by Robrt L. Pela | photography by Angelina Aragon
Morgan Andersen set out to be a computer programmer. “Then I started doing theater in college,” she says, “and I fell in love with it. I switched my major and got an MFA in costume design instead.” Andersen toiled first as a stitcher at Peoria’s Arizona Broadway Theatre, working her way up to costume director by 2014, after which she headed to Las Vegas and Cirque du Soleil. “It turned out that 10 years in Vegas was enough,” she says. “I was at ABT last year to do a show, and they didn’t have a costume director. I was like, ‘I want to come back here. I love this place.’”
Floral Headpiece from Tarzan
Andersen needed a garden of dancing flowers for a floral ballet; this one was inspired by a bird of paradise and lit with battery-operated twinkle lights. “I love making something new and watching the audience react to it,” she says.
Toreador Outfit
This glitter-encrusted suit turned up in the “Spanish Rose” number in Bye Bye Birdie and later in Gypsy’s famous toreador routine. “Everything gets used again,” Andersen says, “so there’s a lot of modification and letting out and taking in and mending.”
Into the Woods Witch’s Mask and Gloves
“This show got me into theater when I was young,” Andersen says, “so this one’s special.” She made a hand-sculpted leather mask and used the scraps to craft the witch’s knobby fingers.
Grease “Beauty School Dropout” Wig
Made of swimming pool noodles and glittery yarn “hair,” this headpiece went missing for more than a decade. “We found it hanging off a pipe in a catwalk,” says Andersen, who designs and builds every ABT costume and mask from scratch, with help from a staff of six.
Jane’s Dress from Tarzan
The actress had to fly in this costume, so Andersen designed it to hide a wire-harness system. The breakaway dress was created to quickly leave Jane in nothing but her bloomers.
