Teatro Zinzanni

I've spent the last ten months interning two days per week and Teatro Zinzanni, San Francisco's premier Circus Dinner Theatre! From a very young age, I've been in love with clowns and the circus, and I think my family was less than surprised when I took up learning circus arts and costuming.

My internship involved getting my hands in many aspects of the costume shop: from sewing with gorgeous beaded fabrics, to buying coffee for THE Joan Baez, to rigging in "manties" (man panties) out of powernet that I attatched to dress shirts for actor's quick changes. But, the little girl in me becomes ecstatic when handed a rhinestone project, such as the one I received on my last day of work.

The madness of the costume shop hours before opening.

The current show which opened last night is all about Egypt, or, the fantastical Egypt that the fabulous costume designer Beaver Bauer conjured. Our lady Cleopatra is a bit of a clothes horse, changing six times into six equally breathtaking embodiments during the 3 hour show. Yesterday I was charged with adorning her micro-mini act costume (what she wears to perform her tissue act in) with thousands of rhinestones.

Each lotus petal was specifically designed, with each having a pattern of gems that needed to be copied symmetrically on the other cup. That alone took about four hours!

Having completed my internship, I feel only what I can equate to a kid on the last day of school. A sort of, "Whoa, what a whirlwind" paired with, "Now what?".

After returning from Burning Man, I'm going to start at Apparel Arts, a sewing trade school in San Francisco that has a industry certification program for Pattern Making. Classes start Sept. 11th, so wish me luck!