Lyric Theatre Cleans Out Its Closet for the Ultimate Tag Sale 

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• Luke Awtry
• Suzanne Kneller

South Burlington's Lyric Theatre has developed a sterling reputation over its 50 years. The community theater troupe routinely packs the Flynn for spring and fall shows that leave audiences marveling that their physical therapist can sing and dance like that.

But mounting two large-scale musicals a year for 50 years produces a lot of costumes. Wardrobe manager Suzanne Kneller won't even try to guess how many. In addition to the garments constructed for shows — Shrek had about 300 — bags of clothes routinely appear, dropped at Lyric's door like babies whose parents hope someone else can give them a better life. Some come with notes: "dress donations from Sabrina!"

Furs, old military uniforms and wedding dresses turn up, cherished items entrusted to Lyric, where they are received as part blessing, part burden. The two rooms that comprise the two-story costume closet total 1,800 square feet, but by the time The Wizard of Oz closed in April, the racks were packed so tightly, the hangers wouldn't budge.

"There's just so much," Kneller said.

Lyric saves costumes so they can be reused, rented or repurposed. But there comes a time when volunteers have to admit that some items will never be used again, Kneller said. So all summer, she and a crew of other volunteers have been meeting at Lyric headquarters twice a week to cull garments in preparation for a sale on Saturday, September 14.

On a recent Wednesday, three categories remained to be sorted — men's suits, furs and military — as well as costumes that Montpelier's Lost Nation Theater had rented for its production of The Prom and the dresses from Lyric performer and director Sabrina Sydnor.

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• Luke Awtry
• Molly Mara

Wearing a striped linen shirt, black jeans and sneakers, Kneller worked with Laurie Dana and Diantha Howard — both of whom she met during Lyric's production of Oklahoma! in 1976 — and Molly Mara, a Lyric volunteer since 1985. The four costumers employed what Kneller called "the scientific method." One held up a garment, and they all discussed its merits.

"OK, visionary people, what do you think?" Kneller presented two fringed kimono-style jackets constructed for Mamma Mia! "They're wonderful, but...," she said, trying to prompt criticism.

Instead, she got a "Wow!"

"They took a long time to make," Dana said.

The fringed kimono jackets went back upstairs.

On this particular day, Mara tended to see reasons to keep things, while Kneller repeated variations on "Make it go away." Dana held up a ruffled, one-shouldered dress. "Now, that's a West Side Story, isn't it? That could be the Chiquita banana," Mara said.

Dana pointed out "schmutz" on the dress, and Kneller had her cue. "Why don't we make it go away?" she said. "Somebody would be so excited to see that."

And so the dress headed to the sale, where buyers will find shoes, accessories and fabric in addition to costumes. There will be streetwear such as blouses, skirts, pants and tops, much of it vintage, some of it "honest-to-God antique," Kneller said. All of it will be priced to sell.

"And we'll make deals," Dana said. "We've made a pledge: We're not putting it back upstairs."

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• Luke Awtry
• Costumes at Lyric Theater in South Burlington

As one might expect from a sizable closet with boxes marked "bird parts," "Addams Family" and "Santa boots w/ fur," the sale also includes items not designed for the capsule wardrobe: leather lederhosen, winged monkey suits, faux wet suits, 11 apricot-colored prom dresses and 20 matching little old lady costumes from the "Along Came Bialy" tap dance with walkers in The Producers. There are black capes made for Mamma Mia! that were never used because the actors couldn't get them off fast enough, as well as satin tear-away dresses that the Guys and Dolls Hot Box Dancers ripped off as they sang "Take Back Your Mink." Shoppers will find about 50 fake life jackets from Lyric's 2012 production of Titanic, performed on the 100th anniversary of the real boat's demise.

Many costumes and donations do get second or third lives. Kneller cut up her own grandmother's fur coat for a costume last year. "It made amazing trim," she said.

One dress in the sale, made in 1979, got reused so much that the actor it was designed for grew irritated by seeing other people wearing "her dress." So she bought it and took it home, Kneller said. "And then brought it back. And it's been hanging upstairs ever since."

Wizard of Oz costumes for the Winkie Guards, the Wicked Witch of the West's foot soldiers, have proved less versatile. For its April production of the musical, its second, Lyric considered the Winkie Guard coats from its 1998 show: long, full-skirted purple coats with red and gold trim. But they were deemed shabby and ill-fitting, and there was one too few.

"So we built a new set," Kneller said. Now they have 27. "How many Winkie coats do you really need?"

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• Luke Awtry
• Costume at Lyric Theater in South Burlington

This is Lyric's third costume sale. In the early days, purging often meant pitching due to mold, mildew, moths or mice because storage space was less than ideal. One downtown building that Lyric used for storage had no heat or light and a collapsing floor. Another, by the airport, fostered condensation.

In 2019, Lyric bought 7 Green Tree Drive, an intact, watertight building that also houses its offices, scene shop and rehearsal space. Costumes fare better there, though not all material lends itself to easy upkeep. Some garments are made of fake fur, pliable plastic or fabrics the costumers call "slime" and "poly lining nastiness."

Some can't be laundered, so the volunteers spritz them with a mixture of one part water to three or four parts vodka. "Industry standard," Kneller said. The alcohol binds with perspiration odor molecules and lifts them away.

Less than 30 minutes into the recent work session, Dana and Howard had finished sorting furs. They helped move sale costumes downstairs, then weighed in on the recently returned prom dresses.

Shortly before leaving for the day, Kneller spotted gray wool in a bag bound for recycling. She pulled it out and discovered a thoroughly moth-eaten sweater. In six days, she would start a job as relief costume designer for the Vermont Stage production of Brian Friel's Translations, which meant dressing actors as villagers in 1833 Ireland. Kneller, of the make-it-go-away mantra, rescued the sweater.

She could envision it — layered under a shawl, perhaps — back onstage.