Merchants of Magic: Thank you to our in-kind partners

By Noreen Major

How would you paint your face to look like the trickster Puck? Where would you lace up 150 pairs of military boots? How long would it take you to clean all of the togas in Julius Caesar? Fortunately the Shakespeare Theatre Company has an amazing Production team that effortlessly manages logistics with the support of in-kind partners.

MAC Cosmetics (maccosmetics.com), the Official Cosmetic of STC since 2009, assists with make-up for all mainstage productions and hosts educational make-up seminars for STC’s production staff and performers. All make-up looks, from traditional to fantastical, are show-specific and sometimes require more than a dozen trials.

Old Town Shoe and Luggage Repair (donshoe.com

) and Rodrigo “Don” Restrepo work on shoe repair and rubbering throughout the season. Dance rubber is necessary for the actors’ safety, and STC uses 15 to 150 pairs of shoes per show. At $35 per pair, the cost of rubbering adds up quickly! STC stocks and prepares all shoes in house. During our 2009-2010 Leadership Repertory Production of Richard II and Henry V, there were two sets of costumes, boots and armor packed into the dressing rooms at once—a very full house.

Parkway Custom Dry Cleaning (parkwaydrycleaning.com) has provided superior care to hundreds of STC costumes, the only area recipient of America’s Best Cleaners Award. Costume cleaning is usually done overnight but the togas in Julius Caesar take 18 hours to clean and press, and they come into contact with stage blood. There is not enough time to clean them on days with both matinee and evening performances, so two sets of costumes were created.

These companies provide thousands of dollars in budget relief to STC and allow the theatre to direct funds back to staging quality productions and providing innovative education and community engagement programs.

To join our growing list of in-kind sponsors, contact the Corporate Giving Office at 202.547.3230 ext. 2342 or CorpSTC@ShakespeareTheatre.org.

Noreen Major is the Corporate Giving Manager at the Shakespeare Theatre Company.