Charlotte Kreutz, who heads up the after school Think Tank program and is a general LCCS Jill-Of-All-Trades, has recently served as costume designer for a New York City performance based on a Duke Ellington jazz suite.
Theater is in Charlotte’s blood. She says her parents were avid theater goers, and her father acted and wrote plays at the community theater level. Certainly it will come as no surprise to everyone who knows Charlotte, that she was able to lend her ingenuity to the project.
“I had a budget of $1500 to work with. I could have borrowed (for a fee) costumes from the Costume Collection in Queens but I knew I wanted to build (a costume term) the women's dresses from scratch. They had to be sexy and dramatic and I wanted to fit each actress perfectly. I shopped for fabric at MOOD in Manhattan (Project Runway fans will know...). I'm so glad I made them, and so are the beautiful ladies. I also lucked out finding a snazzy1950's double-breasted suit for the one of the actors for $20 at Goodwill. Love a bargain!"
The work was inspired by characters from Shakespeare and features a live jazz ensemble from Jazz at Lincoln Center performing with actors from Hudson Guild Theatre Company and dancers from Matthew Westerby Company.
The final performances are this weekend, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m and Nov. 14 at 2 p.m. and 8 pm.
