Before Sparks is done, he'll have felt skin, rosy cheeks, his own cotton outfit and a shock of fluffy blond hair. Also on the costume shop's to-do list are 20 traditional Russian peasant costumes and four satin outfits for the local upper crust. Plus 32 masks that Janet Griffin Nakamura is busy crafting. Once they dry, she'll add bumps and creases in a layer of gray dough made of water and pulverized newspapers. Gradually, she says, each mask assumes a personality to which she'll become attached.
Sparks can identify.
Casually wielding her measuring tape, Vance recalls her sole visit to Harvard Yard - on Thanksgiving morning, in the rain. Her soft laughter wafts across the room as she recalls the misadventure. Humor is routine here, where building a lovable puppet, a diva's gown or a tap-dancing tomato outfit is all in a day's work. I never get bored. The minute I do, the show goes up and I start a new one.