by Richard Garcia // Staff Writer
Ace costume designer Angle Luna participated in the 2020 Henry Kemp-Blair Shakespeare competition for costumes and makeup. Designing a costume for Queen Titania from shakespeares’ “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” she took home the 1st place award for her category stunning the judge who is a professional in the industry.
Mrs. Kadota, Carson High School’s stage tech teacher, and Luna’s mentor said, “The professor that works at the college that does the costuming, at the end she said [something to the effect of] ‘I want to take you and mold you, because you did such a great job,’ so that was really good for Angel.”
“The character was the queen of fairies” Luna explained as she went over her choices for the costume. “So I wanted to input nature, and that was really my whole aspiration for it, to add flowers, butterflies, things like that, as well as nature colors.”
The Costume itself is a single piece, with the upper torso section being white with gold accents to show off the queen’s more regal side. The lower section is a pink dress, with the two sections being connected with a band of flowers around the waist, symbolizing her connection to nature. Two light, flowy pieces of fabric that have elastic bands to hold around the actresses wrist act as faux wings to remind the audience of her fairy side. The whole costume is finished off with a Tiara, once again establishing both the royal aspect of the character, and Titania’s connection to nature.
However, this competition wasn’t Luna’s only accolade for her costume designs. “My tenth grade year was my first time competing in DTASC [Drama Teachers Association of Southern California’s Fall Festival], and I didn’t place, and that same year I did DTASC in the spring and I ended up getting second place for my costume. My next Competition is [this] DTASC.”
Ms. Kadota also added that, “She [Angel Luna] was the kind of girl that we were able to put in any position and she did exactly what she was supposed to do. She’s a quick learner, she takes direction well, and that is why she is now our stage manager, which is probably the top position as far as the tech crew goes.”
Angel Luna will be remembered as Carson High School’s costume genius, and is definitely a name to remember. Being both an extremely talented creator and a helpful hand behind the scenes of Carson’s shows, her dedication to her crafts is an example we should all strive to achieve.