Dressing Room Refurbishment

Emily Ware, who has virtually grown up backstage at the Pasadena Playhouse, recently took it upon herself to initiate a revitalization of the Dressing Rooms for our actors.

16 year-old Emily is the daughter of Tom Ware (Producing Director) & Lea Chazin Ware (Stage Manager). She began her project, which will enable her to earn a Girl Scout Gold Award (the pinnacle achievement of Girl Scouting), by researching painting techniques, materials and costs with trips to book stores, hardware and paint supply shops.

Next, she created and presented a proposal and detailed plan to Managing Director Brian Colburn and Friend Bridget Furiga, as well as the Girl Scout Gold Award Committee, where it was met with enthusiastic support. As soon as our productions of the

Marriage Musicals closed on August 6, the dressing rooms were scrubbed, plastered and prepared for a coat of primer and two coats of beautiful new paint colors.
Narrowing the choice of colors was the most difficult part of the painstaking process, but finally with a crew of volunteers from the administration, production and marketing staff ready to go, a decision had to be made! With 9 dressing rooms to be painted, Emily chose a beautiful light blue, a pale green and a deeper green as her final choices.

Each room was assigned a color, with a lighter shade of that color for the ceilings and pipes. If you passed through the Green Room over the past two weeks you may have been snagged into grabbing a brush!

The black trim around the mirrors, and shelving was tackled next. Emily put the final touches on with some beautiful fabrics to cover the chairs in each room. Penn Genthner, who volunteered on the project, pulled out some Playhouse archive photographs that had been stored away to hang on the freshly painted walls and give them a cozy look. With a lot of help from many people, some with elbow grease and some with moral support; the project was completed just in time for the cast of Fences to move in on August 19.

Completion was celebrated with a small but heartfelt “wrap” party for everyone who helped. All nine rooms were open and on display. Emily was presented with beautiful flowers and many congratulations by all who attended. Stop by, next time you are at the Playhouse to check out this fabulous new look!


Other Playhouse staff who took part in the project were Kappy Kilburn, Kevin Cordova, Brian Colburn, Lesley Brander, Brad Price, Amanda Diamond, Carol Ann Sparks, Dan Healey and board member Peggy Ebright. Girl Scouts Rachel McLaughlin, Rachel Hogue and Lauren Hogue also assisted with the project.