Tucked away in the winding basement halls of SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts graduate student April Hahn, surrounded by racks of vintage shoes and bins of thrifted clothing items, shuffles around a costume designer’s suite, quietly building characters from scratch.
“I asked my grandma for a sewing machine for Christmas in third grade,” Hahn said with a laugh. “She was like, ‘So weird, but sure.’ I started with making clothes for my American Girl dolls, then I got into theater as an actor. Once I hit middle school, I was like, ‘Stage is not for me.’ I started doing more backstage stuff, and it just kind of snowballed.”
Hahn is deep in the process of finalizing costumes for each of the actors in In Arabia We’d All Be Kings, one of three plays in The Rep, a rotation of contemporary American plays directed and performed by SMU theatre students.
“It’s before the gentrification of Times Square,” she said. “You’re seeing how crack and sex work are affecting people in that world, and the bar they hang out in is being sold. They’re losing their area, their spots.”
For Hahn’s costume design process, she starts with research, and a lot of it. She creates mood boards and collages to help envision her looks. To build looks, she pulls from the department’s extensive stock before thrifting around Dallas or even building pieces herself.
Hahn emphasized that research is crucial to her design. If she finds a challenge while fitting an actor, she goes back to the drawing board for inspiration.
“Sometimes you get into the fitting room and nothing is working,” she said. “You just really need to go back to your research and vision boards. The research is never really done.”
Though In Arabia We’d All Be Kings uses mostly contemporary clothes, Hahn has built full costumes in past productions.
“Building stuff is fun,” she said. “You really get to customize and fully design it. It’s like fully yours.”
The costume design process is collaborative. Hahn works closely alongside scenic and lighting designers to ensure that the production visually fits together.
“Lighting could totally change the color of my costumes,” Hahn said. “We try to work very collaboratively. Everyone has a different perspective, so being able to hear those and come up with new ideas is definitely very helpful.”
Actors like Brady Bagwell who have worn Hahn’s designs in several past shows, say her work enhances the performance.
“Anyone can design clothes, but April creates living, breathing people that audiences connect to,” Bagwell said. “That’s what separates her from any costume designer I’ve worked with, and what will allow her potential to remain limitless.”
Bagwell recalls his costume for The French Play as one of his favorite designs by Hahn.
“I had a cane, gloves, a ring, a cape, a coat, a feathered hat and a ton of makeup,” he said. “At the end of the day, she just has a great knowledge of every play she’s worked on. She has a deep understanding and empathy for all of these characters, which is why her passion for her craft is so clear to see on and off the stage.”
This understanding seems to have been with Hahn from the start. Her dad, John Hahn, remembers how early the signs appeared.
“April grew up in such a way that you knew she was going to be doing something like that [costume design]. She could sit in an empty room and just play with the light in the room. You knew she was in a whole other place,” he said. “I taught her to sew, and her talent just kept falling out at amazing speed.”
Her mom, Jill Hahn, recalls a teenage April whipping up a peasant costume for a medieval fair.
“She just made it all herself. My jaw was on the ground,” she said. “And for her senior prom, she made her own dress. I was like, ‘No, come on, let’s go shopping.’ And she’s like, ‘No, I’m gonna make it.’ And it was gorgeous.”
Watching April’s designs hit the stage brings tears to her mother’s eyes.
“I remember seeing her opera last year,” Jill said. “There was a woman in a midnight blue gown—I don’t remember the name of the show, but I’ll never forget that dress.”
As graduation nears, April’s parents dream of where her designs might take her next.
“I hope she ends up back here in New York,” John said. “I’ve always told her she’s better than she thinks she is. And finally, this semester, I’ve seen her start to believe that.”
“She’s got magic,” Jill said. “I hope someone opens the right door and gives her that magic ride.”