Daniel Does DFW Theater
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Daniel Does DFW Theater
Where Does This Live (with Hope Cox)
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Join us on this episode of Daniel Does DFW Theater as we explore costume design with our special guest, the incredibly talented costume designer Hope Cox. Hope shares her unique journey from fashion design to becoming a sought-after name in the Dallas-Fort Worth theater scene. From her early days inspired by her seamstress mom to her work on productions at Theater Arlington and Jubilee Theatre, Hope gives us a behind-the-scenes look at her creative process, including her upcoming full design show at the Dallas Theater Center. We even flirt with the idea of collaborating with the drag community to elevate the wig game in local theater.
In the next segment, we spotlight her as an unexpected hero in the theater world—a Lewisville resident who offered their sewing skills via a simple email and found themselves thrust into the demanding world of costume design with the show "La Cage Aux Folles." We trace her career growth, celebrating her willingness to embrace every opportunity. To lighten the mood, we play a hilarious game of color identification, revealing humorous and unexpected results that had us all laughing out loud.
Our final chapters are a must-listen for aspiring costume designers and theater enthusiasts alike. We navigate through the art and science of costume design, discussing everything from initial script read-throughs to the importance of color theory and character alignment. Hope shares insightful anecdotes from productions like "Rocky Horror" and "James and the Giant Peach Jr.," emphasizing the importance of self-advocacy and open communication between designers and actors. We wrap up with a fun and informative segment where Hope demonstrates her stoning technique, and we share playful behind-the-scenes stories. This episode is packed with laughter, creativity, and a deep appreciation for the magic of theater.
If you want to catch all the action, you can watch the full episode video at YouTube.com/@DanielDoesDFW. Follow us on Instagram and Tik Tok: @DanielDoesDFW
Hi guys and welcome back to Daniel Does DFW Theater. My name is Daniel and this is where we talk about everything theater plus really Well, no, it's only theater. Probably Like every single week, I have an amazing guest to join me that I'm super excited about, you know, and you love them so much. If you don't know them, you need to know them. Today I have the wonderful, the beautiful, the marvelous, the fabulous Hope Cox. Hi, thanks for joining me, hope.
Speaker 2Thank you for having me. She's fabulous. Yeah, just like you, her. So Hope your pronouns are.
Speaker 1She, hope. Thank you for having me. This is fabulous, yeah, just like you, so Hope, your pronouns are she, her, she, her, thank you. Now, I know that we've worked on a couple shows together now, or maybe just no two shows together through Theater Arlington, but you are a pretty sought-after designer here, don't be ashamed of it. Yeah, you are a pretty sought after designer here, don't be ashamed of it. Yeah, you are, yeah, pretty sought after designer here in the area, um, that everyone wants to work with, right? Um, I know that, uh, you've worked at, I mean, theater arlington jubilee. Uh, you've done some high school shows as well.
Speaker 2All right green hill. Green Hill School in Addison.
Speaker 1And then any other regional theaters or anything that oh DTC right, dtc.
Speaker 2I have my first full design show coming up this summer, but I've assisted twice, last fall and then January, and then I also do stuff over at Water Tower.
Speaker 1Oh nice, I didn't know you did Water Tower as well.
Speaker 2I like it there. It's very close to my house.
Speaker 1Before we really get into it, I do want to ask you a very, very tough question. Somebody wrote in on our questions for Hotsy Questions and I'm going to read it verbatim why so many ugly wigs in DFW? Because none of us know how to do wigs literally okay, can I tell you before we like get into it? I wanted to ask you that too. I was like I need to ask her before we get into you.
Speaker 3Actually it made me laugh though that's something right in.
Speaker 1Why somebody ugly, why? Why is that the question you send in?
Speaker 2You're not wrong, though, because that's like a whole different art form and a whole different practice from costume design. Yeah, we'll like get into a little bit of it and we'll learn it, like throughout. But there are like wig designers and people who like Michael B Moore. Michael B Moore, people who go to school for it. Logan Coley, broker designers and people might be more people who go to school for it logan coley, broker fabulous um. Nick winch over at dtc, um oh, and there's another one.
Speaker 3I don't know that he's ready for people to know that he's a weak designer yet, but he just did steal magnolias so if you look in the playbill you'll see who it is.
Speaker 1But he's fabulous, oh love it, yeah, and then I know that, like um, isaiah has even done some really yeah, okay, yeah, I know, isaiah has put together some wigs as well or designed them as well, um, but yeah, okay, so I just so I was like, why ugly wigs?
Speaker 2I'm just like listen please theaters, when you're hiring a costume designer also hire a wig designer, please? That'd be great. There's so many talented ones.
Speaker 1I was worried about the wigs too. I'm glad they got snatched real quick. Looked like Latrice right off just ripping that wig right off of Derrick Barry. Let's also go into the drag community and bring some of them in to do wigs, ripping that wig right off of Derrick Barry.
Speaker 2Let's also go into the drag community and bring some of them in to do wigs, because they know what they're doing.
Speaker 1Maybe we should tap into that I would love that yeah agreed, Okay. So let's back to Hope. Let's have some Hope in our life. Let's backtrack even more. How old are you? Are you comfortable saying how old are you? I'm 31. The smile behind it I earned those years Well, because you still look like you were like 22. Oh, you fully admit that.
Speaker 1Black don't crack. So here we are, and brown, don't frown. We are sad people. No, yeah, no, you still. Honestly, I think the first time I met you I was like, oh, she's so young. And then we were like pretty much the same age, we are the same. I'm younger, yes, so yeah, no, you are so young. Did you go to school for design? What did you do? What was?
Speaker 2so I originally started with fashion design. Okay, do I like?
