Feature: ANTONY & CLEOPATRA at Adderley Amphitheater

The “Practical Magic” Behind Southern Shakespeare Company’s Costume Design

The term “costume designer” brings to mind sewing machines and a certain degree of solitude, hours crafting the attire that will help actors bring their characters to life.

For Katy Fedore, costume designer for Southern Shakespeare Company’s 2023 production of “Antony & Cleopatra” in Tallahassee, Fla., the ability to tell a sewing machine’s bobbin apart from its presser foot is not as important as the capacity to absorb the story, understand the actors, and create moments with fabric that make audience members gasp. 

Fedore’s path toward wardrobing started with hours of dress-up as a child. The dress-up evolved into sketching as a teenager, then creating ballroom dance costumes as a dancer and instructor. Once her child got into cosplay, Fedore’s mind leapfrogged through all sorts of fanciful characters. When that same child got involved in a local theater troupe for kids, Fedore couldn’t sit in the wings; her fingers were itching to contribute. 

Contribute she did, and her work caught the eye of Southern Shakespeare Company (SSC), a nonprofit theater organization that focuses on education and public access to Shakespeare’s works. She has since been the costume lead for multiple SSC productions, along with other regional shows.

Fedore starts by reading the play multiple times. “No Fear Shakespeare” is one of her favorite ways to get her head around a play like “Antony & Cleopatra,” in addition to comprehensive historical research. She also goes to every rehearsal and reading possible.  

Her first goal, especially with Shakespeare, is to help the audience understand who each character is – what societal class are they in? How wealthy are they? In a perfect world, an audience member will grasp how that actor will fit into the whole story based solely on their costume. “If I can get the audience to understand who that is, without even a word, I’ve done my job,” says Fedore.

Actor Anthony Gallo, who played roles in “Antony & Cleopatra” including Pompey and Maecenas, says the “next key step” to understanding a character he’s playing after learning his lines and getting his blocking down is the costume. “Pompey was a boisterous pirate king and I was able to take that to another level once I donned my cape and fur coat for the first time. It influenced how I walked – with much more swagger and confidence – as if I knew I was the biggest and baddest in the room. On the other hand, my other character Maecenas wore formal robes so that made me stand more upright and carry myself with much more class.”

Costuming a production as ambitious as “Antony & Cleopatra” involves comprehensive story knowledge, solid clothing construction skills and a healthy dose of flexibility and ingenuity. For “Antony & Cleopatra,” multiple actors were cast as members of varying factions. An actor might be a Marc Antony devotee in Act One and a Pompey loyalist in Act Two. 

Costumes are ideally magical, says Fedore, but they also “have to rip off in three seconds on stage without hitting the microphone and causing feedback and make sure the actor doesn’t lose the layers underneath … and it has to be elegant and beautiful and happen instantly onstage.” Fedore has become a pro at creative tricks of the trade (snaps to make a vest pop off quickly, for example) that make it possible for one actor to portray multiple people in short order.

“Antony & Cleopatra” was performed in an outdoor amphitheater in a hot, humid city in May. Besides her creative wizardry, Fedore coordinates something more mundane: laundry. It’s one reason almost everything she creates has to be washable. She wants actors to have freshly laundered outfits to the degree possible.  

On a topic less logistical, but of deep importance to her, Fedore brings an innate ability to relate to the costuming process. Having been a cardiopulmonary nurse, she says that background prepared her for her costuming role. 

Even professional actors get nervous, says Fedore. Being a professional actor doesn’t exempt someone from being self-conscious about a butt they feel is too big or an arm that isn’t toned enough. 

The final impression an audience member gets is up to the actor, but Fedore is passionate about the part she can play behind the scenes. “If I can do something with the cloth to make them feel better,” they can enjoy their time on the stage and carry more confidence into the process.

“If I can say, because this fabric lays a certain way, it’s going to flatter your silhouette and it will trail behind you beautifully,” then the actor doesn’t have to give up mental energy to worry about what they’re wearing. They can give of themselves more fully on stage. “I’m always willing to take that extra time and see if an actor has some sort of insecurity that can be helped with costuming,” she says.

The theater world can still be cruel to plus-size actors, women in particular. Fedore is sometimes the first costume designer an actor works with who doesn’t say, “make it work” with the biggest item they can find in the costume inventory. 

“If you’re any kind of seamstress at all, you can fit any body of any shape of any measurement,” says Fedore. She’ll tell an actor, “It’s not you that needs to change – it’s the clothes,” after which she explains the costume modifications she can make to create something the actor feels incredible in. “A light goes on in their heads,” says Fedore, when they realize that they are not personally the problem.

If Fedore were ever to write a book, she says it would be called “Practical Magic.” Audience members may not see the little details that make it easy for a Shakespearean actor to move quickly from one look to another, but someone has to ensure they’re there.

Fedore says one of her favorite moments is when she is sitting in the audience and hears the audience react as an actor takes the stage in a costume she has designed. Everything behind the scenes may be practical, but that all comes together in a magical way onstage. 

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