I attended the play, “The Sweetest Swing in Baseball”. This is the story about Dana, a struggling artist who tries to commit suicide, and her experience in a psychiatric hospital as she tries to fake a multiple personality disorder. The auditorium the play was performed in was small and their sets were minimal, so the characters’ costumes really stood out to me. While the props and set designs appeared well thought out and detailed, the costumes really made the play come alive. I thought the characters’ personalities and roles in Dana’s life were demonstrated through their costumes well.
There are two very distinct groups of people that are both a big part of Dana’s story; her art friends and her hospital friends. The art friends all …show more content…
Gilbert (Dana’s primary psychiatrist), and Dr. Stanton (the chief psychiatrist at the hospital). I think Gary had the most interesting costume. He wore the same outfit throughout the entire play: a hoodie with the painting “The Scream” on it, tan pants, and sneakers. Gary was admitted to the psychiatric unit because he claimed insanity when charged with attempted murder. He was definitely the eeriest character, but ultimately harmless. The painting on his hoodie is significant, not only because Edvard Munch, the painter, has admitted to struggling with insanity and expressing his inner demons and anxiety through his work, but also because the play is centered around art. Dana, Gary, and Michael were constantly using various styles of art as a form of therapy, which helped them express his feelings much like Munch. Michael is not a psychiatric patient, but a frequent rehab patient who was trying to overcome alcoholism once again. Michael had the most laid-back costume, always wearing pajamas, slippers, and a robe. I think this reflected his perceived inability to get his life together. The only time we saw him in something other than pajamas was the day his family came to visit and Michael slipped on a suit coat over his pajamas to class things up a bit. Even then he only wore the suit coat to please his parents. Dr. Gilbert and Dr. Stanton both wore professional