Speaker 1what? What was your inspiration for fashion design?
Speaker 2did you say, like five years old, I've been like sewing and designing because my mom, she was a seamstress growing up but like I would make outfits for my Barbies, my aunt she used to collect China dolls so I would send her like full renderings of what I wanted the outfit to be. Then she would like send it back. So I was like full down for fashion design. And then I went to school, went to the wrong school for fashion design. It was a lot more commercial and I was like, oh, this kind of sucks, because like I've been working my whole life to be a fashion designer and it just wasn't enough. I needed something with a little bit more zhuzh and more drama. And I found my way to theater.
Speaker 1Um, now have you seen like those tiktoks of that one lady who does the, she makes the dresses that like her grandmother. I thought that was so cool, yeah, and I did stuff like that.
Speaker 2Growing up like I made my own outfits. I remember my fifth grade graduation dress. It was like satin baby blue with little bows on it and I had a little shawl to go with it.
Speaker 1I'm actually wearing that later. She brought it for us today, surprise, and I fit into it. Well, this one arm does the applique, it's on top of me. No, I think that's so. Do you still have some of those drawings or some of those?
Speaker 2I don't think I do. I think my mom does, like probably does. She also will randomly take like current things that I have and steal notebooks. So I'll be like where's that sketchbook that? I was like in the middle of a show and she'll be like, oh, hold on. And then she'll give it back.
Speaker 1I love that so much that's so cute, though she real supported well, and I'm sure as her, being a seamstress as well. Right like that was something that she did.
Speaker 2She ever want to get into. She actually did interior design.
Speaker 1Yeah, my family's very creative we need to talk about a shirt that I saw the other day that looked like it was a couch, but it was a shirt was it like the 90s floral? Yeah, I feel like I know you're talking about it, but it was 155 dollars and I was like hope can make this.
Speaker 2I hope so how many hope funds we got in there there's no hope in me stopping.
Speaker 1So um, so you found a theater to take a chance on you, right? Um, tell me, are you allowed to say which theater you said? It was like far away, or?
Speaker 2Oh no, it was Louisville Community Theater, oh so.
Color Identification Game and Theater Journey
Speaker 1I was thank you, louisville, for producing and making this.
Speaker 2Honestly, I learned so much at lewisville because I was, and still am living in lewisville, and so I randomly typed in lewisville and theater and, just like in google, first thing that popped up clicked on it sent them an email being like, hey, I know how to sew and design.
Speaker 2I'd love to learn more about theater because I've never done anything theater related before that. And so they sent me an email like right away, cause they were two weeks out from La Cage Aux Folles and like the fabric had just come in and there were so many custom things that they were making. So they were like, yeah, that'd be great. So I went in like the next day they handed me a bag of things that needed to be sewn. I stayed up for like two days straight, came in the bag and I was like what's next? And so I just kind of kept going and like with that show and like so many shows after that, like my first three or four shows I was working with like DFW heavy hitters, like Lon Barrera, doug Fowler, like Cameron Potts all of them were on those like first couple of shows and I didn't know that they were big DFW names.
Speaker 2I was just like oh, they're so nice, they're so cool. And so, through word of mouth, more theater started taking a chance on me.
Speaker 1I love that. That's a hard show, though, I would think, to start into. You couldn't pick something easy.
Speaker 2I didn't know my dad knew the show more than I did. Because I didn't know my dad knew the show more than I did Because he speaks French.
Speaker 1We love him. I love that so much. No, and then from there, you just continued to make contacts and they found out how amazing you were.
Speaker 2Yeah, people just kept being like oh, we need somebody, we need somebody. And I was like, yes, I said yes to anything and everything, because I was like this is what I'm doing and I'm gonna make it just like you know, continuing to work, yeah.
Speaker 1I imagine there were so many different colors in that La Cage, a Fall right um. Would you say that you could identify colors?
Speaker 2uh, you know, yes, we'll see how well. But, yes, well, we're gonna take a small break because we're gonna play a game and see how well.
Speaker 1But, yes, well, we're going to take a small break because we're going to play a game and see how well you are at identifying colors after La Cage, because I'm sure you had to, I'm sure it was like a gay green obviously cross dresser cream you're so good at this are you? A designer.
Speaker 2I am actually wow, wow. You're gonna take on my next show. No, I don't know, but we're gonna take a break.
Speaker 1We're gonna play this game. We'll see you all, right? Um, I hope we're gonna play a little game together, okay? Um, because, like I, because, like I said, I wanted to see how great you are at defining colors, right? So I've got some colors here for you to talk about. I'm going to mix them up here, see what we can do, and I want you to identify the color, okay, and see if you can. So, for our audience members.
Speaker 2It looks like an emerald green.
Speaker 1Emerald green. Let's see how she does y'all.
Speaker 2What was it, Roz Mermaid C? Why why?
Speaker 1Why is that? Mermaid C?
Speaker 2I don't know, Because I feel like mermaid C would be more blue. No, I see that Like when you think mermaid sea would be more blue.
Speaker 1No, I see that Like when you think of like the mermaid, like things like the.
Speaker 3Scales.
Speaker 1Yeah, just keep on rubbing yourself. Yeah, that's giving like aerial, I guess. So Scales I was going to say scales.
Speaker 3Scales.
Speaker 2That's giving aerial skills. Oh my God, scales. This might be the color that I picked for Ariel to wear.
Speaker 3so sorry, christina, she doesn't know she doesn't know what color she's picking so we got one wrong.
Speaker 1It's okay, you still have five more chances to get one right today.
Speaker 2Sure, let's see here for everyone at home. It's like Welch's grapefruit juice or grape juice Great.
