fun.” What will happen with all of those extra rolls of Duck Tape®? Most of them will stay with the Loras Players and possibly be used for set pieces or costumes in the future.
The three judges were Dubuque Senior High School’s director for thirty years, Fran Hederman; Barak Stribling’s mother, Loretta Stribling; and bridal consultant Briana Botsford, who was so intrigued by the Project Runway event that she came from Madison, WI to judge it. Other curious volunteers included two girls from Hempstead High School. Erika Davis said, “My grandma told me about it and I thought it was kind of exciting.” Caitlin Hughes thought the idea was “really cool” and she was “excited to see what you could make out of Duck Tape®.” The two girls laughingly reported that they had received some hostile looks from contestants who suspected them being spies from another team, which indicated how seriously some teams were taking the competition.
Like his T.V. persona Tim Gunn, Barak Stribling went around a few times to check in on the designers. He gave encouragement and tips to teams, pumping them up if they were feeling discouraged.
In between critiques, this reporter was able to interview Stribling about his feelings about the Project Runway event and his experiences in the costume industry. He was excited to come back to Loras to help out and recalled that even after he graduated, he helped make costumes for the Loras Players. He also watches every season of the show Project Runway, so he knew it would be a lot of fun to host it here. He spoke of his mother teaching him to sew costumes while he sat in front of the television as a boy growing up in Dubuque.
After graduating from Loras in 1981, he set off to New York City but found after a while that he didn’t like the Big Apple as much, and a few years later he got a place in Jersey City. Stribling initially wanted to go into design, but after a while he discovered that he preferred simply making the costumes. He said, “[Design] is not where I get my kicks. When you’re making clothes, however, you still use a designer’s eye.” For instance, Stribling remarked that some designers would tell him to create something with a “pastel blue feeling”—an absurdly unspecific instruction. In cases like that, he has to rely even more on his own creativity to come up with a costume. Now Stribling rents a large space and has 11 people working for him. In regard to the life he is living now, the Broadway and Hollywood costumer states that he “never planned it. Life is what happens when you are making other plans.” He has great passion for his work and says that he still finds it fun.
Stribling shared the differences between costuming for movies and Broadway shows and related his adventures in outfitting superstars and superheroes, making costumes for 22 out of 28 NFL mascots and creating about 200 Tony the Tigers for Kellog’s. Currently, Stribling is planning on making some more costumes for Katy Perry’s tour, as he’s already costumed some of her holiday concerts. When asked how he thought Project Runway—Dubuque Style was going so far, he said, “It’s going great. I’m really excited about all the vitality. It should be fun.”
Some contestants remarked that it was “easier than expected,” while others felt the stress of costumes not coming together correctly. Most teams worked well into the afternoon, towards 2 or 3 p.m., took a break, and then came back around 5 or 6 p.m. The team for the Loras Players worked til 4:40 p.m., took an hour break, and then returned at 6 p.m. to continue working on their alien costume. Finally, at 7:30, the main event was about to begin.
First, a film was shown that featured Stribling’s extensive costume work throughout the years. Doug then introduced Stribling and took the stage, opening up about his beginnings in Dubuque, his first job in a costume shop in N.Y.C., and the reasons for why he loved costuming. The audience laughed along as he related tales about the people he had worked with and gave listeners a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes of show biz. Stribling shared some tricks of the trade, like using hair extensions instead of gorilla fur on a costume. He then responded to audience questions on his life and his preferences. Stribling said his favorite show was “Chaplin” because it spanned such a long period of time, from 1917—1975, and he created the costumes for all of the women with speaking parts.
Finally, the climax of the design teams’ day arrived: the runway show. Each model paraded across the stage with the designers in tow and each team had two minutes, or “until the duck quacks” to explain their characters’ back story and their design. The audience oohed and ahhed the designs and occasionally burst into laughter at some of the more humorous designs and stories, such as the Fly-By-Nights’ vampire and the Extra-Terrestrial of the Loras Players. After all 11 teams finished and while the judges deliberated, the Loras Media team played their film of the interviews they did and shots they had taken during the day, giving the audience a glimpse of the designers’ experience.
After hours of preparation and hard work, the judges finally made their decision. In each group of teams competing, there were cash prizes awarded to first, second, and third place winners. In the end, the Loras Players won Best of Show and were given $500 towards the theatre department. When asked about her reaction, Loras Players model Charlene Becicka, a sophomore, said, “Oh my gosh, I was completely shocked!” Whitney Arnold, a designer for Loras Players, enjoyed getting to know other people but also being able to work on a project with her fellow Duhawks. “To make something in a day was awesome. I’ll probably never get to do that again,” she said.
Alex McCarthy of the Loras Players remarked to Doug Donald, “We need to make this an annual event.” Another designer from the Rising Star company agreed and said that she would love to come back another year. The sum of the cash prizes awarded to all teams totaled $900, all of which was made possible by grants from the city of Dubuque. Cathy Goodman was extremely satisfied with the event overall and was impressed with all of the participants, saying, “They definitely had a blast!”
