SUGAR TWC 1975

I cut my teeth on production design at CASA MANANA from 1972 on, but I really studied design and staging when I went to college at TEXAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY in Fort Worth, Texas in 1974. By the next year I was fullfilling my major requirements by designing and costuming the spring musical "SUGAR" which was based on the film SOME LIKE IT HOT and set in 1920's Chicago.

Here RAY PIERCE and AUBREY ALLRED, two terrific performers as males...are transformed into Daphne & Chloie as they hide out in the all-girl band on the run from the mobsters. The costume designs were only the start. As any decent drag queen knows...the secrets are in the foundations. Turning Guys into Gals in the space of 5 minutes on stage is no mean feat...doing it in the period clothes is even harder. I really learned a ton working with our Director, Mason Johnson and Technical Director, Cecil Cole. No one could ever want a better theatrical education than we all got there.