Chautauqua Theater Company Guest Artists Matthew Saldívar, as Agostino Tassi, and Kate Hamill, as Artemisia Gentileschi, perform during a dress rehearsal of The Light and The Dark (the life and times of Artemisia Gentileschi) in Bratton Theater.
Closing the 2024 Chautauqua Theater Company season, Kate Hamill’s world premiere production of The Light and The Dark, directed by CTC Producing Artistic Director Jade King Carroll, details the life and artistic voyage of 17th-century Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi, and costume designer Jen Caprio adds a contemporary twist to the play’s Renaissance-inspired costumes.
A theater, television and corporate entertainment costume designer, Caprio earned her BFA from Ithaca College and master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University in costume design.
Over 25 years, her work has been seen in over 250 productions, including in the 2016 Broadway revival of Falsettos and the 2023 Broadway revival of Spamalot. In collaboration with Brian C. Hemesath and the Muppet team, her designs have been recognized with three Daytime Creative Emmy Awards and one Daytime Creative Emmy Award Win for “Sesame Street” in 2020.
The Light and The Dark continues its final stretch of performances at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Bratton Theater. It officially closes Friday.
Growing up in New Jersey, Caprio developed a love for art and theater through her uncle, who was a conductor and musician in New York City. Through him, she witnessed countless Broadway productions and became fascinated with the art form.
In high school, she adored taking art classes, admired classic movies showcasing Edith Head’s costume designs, and had stacks of VHS tapes that covered an entire wall in her bedroom.
Shortly before graduating, her guidance counselor encouraged her to become a theater designer. When she started undergraduate school at Ithaca College, her passion for costume design blossomed, and she became invested in telling stories through clothing.
“I love people; I find them endlessly fascinating,” she said. “I also love clothes. Clothes are our way of expressing ourselves, and it’s the best way to really understand people, I think.”
As the costume designer for The Light and The Dark, she said experiencing Chautauqua for the first time and bringing Hamill’s story to life with the cast and creative team has been filled with challenges and rewards.
Caprio has worked on projects under Carroll’s direction before; Proof of Love, produced by Audible at Minetta Lane Theatre, and New Golden Age at Primary Stages. When Carroll asked her to join the team for this show, she was overjoyed, and because Hamill is an Ithaca alumna, Caprio said she felt a special connection.
An Italian herself who is drawn to Renaissance art, she has traveled to Florence, coming face-to-face with the celebrated paintings of Gentileschi, Caravaggio and other artists highlighted throughout the play. Taking a deep dive into research of 17th-century Italy and the Baroque period, she began looking at how painters captured clothing through their art, since photographs from that time weren’t available.
Inspired by the artwork and scenic designer Brittany Vasta’s set design, Caprio wanted to experiment with color through the production’s costumes and decided to infuse tertiary colors into her design.
“I love color,” she said. “I like to play with color and clothes because, on stage, it helps pull people out visually, and these paintings have such specific colors.”
The famous piece, “Madonna and Child,” by Italian artist Duccio di Buoninsegna, fueled the design of Gentileschi’s vibrant blue gown that she wears in Act One. The hue comes from an expensive and rare pigment during 1600s Rome, and Caprio said they leaned into the blue color.
The Light and The Dark captures Artemisia’s journey through a modernized spin of a story set centuries ago, and this allowed her to create period costumes with a contemporary flare.
An example of this is with Gentileschi’s gown, which includes a front zipper for audiences to see. Though zippers weren’t invented until the Industrial Revolution and were originally intended for boots, Caprio said the costume feature is for function and embellishment.
For the male characters, such as Artemisia’s father Orazio Gentileschi, played by Wynn Harmon, and painter Agostino Tassi, played by Matthew Saldívar, Caprio decided to dress them in pants instead of tights, knee breeches or pumpkin pants. Though commonly worn during that time, she said the lines can take audiences out of the play’s world, and preferred modern silhouettes.
Shoes play a leading role in setting the scene, too. When considering this element, Caprio selected more contemporary-style shoes that gave off feelings of 17th-century Rome and “grounded” the show.
Gathering the materials and fabrics to create the costumes was a feat of its own. With teamwork and patience, the garments were collected and the vision came to life. The costume team created Artemisia’s gowns, and after Sean Castro, the assistant costume supervisor and draper, did the mockup design, they got materials from a fabric shop in New York City.
Costume supervisor Erin Prokopchak and costume design fellow Katelyn Jackson gathered period garments, mainly for men’s costumes, and Caprio said the rest of the clothing came from a mix of online sourcing, reused fabrics and hand-tailored designs.
“Nothing that you see on stage looks the way it did when it came to us,” Caprio said. “Even things that (Chautauqua Opera Company) let us borrow, we’ve retrimmed, changed out sleeves and pulled fabric from our stock.”
Executing costumes for theater can bring challenges, but she said those obstacles can allow opportunities for growth. One of these snags in the process came when designing Tassi’s doublet, a close-fitting padded jacket.
Caprio had bought one online and intended to sew trim onto it, but because many pieces were sold out online, the doublet she bought didn’t arrive until tech week. When it was delivered, the garment’s vinyl was nearly dissolved. As a solution, she and costume assistant Atlas Mendoza rebuilt the piece in just two days.
The play’s innovative designs also bring theater magic through numerous costume changes.
Actor Joey Parsons portrays three different characters, and with the help of layering, assistance from the backstage crew and innovations like a 4-foot zipper, the quick costume and character changes are executed seamlessly and sometimes occur in nearly 15 seconds.
“We wanted to keep the realism of the story and try to lean into the theater magic and have a two-line costume change, so everything had to be combined to be layered so it could be changed backstage with our crew,” Caprio said.
Caprio said she feels honored to help tell Gentileschi’s story at CTC, and for every production she breathes life into, she said new doors always open.
“Every show is different,” she said. “No matter what I do, I learn something new. Even if it’s a project similar to what I’ve done before, I try to find something in it to learn about.”
