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Dress Them Down! profile Dress T h e m Quickly! I feel my own palms begin to sweat as I envision trying to change someone on the fly--sometimes in less than a minute -- w h e n it can take me 20 minutes just to figure out how to button up a wraparound skirt. Nicols brings out the heaviest costume of the show: Mrs. Houdini's stunning dress. Weighing more than 20 pounds, it's a challenge to hold it for longer than a minute, never mind putting someone into it. A l s o a challenge, says Nicols, is changing someone in the dark This occurs during fast changes, like one that she makes for an actor during the s o n g " G e t t i n ' Ready Rag." W h e n he runs off--stage right--Nichols must be right there in the wings, ready to throw dungarees on him over his costume. "I use this." She holds up a tiny flashlight, puts it in her mouth, and turns it on. Called a bite lite, it fits neatly into a dresser's mouth, providdresses six evening performances and two matinees a week--it is a job she enjoys. She likes theatre: the people, the activity, all of the behind-thescenes happenings that most people don't get to see. Nicols began her career years ago teaching hairdressing in her native England until moving to Canada 32 years ago. W h i l e working as a hairdresser in Calgary, a friend at Theatre Calgary asked her for a favour.The favour turned out to be changing a wig from its dark colour to blond for the musical Sweeney Todd.When the director of the show saw the hairpiece's new look under the lights, he was impressed. So impressed that Nicols worked that show and numerous others for Theatre Calgary, doing both wigs and dressing. In 1991, she moved to W e s t Vancouver and hooked up with Livent, where she went to Ottawa to do set-up of wigs for Phantom of the Opera. Back in Vancouver, she then dressed for Les Miserables and once the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts came into being, Nicols became a regular wig stylist or dresser for the shows. Moving to N o r t h Vancouver two years ago, she is now a regular on the 240 Vancouver bus to her work at the theatre. W h i l e she doesn't usually get to see the show she is working on, Nicols enjoys going out to other shows and movies. But since she knows what she knows, it can be hard to just sit back and relax. "I look at the costumes and hair all the time. I might think 'those wigs are not very good,'" she laughs. Ragtime plays at the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts through August; tickets atTicketmaster, at 280-2222. 0 Above: Dresser Kasandra Nicols and costumes backstage ing just enough light to get the w o r k done but not enough for anyone in the audience to notice. In this show, Nicols figures she runs up and down the side stage stairs at least a half a dozen times. A better workout than any Stairmaster, she imagines. W h i l e working on the show can be at times exhausting--Nicols at the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts in Vancouver. Photo by Ross Willows. below: Scene from the Los Angeles premiere production Ragtime. Photo by Craig Schwartz. of Karen Sega/ is a freelance North Shore -based writer who definitely cannot get dressed in less than a minute.