I am a costume and makeup designer and Professor at the University
of Alaska Fairbanks http://www.uaf.edu/theatre/ , so, when I (along
with the rest of the faculty, staff and students of the Theatre
Department) offered to help with the production of Chronic Town, I
thought I'd be mostly helping the costume and makeup designers with
finding supplies in Fairbanks. I didn't really expect to be asked
to audition for the tiny role of Jenny, an elderly drunk who is
obsessed with a sandwich, and has difficulty remaining vertical. I
expected even less to be cast, since, I'm only 48 and I've also
never drunk alcohol. However, apparently Tommy thought I tipped
over with distinction at auditions (or he was desperate), so I got
asked to do so again (and again, and again) on the icy parking lot
outside the Boatel bar for a morning's filming. Despite the bruises
on my backside, it was rather fun. I got folks to take pictures of
me getting made up as an old lady by Jackie Zaizar, hanging at the
Boatel with the cast and crew, etc, that you can see here:
http://costumes.org/classes/makeupclass/chronictownjenny.htm

In my normal career I don't act, though I have performed in my own
DVD series on Theatrical Makeup Design where I'm a "talking head"
that applies makeup to myself as I lecture. You can Watch a clip of
this here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmeHxgawfrM or read more
about this project at
http://www.theatricaldesign.com/makeup/index.html

I'm best known as the author of the largest website on costume
design, construction and history: The Costumer's Manifesto at
http://costumes.org I was amused and pleased to find that Chronic
Town's Costume Designer, Wendy Willis was a fan of the site. All
the clothes I wore as Jenny are weird bits from my own winter
wardrobe that Wendy expertly assembled into a bizarrely comic
whole:
http://costumes.org/classes/uafcostumeshop/images/makeup2007/chronict
own/01/04march07%20009.jpg We had a fun time when Wendy first
arrived where I madly drove her around Fairbanks in my Auroramobile
http://costumes.org/advice/dumpdecor/minivanmakeover.htm showing her
the UAF costume storage, the fabric store, the costume rental store
and Fred Meyer so she'd know what she could get in town if she
needed anything.

Probably the most fun for me with working on this production was
filming the "acid trip" scene, which was done in the Boatel Bar one
night, and included as extras many of the students and staff of
Theatre UAF along with the delightful Chronic Town film crew.
Amidst the normal bar patrons I and my Costume Shop Manager Lorraine
Pettit drunkenly danced while worshipping my sandwitch. I strongly
suspect this will be cutting room floor material, but it was an
insane delight to do this in the midst of a group of friends.