Archive for the ‘News’ Category

I’ve been talking up a storm about the show I’m currently costuming, Clybourne Park, because it has the cast and crew abuzz with intense conversation about it’s themes of gentrification and race and community and absolution.  We had our first preview last night and the audience was incredibly enthusiastic – tons of laughs and applause and chatter. The […]


Camille and Takeshi’s City Hall wedding were featured on Wedding Nouveau in a two-part feature.  My DIY laser cutting designs were the special feature for part 2. Some quotes: Camille’s fabulous dress was custom made…that’s right, custom made by theatre costume designer and stylist – Jessica Hinel.  As a theatre artist myself, I deeply understand the […]


]I was recently filmed working on a wedding dress at the A.C.T. Costume Shop for the TEDxSF conference. The piece was shown in the planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences as the event’s opening video, projected on giant screens. From the film’s producer, Joelle Jaffe: We’re putting together vivid beautiful images of inspiration, innovation, creation… […]


For those of you into DIY, I’ve started an Instructable on Camille and Takeshi’s wedding gown and vest that I designed with graphic patterns made with a laser cutter.  It’s mostly pictures at the moment, but most of you just want to see those anyway.  Contact me if you really do want to make your […]


Remember that dress?  Finally, a full write-up of the whole lovely occasion! The great alternative wedding blog Offbeat Bride has featured Mary and Stephen’s wedding in the Santa Cruz forest twice now.  First, a teaser featuring the dress: http://offbeatbride.com/2009/06/jessica-hinel-dress And now, the lovely bride, Mary, gives you all the details of what made this such […]


I was in for a surprise, the other night, when our actors came onstage. Caucasian Chalk Circle director John Doyle warned me before the second preview that the cast might be a little “playful” with their clothes that night.  I sat in the back, confused and amused as one by one the actors walked onstage with […]


Recently opened at A.C.T. is the West Coast premiere of David Mamet’s November, a show set in the Oval Office.  Now, even President Obama has failed to push White House fashion much further than snappy ties with a conservative suit, so the show could have been a bore to costume. Despite this, costume designer Alex […]


The San Francisco Chronicle just posted a gushing review about the 1st show of A.C.T.’s 2009-10 season, Noël Coward‘s Brief Encounter.  While this is the U.S. premiere of a show that was originally mounted in England by Kneehigh Theatre (so we in the A.C.T. Costume Shop only made small contributions), I hope that the quality […]


My last show with A.C.T. this season was assisting Sandra Woodall on “Boleros for the Disenchanted,”  an autobiographical piece by playwright José Rivera.  The story spans continents and generations, following his mother and father’s relationship from the village of Miraflores and bustling Santurce, Puerto Rico in 1953 to the Fort Rucker army base in Daleville, […]


Achilles’ tale of love and war has been given a contemporary voice by the poet Christopher Logue.  Tonight, A.C.T. is premiering an epic new work based on this modern translation of The Iliad, War Music.   Beaver Bauer‘s costumes move the story dramatically, designed with a minimalist base upon which key details are added.  The set […]