Speaker 1Purple. Is it Welch's grapefruit juice?
Speaker 2purple I said grape, like seven more times in there. Grapefruit juice, grapefruit, purple Prince, oh, like Prince, purple rain, purple rain, that's fair. Purple is the color of royalty. It's also the color of wisdom and magic.
Speaker 1So far, two wrong. Okay, since we are wearing green today, I picked a green one for us. Kind of matches our color palette. That we're going with money green. Oh, money green is the correct answer. Money green, come on. No whammies, no whammies, no whammies, no whammies, no whammies.
Speaker 2Luck of the Irish. Oh, I've got a great story about an Irish boy.
Speaker 1Is it appropriate?
Speaker 3No.
Speaker 1Did you get lucky? What a great color. We're still at three wrong.
Speaker 3None of them right yet.
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 1I'm gonna try really hard. Okay, okay okay, okay, got another.
Speaker 2Lavender Haze.
Speaker 1Ooh, lavender Haze. Oh, isn't that a beer? It's a strain of weed or a nut, but it never gets so the correct color is Velvet curtain.
Speaker 2That sounds interesting.
Speaker 1Really, should we put it with the Irish.
Speaker 3Sure your velvet curtain.
Speaker 1I'm real lucky with the Irish. All right. Here is another one right here People at home.
Speaker 3Baby blue.
Speaker 1Baby blue it is giving. This is the color we're putting in the nursery. Yeah, I think when I have my child I'm trying.
Speaker 2Thank you, I will not be around for that, god bless. I need someone to watch the child while I go out and party. Oh my god, congrats.
Speaker 3Thank you, I will not be around for that, god bless. I need someone to watch the child while.
Speaker 1I go out and party.
Speaker 3I will be out partying.
Speaker 2Will you see Wind? Ah yes, paint with all the colors of the wind, specifically just that one.
Speaker 1Do you know what? This is the color that Pocahontas is like behind her.
Speaker 3Can you see with all the colors?
Speaker 1I'd love to see a Pocahontas stage show.
Speaker 2Right, I feel like it's doable.
Speaker 1If we can do Little Mermaid, I think the only thing that's not doable is probably you know the appropriation of like.
Speaker 2Oh, we're trying to be like kind to people, alright, sure.
Speaker 1And finding someone who's Native American.
Speaker 2What was that show that they tried to do in?
Speaker 1Diego, I'm sorry. Very popular Kawana no Kawana I-Q-U-A-N-A-H. Yes, kawana, kawana At Lyric. I'm sorry y'all, I'm going to have to delete this because that was problematic. Here's the last color chocolate brown.
Speaker 2Did I get it? Are you gaslighting? You're so close.
Speaker 1Chocolate soul oh, that's my new name you know, when I saw this, I thought of you. That's why I picked it out. I was like jacqueline. So these are actually all the colors I was thinking of for my room.
Speaker 2So honestly, this is real pretty right, the whole color palette. It's giving mardi gras, but like yeah but not like too rowdy, so you'd be able to sleep nicely.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 2I like that.
Speaker 1Yeah it's dark right.
Speaker 3That's cute.
Speaker 1Thank you. Yeah, I was hoping that that would be. You know, if we did a show together, that's the color I would want. This, yeah, okay, yeah, I mean, I think right, let's see. Do you have velvet curtain? Yep, how about purple prints? No, go fish, go fish, okay.
The Art of Costume Design
Speaker 1I do have one more just to see. Let's see here which one do I? We're going to go with this one, so I'm going to take it back and give you a hint here. I want you to think about characters from Little Mermaid, okay, and who this could represent. I know, right, it's weird. It kind of shocked me too.
Speaker 2You're going to be so shocked when you see it atina, one of my sisters you went.
Speaker 1You went so specific king triton, why you think you'd be like gold, right? Yeah, I think, because so they're not thinking of the characters, are probably thinking of like sea, and so, since he's the king of the sea, I think I guess, well, you were, you at least got. Yeah, there's another one out there. You got one of them half right. So we're going to give you, we're going to put one point on the board and with that you get two more segments with me.
Speaker 2Wow, can I trade that in for another prize? Or is that like? No, I'm still grateful, we're good.
Speaker 1Well, this game was a shit show, so we can go back to our segments. Thanks, guys. You might want to brush up on your colors. Probably, probably, yeah, whatever, I still get looked at sometimes, well Dang.
Speaker 2You're going to come to me like, ooh Right, it's refreshing. Yeah, oh right, it's refreshing that's good. Oh yeah, it's like it's almost like there's mango and strawberry it's like the white claw, like from the next room. It's just barely girl that one night you were drinking all the I didn't know that what you had was a white cloth and I thought I almost died the next day. I can't do white cloth.
Speaker 1I was on the toilet when I tell you I thought it was just a part of your, oh goodness, okay. Well, this is part of our Patreon that we are adding later. It was just a partier, oh goodness, okay. Well, this is part of our Patreon that we are adding later. That makes me laugh so much. I also have the footage of her on the toilet. You can catch it on the Patreon. No, yeah, speaking of you getting booked, tell me maybe what your favorite booking has been thus far.
Speaker 2So I did this show years ago. It was an original show called Sharing the Stage is Murder and it's four different shows happening all on one stage. The actors don't know that they're actors. So there's like 1970s hippie show happening and 1920s gangster show and then like a Victorian show and then like a random western that you only see one character for. So it's the same actors playing different characters in each of these decades.
