Jan Wanless is an example of the adage “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” She describes her costume designer job at the Spokane Civic Theatre as going in to play every day. Her cheerful disposition and perpetual ability to find the positive in what she does makes her life in the theater business an adventure each day.
Wanless graduated from Whitworth in 1983 with a major in British literature, theater and history. She was able to manipulate her own major and tailor it to her own interests in hopes she would get into a school to study library sciences.
Wanless appreciated Whitworth professors such as Al Gunderson, Bruce Murphy and Leonard Oakland, who were all very inspirational to her.
“They were all positive influences, encouraging of my going off in my own direction,” Wanless said. “I hadn’t expected that when I hit college. I had friends off to big universities where you didn’t even get to meet your professors. To have teachers that cared enough to learn your name and about you was great.”
She also appreciated that when her focus changed after graduation. Wanless enjoys that she has never had to interview for a job. Before continuing onto library sciences, Wanless went to work at a fabric store she frequented during her time at school when she designed costumes for the Whitworth theater program. It was there she was introduced to the costumer for the Spokane Civic Theatre.
“She asked if I could come into volunteer some time,” Wanless said. “The first day I came in she offered me a job. I’ve been working there ever since.”
Wanless’ partner, Dee Finan, and her other colleagues have helped to recreate a Whitworth-like life for Wanless at the theater.
“The small tight-knit group I have at the theatre is like the small tight-knit group I had at Whitworth. It’s a lot of the same atmosphere at work, but outside the pinecone curtain,” Wanless said. “It’s the same style of looking out for each other and the same camaraderie we had at Whitworth.”
Wanless had advice for current Whitworth students. Since she was headed out to a school for library sciences, she felt very lucky she woke up one day and realized she already loved what she did.
“Don’t give up on what you want to do,” Wanless said. “But, don’t be so locked in that you miss other opportunities.”
Her job takes that into careful consideration with each show she designs for.
“You can prepare as much as you want ahead of time, but ultimately you have to just go with the flow,” Wanless said.
When designing costumes, Wanless described it as a hurry-up-and-wait process. They’ll have seven weeks to build the show, and three weeks to build costumes after the cast list has been posted. Even if she has most of the designing done ahead of time, last-minute changes can throw off the whole show. For instance, if an understudy has to take over for the night, costumes may not look the same on everyone or fit all body types.
Her designs must take into consideration the different shapes and sizes of all of the different actors. Even hair color can make a difference to the costumes. The costumers have to have back-up plans for every character on stage as to who can perform and who can fit into their costumes.
Each day she gets to work with new actors, new histories, new costumes and new age periods.
“It’s just a series of projects. I’m not good at doing the same thing over and over again,” Wanless said.
During a typical day, everyone is working on different projects. Wanless is very good at multi-tasking. She must read all of the scripts for the upcoming season and put together a budget while she designs and creates costumes for the present season.
Wanless loves her design work. She looks at her fabric selections for a show to be like putting together a quilt; the colors must match, the costumes must be historically accurate, she must take requests from directors and casts, she then must make a color scheme, and then finally must go to the fabric store to start piecing it together.
Wanless attributes her ability to research well, and her knowledge of history to her time at Whitworth and considers it to be an asset to her career now.
“We do so many historical shows where you always have to start with the time period. It really helps if you know the history, besides just the fashion,” Wanless said. “Know the period; know who the bigwigs were; know what politics were going on. It helps you design the fashion for the show.”
A few years ago, “Assassins” played at the Civic Theatre. It highlights the notorious assassins throughout history.
“We worked so hard to give enough flavor of the period so that before the chorus came out to sing, the audience could say, that is from 1963,” Wanless said.
Wanless said there is a costume in every show that generally gives them grief. She’s learned sometimes she just needs to let go of her original plans and start again.
As soon as a performance has run its course, Wanless’ works of art are not lost but are preserved in the theater’s costume shop. Those costumes are then made available to the public who can rent out various outfits for different events.
The past few weeks, Wanless and Finan have worked to clean out some of the older costumes.
“There are things we built 27 years ago that still go on stage,” Wanless said. “Dang! We build to last.”
Halloween and Christmas are busy times of the year for Wanless and others who work in the costume shop since they rent out costumes to the public.
“Halloween is a quarter of our business for the whole year. Christmas is starting to rival it with carolers and group shows,” Wanless said. “Murder mystery parties are popular, too.”
For more information about Jan Wanless, the Spokane Civic Theatre or the costume shop, visit spokanecivictheatre.com.
Contact Sophie Sestero at sophie.sestero@whitworthian.com.
Alumna creates costumes for every era
Published: Monday, March 8, 2010
Updated: Tuesday, March 9, 2010
 "Photo: Joanne Maguire/Whitworthian")
Joanne Maguire/Whitworthian
'83 alumna Jan Wanless sits in her office in the Spokane Civic Theatre, where she designs costumes. Wanless advises students to keep seeking out things they love, but also to keep an open mind to other opportunities.
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