Behind The Scenes of “Click, Clack, BOO! A Tricky Treat”

Interviews With
Wendy Maxwell, Costume Designer
and Austin K. Butler, Scenic Designer

How did you approach designing Click, Clack, BOO! A Tricky Treat?

Wendy: I wanted the costumes to be fun, colorful, and have lots of texture.

Austin: When we talked about how the audience should see Farmer Brown’s barnyard and home, it was unanimous that we should create an environment that embodies the classic American ideal of what a farmstead looks and feels like, which is how the barnyard is portrayed in the Click, Clack books as well. The illustrations in the books are beautiful watercolor images that bring the pages to life for readers. My intent was to design a set that brings the illustrated world of Farmer Brown and his farm animals to our audience so they feel like they’re a part of the story too.

What is it like creating costumes that transform humans into animal characters?
Wendy: It was challenging and fun! Jeff Revels, the director, let us know that he did not want literal interpretations of animals. So, I just started to think about what things represent these animals to me. The first thing was shape, then textures, and finally, what makes them different from one another.

What are three words to describe your design?
Austin: Fun, Farm, and Alive.

What is your favorite childhood Halloween memory?
Wendy: Halloween has always been my favorite holiday! The first Halloween costume I remember is when I dressed up like a bunny rabbit. I wore a pair of my footed pajamas and my mom, who hates to sew, made me a hood with ears. I even had a cottontail. I wore that bunny costume at least three years in a row!

Austin: One Halloween, when two of my sisters and I were in high school, we dressed up in costumes so we could take our little brother and sister trick-or-treating. We were worried that people would say we were too old to be trick-or-treating, but as it turned out, most people were happy to see us dressed up with our younger siblings and gave us as much candy as all of the other trick-or-treaters!