Editor’s Note: “Hawks Uncovered” is a series that tells the often unknown stories of Hebron students and staff.
Since the start of her journey with the theater program, she had been an actor.
All of that changed when senior May Fabriani became the lead hair and makeup artist for “The Addams Family.” The show follows the characters popularized by the mid-1900 comics, 1964 TV show and movies released through the 1990s.
While May had her fair share of experience doing “normal” makeup and adapting that to the stage, she faced a new challenge when planning the cosmetic aspects of the musical. Not only did she have to figure out how to capture the essence of the iconic family, but she had to introduce three brand new characters — all of whom have personalities completely opposite to the titular characters. One of these characters, Alice Beinike, was May’s favorite to conceptualize, due to her “kooky, bubbly” nature.
Alongside the principal cast, May was tasked with creating distinctive looks for each member of the 38-person ensemble. Each was given their own ancestor with characters spanning over the time and space of history. To discover the characters, May turned to period-accurate content, looking through magazines and watching movies to find the essence of each ancestor. She had to create characters in line with different moments in history, while making sure they each have a grayed-out skin tone and monochromatic highlights and contours.
With the specificity of the grayscale, May worked heavily with the costume and lighting department to harmonize all the aspects of the look. As May worked closer with assistant director Logan McGraw and costumers Heather Wheeler and Alex Martin, she learned more about fashion culture and its impact on a show.
It was not only her fellow technicians May had to work with, she also had to work individually with each actor — all 50 of them. After past experiences with a lack of communication between the actors and cosmetic leads, May strived to create an open dialogue, ensuring there would be little-to-no confusion as the show progressed.
The week prior to the opening of the show comes with three dress rehearsals with full hair, makeup and costume to practice getting the entire look in the same period of time. Drawing from her past tech week experiences as an actor, May said she is driven by the idea of actors seeing themselves as a completely different person, hoping to make a mark on someone’s journey.