Speaker 2So I had a butler changing into like a three-piece butler suit with gloves, changing into like a bright red 1920s gangster. Look in like 15 seconds. It was robbie san juan. He was fabulous. It was amazing. We got to like the end of tech week and, uh, like playwright owns the theater. So she's been like sitting in tech and looking at it and she comes up to me afterwards. She's like, wow, these costumes are like so amazing. I just thought that they would like change a shirt or something. I'm like you ain't tell me that from the beginning. I'm out here making full suits that are connected, that you just do one zip like it's a jumper and like getting these women out of these big gowns into these like beaded 1920s dresses. It was so much fun and I had to figure out some theater magic for it, but it would have been nice if I knew that she was like we'll just do pieces, whatever that's impressive though theater magic is fun, do you enjoy um like, what's your favorite costume theater magic that you've seen, maybe in a show?
Speaker 1um, like like. We all love the elsa reveal right in frozen. We all love the. Um, what is that? Oh my gosh, the guy that plays like 26 characters um the dice with family, um no murder. Yeah, the gentleman's guy, the gentleman's guy we all love you know him changing and turning things inside out and stuff like that. Is there maybe a theater magic moment that you really, really enjoyed?
Speaker 2so at the end of memphis, the musical, there's this moment where I think I think main character's name is felicia r. Rachel Poole played her. That's the first time I met Rachel. She comes on at the end and she's having this like really heartfelt love, match talk, and then all of a sudden her suit changes into, like this beautiful dress that she's wearing to like do the big performance in, and it's like someone reaching through the whole, kind of like Elsa, where they just like her jacket and then it all pulls.
Speaker 2That was the first time that I had ever made a theater magic dress, and so I did it kind of the same way where she was in a suit, but then we didn't have a way for someone to pull it, so she had to pull it herself where she like pulled from the snaps, and then underneath was this beaded dress I it's still on my instagram somewhere. I saw that the bootleg version of it on Broadway and I was like, oh, I have to do that at some point. And then, of course, the Cinderella dress oh, that's always stunning my favorite that I always.
Speaker 1I still get teary eyed when I think about it because it takes the whole team lighting. Everything is in Dreamgirls when Effie White is auditioning and then the lights go dark and it's just a spotlight on her face and then lights come up and she's wearing a completely different.
Speaker 2Yeah for Unchanging. Yes, we did that as well. So when I did Dreamgirls a couple years ago, we had her in like a what's it called. It was like a big tunic thing that she then pulled from the side and then she had like a glittery number on underneath. I love, I love doing moments like that it's just it. It makes it I would say, yeah, it's just like it actually.
Speaker 1Yeah, well, and dream girls has like the original production had so many because even when, like the girls, are walking through that beaded um overlay right and then their dresses change as they're walking through.
Speaker 2That was another one that like oh, dreamgirls has so many costumes and like it's beautiful, but it's also so much work and so much money. Like, and the fact that they say it in the show.
Speaker 2they're like we're gonna get you beautiful new gowns and new wigs and as a designer you're like, hey, maybe we just get some jewelry. Like, why beautiful gowns? Like what do we? What do we have to keep saying that they're changing? It's a lot of work, because that's also like 15 seconds they go around the stage and then suddenly they're in brand new gowns yeah, no, um, okay.
Speaker 1So I want to uh take a step back and talk about your process just a little bit as a designer. Give us like a world or a look into the world of a designer, of a costume designer.
Speaker 1Uh, just in working with you, you know I've seen that you really do think this through right it's not like I hate to say this, but like some people phone it in right and not just on costume design but like in other realms of design or anything right. They think they can just come in and do it, but you actually take the prep work behind it to really think into it. So tell me a little bit of like day one and where you go from there.
Speaker 2Yeah, my process is a lot like you would for like a single actor or a director, and that I get to know the characters. So you know, first I do the read through and then I'll set up a costume plot to say you know this page, this scene setting, if it's musical, what songs are in it, who's in each scene and if there's any special notes, like them saying they need beautiful gowns, if she wears a red dress, just to get all of that like kind of boring information just out of the way. And then I'll go back in and look at each character individually, like who are they as a person? And then something that I really like to do is color theory. So different colors, they meet different emotions.
Speaker 2Um, so like, if you look at the cereal aisle when you're in walmart, you're going to see a lot of orange, because orange is a color that makes you excited and it makes you hungry. So, so all colors have different meanings. So, like we're wearing green, it's renewal, it's wealth, wealth, so we're starting over and we're getting money, wealth. So I'll assign colors to the actor or to the character and get to know the character, I'll see what's period appropriate, just all the different things, and I'll start gathering images to then present to the director to make sure that we're all on the same page.
Speaker 2We'll go back and forth, I'll do some sketches, get a final idea of what we want to see on stage and then at that point actors come in and then I may take all all that and throw it out the window, because at the end of the day it's the actor who's up on stage wearing the clothing. So if I have the idea that you know, this character is sassy wearing booty shorts and crop tops, and I have an actor come in and be like, I'm super uncomfortable doing that, I'm like sweet. So instead they are in a fierce cape and we're going to change it up and we're going to make it so that what the actor is comfortable with and what and who the character is really meld together. And then I get to do the fun stuff of going shopping and doing the fittings and having those conversations until we finally get to tech week and we all cry.
Speaker 1But then it gets on stage until we finally get to tech week and we all cry, but then it gets on stage. No, I feel that I was laughing at what you were saying, because I did, uh, rocky horror which like everything's supposed to be like sexy, right? I was not. I'm very much more comfortable with my body now, um than I was then, and michael robinson was our love. Love the michaels right yeah, michael robinson was our costume designer.
Speaker 1The Michaels right, yeah, michael Robinson was our costume designer and he was like, okay, we're gonna put you in this tight little vest and that's it. And I was like, um, is there anything going on the vest, over the vest? He's like we will yeah, and like I could tell, it is like because he was like he was like it's gonna look great and he was like he was like it's going to look great and I was like yeah so definitely Right.
