Intimate Apparel
by Lynn Nottage
Synopsis: The time is 1905, the place New York City, where Esther, a black seamstress, lives in a boarding house for women and sews intimate apparel for clients who range from wealthy white patrons to prostitutes. Her skills and discretion are much in demand, and she has managed to stuff a goodly sum of money into her quilt over the years. One by one, the other denizens of the boarding house marry and move away, but Esther remains, lonely and longing for a husband and a future. Her plan is to find the right man and use the money she's saved to open a beauty parlor where black women will be treated as royally as the white women she sews for. By way of a mutual acquaintance, she begins to receive beautiful letters from a lonesome Caribbean man named George who is working on the Panama Canal. Being illiterate, Esther has one of her patrons respond to the letters, and over time the correspondence becomes increasingly intimate until George persuades her that they should marry, sight unseen. Meanwhile, Esther's heart seems to lie with the Hasidic shopkeeper from whom she buys cloth, and his heart with her, but the impossibility of the match is obvious to them both, and Esther consents to marry George. When George arrives in New York, however, he turns out not to be the man his letters painted him to be, and he absconds with Esther's savings, frittering it away on whores and liquor. Deeply wounded by the betrayal, but somehow unbroken, Esther returns to the boarding house determined to use her gifted hands and her sewing machine to refashion her dreams and make them anew from the whole cloth of her life's experiences.
Cast
| Esther | Shannon Hemmings |
| George Armstrong | Princeton Drake |
| Van Buren | Sara Bond |
| Mr. Marks | Matt Schnitker |
| Mayme | Jena Alami |
| Mrs. Dickson | Kanika Blankenship |
Production Staff
| Director | Ayinde Hurrey |
| Assistant Director | Ashleigh-Dawn Kriegh-Fleming |
| Scenic Design | Jenna Luchkiw |
| Costume/Wig Design | Chelsea Sorensen |
| Lighting Design | Aileen Cleaver |
| Technical Director | Phillip Brulotte |
| Stage Manager | Robyn Weinlauf |
| Assistant Stage Manager | Storm Hooten |
| Pianist | David Kelly |
| Master Electrician | Baron Leon |
| Light Board Operator | Dominic Johnson |
| Sound Board Operator | Matt Brunelle |
| Props Coordinator | Erin Finnegan |
| House Manager | Ashlee Ballew |
| Wardrobe Supervisor | Kearney Starr |
| Dresser | Esther Sanchez-Morales |
| Stage Crew | Laura Ippolito |
| Scene Shop Crew | Michael Baker |
| Jim Eisman | |
| Maygan Eldridge | |
| Emily Merritt | |
| Sean Taylor | |
| Sam Yelverton | |
| Paint Crew | Juan Aguas |
| Thompson Chestnutt | |
| Alex Cihanowic | |
| Laura Ippolito | |
| Dominic Johnson | |
| Ashleigh-Dawn Krigh-Fleming | |
| Costume Shop Crew | Nicole Castro |
| Victoria Dann | |
| Annastasia Fiala-Gapp | |
| Shannon Hemmings | |
| Tekiria Kelly | |
| Josh Kolapo | |
| Cassie Martinez | |
| Pilar Rehert | |
| Ashley Sileo | |
| Kearney Starr | |
| Alexa Teebo | |
| Daniel Williams | |
| Nethaneel Williams | |
| Lighting Crew | Jason Choate |
| Ruben Diaz | |
| Props Crew | Erin Finnegan |
| Pilar Rehert | |
| Matty Schnitker | |
| Scene Shop Student Staff | Eric Chapman |
| Zach Kuhl | |
| Robin Lawshe | |
| Jenna Luchkiw | |
| Johnny Marks | |
| Costume Shop Student Staff | Jac Corday |
| Lisa Eash | |
| Kaitlyn Kerwood | |
| Marquez Linder | |
| Kristen Taylor | |
| Mary Tempesta | |
| Student Staff Electricians | Jessica Abney |
| Aileen Cleaver | |
| Box Office Staff | Matthew Dailey |
| Ashleigh Dawn Kriegh-Fleming | |
| Jonathan Maisel | |
| Nathan Smith |
