Intimate Apparel Play Summary

I entered the theater building very excited about the play, “Intimate Apparel”. When I entered the theater, I was amazed by the set. I could not take it all in at one time, so I quickly found my seat and just looked at everything. I was so excited to see the play and glad to have time to sit and just enjoy myself. “Intimate Apparel,” is a play set in 1905, Lower Manhattan and the story of Esther, a thirty-five-year-old, Africa- American seamstress that makes intimate women’s apparel. She lives in a women’s boarding house where she dreams of marriage and opening a beauty parlor for African-American women. She has saved money for years and keeps it in her crazy quilt. Mrs. Dickson, the owner of the boarding house, tries to interest Esther in

There was a warm, low glow over the stage area, that begged the audience to observe the period details. The use of revelation of form lighting on the stage devoted to George’s time in Panama created a three-dimensional tent at the beginning of the play and in a later scene, the tent looked two dimensional. It was incredible that with lighting the tent could appear to change form and the illusion of nature lighting to depict moonlight was equally impressive. The lighting for the silhouettes of Esther and George and Mayme and George was very dramatic. During the play, there was a soft pink glow which softened the scenes and added to the mood. The camera flash, sound, and antique picture projected on the cloth was very realistic and impressed the audience. Using selective visibility lighting to light specific rooms on the stage worked to isolate the different scenes. I realize looking back, that my attention was focused only on the lighted areas. My favorite use of lighting was the scene where Esther, Mrs. Van Buren, and Mayme were under spotlights talking to each other after Esther’s wedding night. It was a very powerful scene.

The period music prior to the play, during the play, and during the intermission added to setting the mood and era of the early 1900s. The actress portraying Mayme did an excellent job “playing’ the piano with the music. The sound effects combined with the moonlight

What an amazing performance, I was so invested in the characters and even though I had read the play before I still hoped George would not be cruel to Esther. When I read the play, I pictured Esther as a very shy woman, but in the performance, she was not as shy and stronger. Esther’s character could have been portrayed as pathetic but she is very likable and endearing. There was a sense of optimism that Esther would rise again. I also enjoyed the humor that the actors used during several scenes, that did not really come out in the reading for me. George and Mr. Marks’ accents were terrific and all the actors are talented and brought dimension to the characters. I fell in love with all the characters except for George, just because his character was such a scoundrel. The actor portraying George did an amazing job and his transition from the George in the letters to the unkind George was seamless. Mrs. Dickson had attitude, sass, and a wonderful stage presence. She developed a relationship with the audience. I think Mayme was my favorite, she was completely into her character and she had amazing stage presence as well. She played her part to perfection. Mrs. Van Buren was adorable and I really felt for her struggle and unhappiness. Marriages during that era were basically for the benefit of males and Mrs. Van Buren is a casualty of that period. Mr. Marks was so loveable and easy to like. The actor playing his character did such a great