Speaker 1I know that you probably have this original idea and then I'm standing there before you like. But what if?
Speaker 3And then I'm like tell me about it.
Speaker 1Yeah, no.
Speaker 2Let's see.
Speaker 1So, no, definitely appreciative of that Now in your process. One thing that I really really like yes, you talked about this as well when we've done, we've done kid shows together is what we've done, or youth shows, excuse me, and you are really really good at color palette, like you said. I loved when you make sure that, like even in scenes, there's a consistent color palette, or across the costumes as well. Specifically, when we did, um, james and the giant peach jr, like you made sure that it was all like toned down, like that dark feeling, that gray feeling. Yeah, um, which was so like I remember the kids coming out and like it made such a difference with every single scene, to the point that, like even patterns, you were taking like a close eye at patterns as well and I was like dang, she's really good. We also do this really cool thing with our show where we do a costume parade.
Speaker 3I love costume parades. Yeah, cindy has done that ever since.
Speaker 1I started working with her and like the kids will by scene come out and like we have them line up and show what they're wearing. And every time we've worked with you it's just cindy and I are next to each other like yes, did you see that? You know, and the kids may not even be buttoned correctly, you know, but oh, that's my favorite part about working with kids, because you're like how did you get into that?
Speaker 2piece of clothing and that way, how, how did?
Speaker 1you tuck your entire jacket. His whole jacket was just tucked into his pants, like it was a stretchy pants, and had to put his whole jacket into his pants.
Speaker 2He came out on stage, I was like I'm just impressed. How did you? How Wow, I'm not even mad.
Speaker 1I'm impressed. No, so that I think that that's something that we appreciate, that you just have the eye for it, and I think that's definitely what it takes. Speaking of having the eye for it and what people can wear, I'm a little nervous. We asked Hope to pull some things today for me to wear, since she has the eye for it right. So hopefully I look great, but we're going to take a small. We're going to take a small little break and go to our second fun segment with Hope as she tries to costume me. See you in a bit.
Speaker 2Alright. So I've put all of my years of training to use and I've picked out a couple of looks for Daniel, so we are going to bring him on. Come home couple of looks for Daniel, so we are going to bring him on. So I asked Daniel what his favorite candy was and he said Snickers. So we've got a beautiful queen named Snickers. Snickers, give us a little walk.
Speaker 2Yes, yes yes, to show off the delicious New Guinea center, we have this gold sequined dress, and then over it we've got a duster that's got this beautiful golden fur feather trim. And then on top, for the chocolate, we have a lovely pleated hat and a chocolatey brown fur coat.
Speaker 1Yum, Okay, this is a great look. I don't know if it's a look I would wear out. Why Do you know what I would? Yeah, I'm going to take this home just in case, and we're going to try the next one. We'll be right back.
Speaker 2All right, and next up we're getting to our Texas roots here. Come on out, daniel. I would like to introduce you to Queso the cowboy, another favorite treat of Daniel's. Let's give us a little walk.
Speaker 3Go, go go.
Speaker 1Alright, what am I wearing?
Speaker 2So on top we've got a classic cowboy hat. We've got this fun kind of 70s inspired with this big lapel burnt orange jacket, and then, of course, classic cowboy We've got some plaid underneath and some tans and browns. We've got some brown slacks and then, to top it all off, we've got these lovely brown boots with this embroidery on the side. Little leg, yes.
Speaker 1Is this like the Rotel? Is this this the tomatoes?
Speaker 2that's the best part. Yeah, we didn't have, I was gonna say is this the spicy chorizo chorizo?
Speaker 1right, we might have to get queso after this. Um, yeah, I could see me wearing this out to the club, maybe when I live in a college station. No, we've got a roundup in this, roundup in this, can you imagine? No, okay, so Hope obviously knows what she's doing, obviously. So we're going to get back to our talking segment. See you in a bit.
Speaker 3Hi Snickers, we're not doing it.
Costume Challenges and Dream Shows
Speaker 1We just gonna keep going. So, anyway, speaking of worst decisions ever made, because that's how I feel about that, let's talk about maybe you have a little story about Seussical.
Speaker 2Yes, so I did Seussical Junior last year. I do a lot of youth shows, that's kind of my favorite part and I had one sweet baby who was one of our who's, come up to me about 30 minutes before the show. She goes, miss hope, do you have another shirt? I said no, what? What happened? She goes. I dropped it in the toilet and the sink and in my mind I'm like how, but also I have a good 30 minutes, so sure. So I okay just, uh, just came to me and it wasn't like super wet, like it truly was, like she like dipped it here and dipped it there and like their sinks are automatic and kind of like strong so I understand how it happened, but still, wow.
Speaker 2So I had to take it upstairs to their laundry room where I had like disinfected because I didn't have time for like a full wash, and then threw it in the dryer and, like a couple minutes before she was supposed to go on for like her first song, I was able to like run it back to her and she put it on. She's like thanks and just like ran off. Love kids. Yeah, and that's when we learned. What didn't you learn from that?
Speaker 1don't take your costume into the toilet, sure, I mean. Um, I mean, that's still not as bad as probably your worst interview, which makes me laugh too that I love this story so much because I'm not gonna tell the no, I'm not gonna get to the punchline yet. I'll wait until you tell okay.
Speaker 2So here's the thing my favorite show is Big Fish. I've done the grander version. I'd love to do the 12 chairs version at some point, but this was the first time that I ever had to interview for a show and really the only time that I've like put myself out there to be interviewed for a show, so probably why I haven't done it again. Um, so I went and I met with the director and I had some sketches that I was going to show him and you know it was going well. We were chit-chatting about the show and about the designs and then he was like so what does like the show mean to you? And so if you don't know Big Fish, is you know father-son relationship and like I love my dad, I'm such a Fish is you know father-son relationship? And like I love my dad, I'm such a daddy's girl. You know we've had our ups and downs, but like I love him.
