CC's Costume Designer

By DONNA LADD

Typsy Ames is a big believer in how talent and hard work pay off.

Now Colorado College's costume designer, Ames remembers how, as a science major in 1978, she volunteered to work on a TheatreWorks production at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. The director of the production needed help with costumes and Ames, who had years of experience with the textile arts and sewed part-time for a living, volunteered her services.

"I was given the entire production to design and construct in six weeks," she says. "It was kinda like throwing a baby in water - they'll either sink or swim."

Even though she'd never had a formal costuming class, Ames was a big hit, as was the production. She did so well that she was asked back again and again, allowing her to build an impressive portfolio.

"Those early productions were a real revelation for me," Ames recalls. "They put everything I love about textiles, the arts and literature into one splendid package. That's what made me switch my majors."

With her impressive portfolio and growing reputation, she applied for the open costuming job at CC. "When I came for my interview, I showed Jim (Malcolm) what I had done and that did it."

Hired in early spring, one of her first productions was "Hair," quite fitting for a seamstress whose long dark hair stops at the small of her back.

Now an associate adjunct professor, Ames directs the costuming for about three dramatic performances and one dance production per year. She also teaches costume design and runs the costuming shop.

"I like really big productions that are hard to do," she says. "For example, 'Winter's Tale,' a stylized production with Russian folk costumes, required lots of research." Her time paid off well, yielding impressive, dramatic headdresses of silk, pearls, feathers and various other materials.

Costume design requires much more than stitching a few pieces of material together, Ames says, particularly for period productions.

"I see drama as a collaborative process," she says. "The director supplies the concept and the entire design team works together to bring that concept to life."

Theater is very deadline-oriented, always culminating in a last-minute rush of adrenaline before a show opens. Ames says it takes her, on average, three weeks to design a big show and another six weeks to build it. There are many days when no one in the Armstrong costume shop gets any sleep.

"On several occasions, we've seen the sun go down and come up the next morning," she says.

In general, though, she thrives on the craziness leading up to show time. "I really like it when the shop's cooking, when everyone is here and in a good mood. I'm fortunate to have a good job in Colorado Springs where I can practice my craft."

Ames oversees a staff of five. She also has four to five students at a time who help out, often coming from outside the department.

"Students are very enthusiastic about theater at this school," she says. "They're smart and enthusiastic - and busy."

Big productions take every hand Ames can find to help out. She recalls that, for "Our Country's Good," even the play's director helped out. "He sewed on buttons," she says.

Born in New York, she left the Big Apple when she was seven and grew up in Europe and other places. When she married in 1968, she and her husband Greg "packed up all of our stuff in a big truck and started driving. Here's where we stopped because we liked the looks of the mountains."

She remembers looking at the hillside and seeing the lights on the then-operational Manitou incline. "It was magical. The lights appeared to go right up into the night sky."

Although Ames enjoys the Springs, she tries to get away at least a couple of times a year. She's looking forward to a sabbatical from teaching next semester that will take her to Morocco and Turkey, money permitting, to study Middle Eastern costumes.

In addition to her work at CC, Ames free-lances costume design for clients such as the Colorado Opera Festival and Opera Colorado in Denver. Of course, those productions require much more money to stage.

"Turandot," for example, had 200 costumes, "and that's lots of yards of fabric," she says.

The project's scope can be much bigger in opera, too. In "Lucia di Lammermoor," the leading lady had four costumes and each took an average of 30 to 40 hours to make.

"But I love opera," she says. "It involves so many different talents. And it's great to be a part of such a great thing."

Ames, who has won several awards, is particularly honored that a rose bush (named "Fashion") has been planted outside the entrance of the Pikes Peak Center in celebration of her work.

"I really do love my job. Costuming is an art form to me," she says. "I feel very fortunate to have found a career that gives me such joy and satisfaction."

Donna Ladd is a free-lance writer who lives in Colorado Springs.

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