Costumes make her ‘sew’ happy

Shelley Kuhen’s life has never been the same since the spring of 1988.

Charlene Churchwell, a friend from church, had invited her to stop by Theatre Macon and audition for “The Diary of Anne Frank.’’

Shelley agreed on one condition.

“If I get cast you have to promise not tell anybody I know how to sew,’’ she told her friend.

Shelley has had a needle and thread in her hands since she was knee-high to a Singer. She grew up in Indianapolis in a family of seamstresses. Her grandmother, mother and two older sisters all sewed.

She began making her own clothes when she was 13 years old. Her parents bought her a Kenmore sewing machine when she was in high school. In the 1970s, she worked doing alterations for an Italian tailor in West Palm Beach, Florida, where her husband, Greg, was a professional golfer.

Shelley did land a part in the “Anne Frank” cast, playing the role of Miep. She figured if found out she could sew, she might be called upon to mend this and hem that. There would be no end to it.

Charlene sealed her lips and kept the secret. It was Shelley who let the thimble out of the bag.

She volunteered to make an apron for one of the cast members. Soon, the others surrounded her with collective oohs and ahhs.

“You can sew!” they exclaimed.

“No, not really,’’ she said, looking to exit stage left.

It was too late.

If the shoe fits

Shelley Kuhen is a woman of many hats. She wears them. She designs them. She makes them.

Over the past 28 years, one would be hard-pressed to find someone who has sewed on more buttons and sized more corsets and camisoles.

Every day is a dress rehearsal.

She has been a costume designer at Theatre Macon for 170 main stage productions and 37 shows for the Youth Actors Company. She has been in charge of designing costumes for 73 plays at Mercer and 32 opera productions in Macon. Next week will mark her ninth year as the costume director for Riverside Cemetery’s “Spirits in October.’’ Between 1990 and 2002, she outfitted the casts in 48 plays at Macon State College (now Middle Georgia University.)

It adds up to an average of about 15 shows a year.

For Shelley, costumes aren’t just something folks wear on Halloween.

She has set her sails for “Titanic,’’ “Dames at Sea” and “Treasure Island.’’ She has cut patterns for characters from Dr. Jekyll to Dr. Seuss, Monty Python to Kaa, the python in “The Jungle Book.’’

“Every show is different, and you get to work with different people,’’ she said. “I love the one-on-one with the actors, helping them find them find their character. That’s the fun part of my job. It’s a big responsibility because it’s partly up to me to help them realize that character.’’

On most days, you can hear the hum of sewing machines and snipping of scissors in her shop on the second floor above Theatre Macon. Then, she races off to the Tattnall Square Center for Arts at Mercer, where the scene is repeated with love.

It’s the best of all worlds, combining her passion for sewing with her keen interest in history and both the visual and performing arts.

She has volunteers who help her behind the scenes. She loves the collaboration. The show could never go on without them.

Her daughter, Laurel Astin, grew up in the theater and now helps her with wigs. For many years, her mother, Marian McHugh, was always at her side. McHugh, who taught Shelley to sew, died last year. She was 97.

“She moved in with us after my father died and lived with us for 35 years,’’ said Shelley. “She worked with me on every show from the time I started. She loved everybody. She began to slow down when she began having problems with her vision.’’

Sometimes the casts are small, with only a handful of actors. Other times, for shows like “Les Miserables” and “Titanic” the green rooms are elbow-to-elbow, and the ensembles spill over to almost every square inch of the stage.

The beauty is in the details

There are the usual challenges of time, space and budget, not to mention the materials to bring them together — cotton, silk, corduroy, polyester and even upholstery fabric. A costume has to be able to withstand the stress and strain of quick changes and multiple wash cycles.

A few years ago, Theatre Macon artistic director Jim Crisp selected Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliette,’’ set during the Italian Renaissance.

“Everything was lace,’’ said Shelley. “We had to set over a thousand lace holes. Every day, the girls in the shop would say, ‘No more grommets!’ ’’

Would anyone notice?

“I’m a perfectionist,’’ she said. “I love the details. People notice the details.’’

Obviously, you can’t dress Atticus Finch in bellbottoms and a hot pink shirt.

Historical accuracy is not always as obvious. As writer Eudora Welty once said, you have to make sure your sun comes up in the right sky.

“Back in the 1600s, only the aristocracy was allowed to have buttons,’’ said Shelley.

And you really shouldn’t put a bowler (felt hat) on gentleman before the Civil War era. They hadn’t been invented.

“Jim (Crisp) has always said people will notice if it’s not consistent,’’ she said. “You don’t want to mix periods together.’’

There are times when she exercises her creative license. Like in “West Side Story,” when she deliberately allowed the petticoats to show under the skirts.

“Somebody came up to me after the show and whispered, ‘They never would have done that,’ ’’ said Shelley. “And I said, ‘These aren’t your typical girls.’ This was different, and we made that choice.’’

Shelley has often been asked why she has never left for brighter lights and bigger stages. She has certainly had opportunities.

But her family is important. The lure of more glamorous playbills has never been enough to pull her away. She and her husband live in downtown Macon. She can be at the theater in five minutes if someone has a wardrobe malfunction in Act 2 on opening night.

Besides, if she wants to be on Broadway, it’s just two blocks from Cherry, at the corner of Mulberry.

Community theater makes her proud.

If she pops a few buttons every time the curtain goes up, she can always sew them back on.

This story was originally published October 14, 2016 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Costumes make her ‘sew’ happy."