Speaker 3I'm not going to cry this time.
Speaker 2So I was talking to the director about how I relate to it with like my own relationship with my father, and then I started crying, like not a cute cry, and so he just like kind of handed me a tissue and like I kind of got it back together and like I felt really good about it, I was like, oh wow, like that was such a good conversation, I didn't get the job.
Speaker 1There's the punchline still did not get it, which is fair, because I'd also be like, wow, she's a lot they just imagined all the costumes soaked with tears as you're sewing, just All the sewing, just all over the place Yep, so I didn't get that one, but it's okay, I ended up doing the show later. There you go. Yeah, you got to do it again.
Speaker 3I have to do it no tears this time. You did not cry, yeah.
Speaker 1I mean, now I know I just need to look at you and say Big fish. Now I know I just need to look at you and say big fish, the tears just start immediately flowing. Just a single tear. Well, I felt like that was probably one of your dream shows. But I know your big dream show is Chicago. That's so many costumes, though, and I think because it's like a show within show at the same time, right, and you have all of those options for all of the murderessesesses, everything. I think that that would be really fun I don't.
Speaker 1Has it been done in the area?
Speaker 2recently no, it's been years. I think main stage irving was the last to do it and it's just a really expensive show. Just getting the rights for it is ridiculous, which is why nobody does it. And then it's I think it's still on broadway or it's touring. No, it's still on because jinx just completed.
Speaker 1No, it's still on Broadway because Jinx just completed, I think.
Speaker 2Oh, that's true, yeah, yeah. So they're not releasing those rides anytime soon. I think Peter Arlington tried to do it and then they had to switch it out.
Speaker 1Yeah, cause it was COVID, I think, when they were supposed to do it, and then I remember when we had to remove it, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2So I would love to do it, though you know it has all the sparkles and you know you do love sparkles.
Costume Design and Self-Advocacy
Speaker 1We'll talk about sparkles again later. Now it's something that I want to dig into just a little bit more. We touched on it in the last segment, but I do want to talk about the constant changes that you know are coming up. The constant changes that you know are coming up. Not only that we see right I've talked about it with multiple of my guests at this point where trans, non-binary, any type of people right that don't fit into a category, being cast in shows. How does that? How's that been routed on the costume side?
Speaker 2yeah, I think something that's really interesting I was talking with a director friend about this is because we're in theater and because we're in the arts, we're in the forefront of a lot of those things. So we are at the beginning of navigating what that looks like and how to have those conversations. So we're not always going to get it right. We're going to try, because this is a safe space, but we're not always going to get it right. We're going to try because this is a safe space, but we're not always going to get it right.
Speaker 2And so that's something I've had to learn as I've uh, as I've like gone through my career, and I would say it's not something I've learned from other costumers, it's something I've learned from actors. So there's been some fantastic actors who have been very comfortable speaking out and saying like, oh, I'm not really comfortable with this, or hey, what if we did that? And then me being able to not put my ego into it and to be able to say, yeah, let's have a conversation about that. And so, from learning from actors who have been brave enough to speak out and to say what they need and be able to self-advocate, I've taken that to well, why don't we just start?
Speaker 3with that.
Speaker 2So whenever I'll start a new show, if I get the chance to speak to the cast as you know, a whole or if I'm just doing it individually while I'm taking measurements, I always give like a little speech of you are the one that is ultimately on stage.
Speaker 2You are one wearing the costume and as much research as I've done you. You are one wearing the costume and as much research as I've done. You know the character better than anybody. So if there is a point where you're not comfortable, please communicate with me.
Speaker 2While I'm taking their measurements and asking their sizes, I also ask what's your fit preference? Do you like things more fitted, a little bit looser? What's going to make you feel comfortable and be able to dive into the work as much as possible? Or I'll ask are you comfortable in heels? Are you comfortable in skirts, in dresses? How do you feel about corsets? How do you feel about all different kinds of things? So I get to know you, so we have like a really solid foundation. So when we get into fittings, you already know that I care like I genuinely care that you are happy on stage, that you are comfortable on stage, that, like you know, you're ready to strut your stuff. I think one of my favorite things is whenever I'm at Jubilee, we have a saying of where does this live? So anytime they like like a costume piece, they'll come out of their fitting and go uh, where does this live? And so, if I can, get one of those that's like top notch.
Speaker 2Or if I'm working with teenagers, because you know they don't like to give adults any kind of compliment.
Speaker 1If they're like, oh, this is actually pretty cute, then I'm like like one yeah, I know one of my students, max, and he put on uh, I think this for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and he's like, oh yeah yeah, I love that especially.
Speaker 2like you know, teenage boys are generally a little bit more like oh, yeah, yeah, no, it's whatever, it's cool. But when I have one that comes out and they're like Miss Hope, I actually really like this.
