A Thousand Acres
Des Moines Metro Opera
July 2022
For this production of A Thousand Acres, presented at the Blank Performing Arts Center, I held the title of Costume Shop Assistant Manager. My duties included: assisting the design process, shopping for costume pieces, hosting fittings with performers, hand crafting costumes and performing alterations.
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres is a modern retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear set on a farm in Iowa in the late 1970s told from the point of view of Ginny, the oldest of three daughters. Larry Cook, a prominent farmer, announces at a family gathering that he has decided to divide his thousand acres between his three daughters. While Ginny and Rose acquiesce to their father's wishes, Caroline demurs and enrages her father. Ginny tries to hold the family together but Rose, recovering from cancer treatment and fearful for the fate of her two daughters, is unrepentant in her criticism both of Caroline's selfishness and Larry's bullying nature. As Larry descends into rage and dementia, all the buried family secrets are finally laid bare.