Speaker 1I'm like yeah, yeah, do you know, it was for both of his costumes. I forgot it was also for James, because he had those pants that he was like, yeah, and the hat and everything, where it was just like, and I remember even telling him like we should see about like purchasing the costume, because it was like, because he is very his style, is like that old classic, and so it was like you should maybe check into that. Like, I saw him at the Buckley's and I was like, is that your mom's jacket? Because it's very much so like it was not, you know, but it's like just that style where it looks like that type of cut. And I was like, yes, child style where it looks like that type of cut. And I was like, yes, child, um, but yeah, you do not have a costume, and that's one thing that I will say that you did really, really well with the shows that we worked with with the youth, um, because you not only put we did have, you know, uh, children who identified as non-binary, but it was not only that, it was also cultural with one of our students as well, one of the youth that was there that, uh, she was not allowed to wear dresses and you were able to put them in pants and you identified it right away and it didn't have to turn into a problem for them, right, right, where it was like, oh, I'm nervous about having to tell the costumer, you put it out there from day one and they were, they felt comfortable enough to come up to you, yeah, and say, oh, actually, can I wear pants? And they, they were adorable, every single I remember I'm not gonna say their name for their own, but the cutest little child we had ever had on that stage, just because everything, everything they wore, um, but yeah, I, I like that.
Speaker 1Um, I think you said you call it self-advocacy, right that we need to be partners in that, with the costume designer at the same time, and make sure that we are speaking up for ourselves, but in a healthy way, right, and in the right way.
Speaker 1Where it's like, hey, I'm not really comfortable in that, and so I think I want to stress that with all of the actors out there in DFW, it's okay to have these conversations with your costume designer if you're not comfortable with something or if you identify, and especially with Dom recently I was talking with Dom.
Speaker 1Dom would like to be cast more in female playing roles, and so that's a conversation that we need to have. How would we dress them appropriately, or what's the correct fit? And I think that a customer like you, where it's like, what are you comfortable in? And it's okay to have those questions, or you know, and have those conversations where and I mean, and back to our conversation I have seen at some of our larger theaters here at DFW, where it's hard to costume for people of color, it's hard to wig for people of color and the wigs just ain't right, um, and it's it's problematic yeah and I think because we're not putting people of color behind the table to identify that and it's becoming noticeable and I hope that we say something about it and I hope that we are helping change that yeah, I had one of my kiddos over at the school that I work at um a few years ago.
Speaker 2Uh, she's the only or I'm the only customer she's known, other than one other lady, and we were just having fittings one day and she turns and she goes, miss hope.
Speaker 2I'm so glad you're here, because they didn't know what to do with my hair, I'm like and that's why I do it like that's why I love working with youth, because if I can have those conversations now, then they can carry that on and we're starting a new generation of people who are comfortable speaking out for themselves yeah, no, like I said, some of these larger theaters just are relying on who they've had and who's there, and it just does not work.
Costume Design Techniques and Stories
Speaker 1So we need to have these conversations, we need to put people like Hope behind the table, we need to make sure that we're involved in those conversations. So you have a couple of projects that have just finished. I know you came off of Chicken and Biscuits at Theater Arlington and then I'm not sure when this is gonna be specifically released, but you're about to open or you have already opened.
Speaker 2Little Mermaid over at.
Speaker 1Dallas.
Speaker 2Theater Center.
Speaker 1And are you? What's your title there? Costume designer. You are full costume designer.
Speaker 2Full costume designer with a lovely, fabulous team of people that I love and trust that is so exciting for you.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's big.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah. And then here's the other thing that I'm nervous. I'm not. I know you're going to kill it because you can do it, but that's at community production, so you're not do you have to also costume the community people.
Speaker 2Yeah, which is like a little over 100 people yeah.
Speaker 1So I mean, not only are you having, to deal with.
Speaker 2You know your main cast, with a hundred people as well on that stage and with a show like the little mermaid.
Speaker 1This is my third time doing the little mermaid. I mean just because just in under the sea, all the different types of bear, I went to go judge a version of little mermaid and those costumes were. They made me laugh. So you know, like in a good way, like, like yes.
Speaker 2You can be goofy silly with them.
Speaker 1Yes, and that's what I loved about it Like the guys were like these cute little, like jellyfish things that came out and it was just yeah. Everything. The seagulls were good Every like. I forget the costumes Because I talked with the director after and she was like it's difficult.
Speaker 2It's a lot of work.
Speaker 1Yeah. But I mean you've got an amazing cast. I mean freaking Liz Michael. I mean freaking Liz Michael.
Speaker 2Wait until you see the wig that she is wearing. Stop it is.
Speaker 1Is it giving?
Speaker 2Everything I saw like just a proof of it. It started crying Like it's you did not it's so beautiful, it's wild, it's gonna steal the show, and then I'm gonna steal it shout out to Nick did a fabulous job with it.
Speaker 1I'm so excited. I can't wait to see it. I'm definitely gonna go see it. I wanted to be a part I was gonna try out for the community. Auditions couldn't fit into my schedule, but I know right, can you imagine Would have loved to, right? Well, and I mean with Mark in it, yeah, I just know he's going to be a blast. And then isn't it Zachary playing? Yeah?
Speaker 1Sebastian so it's just going to be a blast. Any other projects that you can announce for us at this time, or anything that you have coming up, since we're in July?
Speaker 2I'm taking a little bit of a break in August and I've forgotten all the things that I signed up for in the fall. But I do have stuff in the fall.
Speaker 1So be watching out, and you can watch Hope on her Instagram. You can find out what she's doing. What's your Instagram handle if you want to share?
Speaker 2that my Instagram handle is Hope d, as in denise cox, but if you want to see like what I've got coming up, then go to my website, hopecoxcom.
Speaker 1She's got her own website. Y'all, she's got her own website. Her mom probably put it together no, it was during the pandemic.
Speaker 2I had nothing else to do. Oh well, there's that too goodness gracious.
Speaker 1No, I love it. Yeah, I. I'm so excited to see all the costumes in Little Mermaid. I know you're gonna be fabulous. I'm so excited to see your fall projects. I think you're gonna be so great in everything you are great in everything you do, I'm ready to see you on stage. Should I be sitting on your lap right now, Drew Barrymore style. I, just, I, just, I'm everything, I'm everything, I know Okay.
Speaker 3Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay Okay.
Speaker 1Okay, this episode. If you're not already, you probably are hopefully on YouTube or listen anywhere. You get your streaming podcasts, such as Apple Podcasts, spotify, google, wherever else we put it anywhere honestly. And also don't forget all of our socials at DanielDoesDFW. Thank you for joining us today. Thanks again to Hope Cox and we'll see you next time. Hang on those teacups ground everyday to play away and get her out of my mind ow ow alright well, well well shit, literally well shit.
Speaker 1What are y'all doing? Screw it. Okay, so this is a hat, so the show has already happened and this hat was displayed perfectly on Denise Lee's head. Yes, right for chicken and biscuit, but today Hope has brought it in there's multiple biscuits.
Speaker 2One chicken multiple biscuits Biscuits.
Speaker 1So multiple biscuits. That's how I'll remember it. From now on, I will never forget chicken and biscuits again. I mean, I feel like when I eat chicken and biscuit, like it's one biscuit. Multiple chickens no, like the biscuit is opened up. You know like's one biscuit. Multiple chickens no, like the biscuit is opened up. You know like biscuits and gravy. Is it biscuit and gravy or biscuits and gravy? I'm going to stop this conversation because we need to get back to this.
Speaker 2The show is biscuits and gravy.
Speaker 1There's a show.
Speaker 2Yeah, oh, it's new, Like I think the original premiere was at Jubilee, like a month ago oh, that's kind of cool. Yeah, like oh, that's kind of cool yeah, um, okay, so huh, yep the reverb and this thing cracks me up.
Speaker 1Hello, it's just the hat, the sorting hat. That's what it's giving right now. So, um, costume design. There's a lot of stoning that happens, so hope is going to teach me how to stone today and hopefully I don't ruin this you can't.
Speaker 2It's just making sparkly things. I'm a very messy stoner, so I'll just use my little glue um, put it on like a random palette and then dip my stone in it, just like the little edge of it. And this stuff is super powerful. It's called E6000. You just set it on there we couldn't use E2000? No, we gotta go full throttle, man. So if you don't mind getting a little messy, okay, just pick one up okay scoop like a little corner of it okay and just anywhere, and there's no design any place.
Speaker 2You see like a little spot that doesn't have a stone, have at it oh, oh. That's the stone that's gonna fall off denise, and I promise you cannot mess it up. Um, so, unless you like, put a word in there or something you just like. Don't. Have you ever done that before? No, but I should.
Speaker 1I have not been using my power fully like I would say from like, far away, right like you probably couldn't tell, but up close you would know yeah, I mean, there's so much.
Speaker 1Does it come off clear, like? Does it dry clear? Okay, sorry, denise, I should probably be doing the back of the head, but no, I hear about stoning parties all the time. I know you attend stoner parties, but I hear about stoning parties all the time. Yeah, I know you attend stoner parties, but I hear about specifically in the drag queen community. Yes, right, where they're like, hey, let's all have a party together. Like I'll buy pizza, I have to stone my gown, yeah. And so like, can we please, you know, help me, stone it all together? And they literally all just come together and we'll stone it, you know. So is this how stoned? Are you thinking this is going to get?
Speaker 2Um, just enough to catch light, so like probably twice as much as this, twice as much yeah. So, like I did, like a base layer with smaller stones and now we're going in with like the bigger ones.
Speaker 1Oh, I didn't even realize we were at a different size. Yep Interesting that's smaller stones, and now we're going in with like the bigger ones.
Speaker 2Oh, I didn't even realize we were at a different size. Yep, interesting, that's, that's so cool. So, um, how long would you say a stony project takes you? I've gotten really fast. So I would say all of this that's already on there probably took like an hour and a half. Okay, okay, okay. And there's like a thousand stones on there. So I've gotten fast because I'm constantly adding stones to things, so it doesn't take too too long okay, I just.
Speaker 1This is like.
Speaker 2This is the tedious work behind yeah, you just put on a podcast and you put the stones places and then every once in a while you pull it back and you see how much you've done and it's really exciting.
Speaker 1Do you what are some other like? I know that as a costume designer, you're probably also like hemming right, and do you ever cut material when you hem? As well Like, or do you try to keep the original product as like close to it as possible? Does that make sense?
Speaker 2It depends.
Speaker 1If it's like a throwaway piece it depends like.
Speaker 2if it's like a throwaway piece, yeah, if it's something that I know is an investment piece for the theater, then I'll, you know, just ham and do what I can to not cut. But if I know it's like this is so specific for one show, nobody is ever going to use this again and I need for it to like fit my actor just right and they need like an eight inch him, I'm going to cut Because we're not tucking all of that up in there. I think I should have stuck it.
Speaker 1They probably are.
Speaker 2I'm now a stoned individual, and I mean it's like it's in the perfect Perfect.
Speaker 1Just immediately goes to stone, all right. Well, thanks for teaching me how to stone today. I thought this would be like those little applique. Have you seen those ones?
Speaker 2They do have those. I like to be more hands-on, so I'm always going to choose the messier option, honestly.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2No, I feel, yeah, this is definitely the messier option. There's also ones where it's like you just put it where you want it and then you can iron it on because it's like heated on the back, yeah, yeah, no, because I've always seen.
Speaker 1I've always wanted to do one of those like um pictures. Have you seen, like where you buy it and then you like stamp it on. Basically, I've always wanted to try one of those, but this is definitely much more work than that. If I ever get that, I'll let you know and we can do that together, okay, yeah, in fact, we're gonna put it on our Amazon wishlist. Buy it for us. Thank you all right. Thanks so much. Hope you're welcome.
