Behind the scenes: How a whirlwind of creativity brings ‘Little Shop’ to life at KC Rep

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Audrey II gobbles up the audience’s attention like, well, the man-eating plant that she is.

The centerpiece of the musical “Little Shop of Horrors” is an extraterrestrial plant that feeds on human blood. Traditionally, the creature is a massive puppet, with an actor offstage providing her voice.

But in the Kansas City Repertory Theatre production now playing, the carnivorous plant and the source of its voice share the stage.

Kansas City native Zachery Garner, invisible to the audience, is the skilled puppeteer working inside Audrey II. And looming overhead, larger-than-life in ’60s-vibe Afro and costumes, is Shon Ruffin, belting out the tunes and channeling the character.

They affectionately refer to each other as their “other half.”

“Shon is the voice, the voice of the attitude, the personality, that everything,” said Garner. “She’s everything. I’m just a shell that gets to embody her voice. And it’s so fun.”

But having that vocal other half visible to the audience means a costumer had to get creative.

Clothing the voice

Snug inside a fitting room, costume designer Sully Ratke meticulously adjusts the burgundy velvet costume she designed for Ruffin.

It flows with ’60s nostalgia, complete with a green wig and oversize hipster sunglasses. Thirteen days before the show’s opening, Ratke and Jana Jessee, a cutter/draper, tailor the costume to Ruffin’s frame. They add an elaborate pink organza and velvet dickie, a shiny complement to the rich velvet.

“I’m sort of a texture hound,” Ratke said.

Ratke studied studio art at University of Notre Dame and earned her master’s in stage design at Northwestern University. Her hand-drawn costume sketches, like miniature pieces of artwork, hang on the fitting room mirror and dot the costume shop walls backstage at the Spencer Theatre at University of Missouri-Kansas City. Last May, Ratke made her debut for the KC Rep with costume designs for “Peter Pan & Wendy.”

As the voice of Audrey II, Ruffin stands with a band, high above the stage and some distance from the audience.

“We knew that scale would really have to play into what she was wearing and we knew that the plant was going to be opening and that she was going to be mirroring the plant,” said Ratke. “So the lining in her jacket is a contrast, is a choice. So that it can open up and you’ll see over the evolution of the character, the costumes get bigger and more grand as the plant is growing. Strength.”

Stretchy fabrics help.

“I feel like a big part of the job of the costumer is also to ensure that the actor feels good in their clothing and not just that they look good as the character, but that they feel comfortable,” Ratake said.

She emphasized that costume design is a collaboration. Starting nine months before the first rehearsal, she had many discussions with the Rep’s artistic director, Stuart Carden, on the type of story he wanted to tell.

“I like to go through and make sure not only am I hitting all the needs of the show, but that I’m really understanding who the characters are,” she said.

“Sully brings her prodigious imagination and extraordinarily thoughtful collaboration style to every project she approaches,” Carden said in an email. “She always surprises me with her ability to bring seemingly disparate ideas together in remarkable ways. When she pitches an approach to a costume like Audrey II’s that is one part ’70s glam rock, one part Diana Ross, one part extra-terrestrial you just say, yes!”

Her costume shop is a whirlwind of activity, with stitchers and cutter drapers at sewing machines or working by hand, bustling about, piecing together various components of costumes for the cast.

Back in the fitting room, Ruffin is handed several oversize rings to slip over her teal-painted nails, glittery bracelets, large earrings and necklace. Ratke said there’s a lot to consider during the fitting. “We make sure that all of the movements and dancing that they need to do in the choreography fits within the costume as well,” she said. “She is really rocking that outfit.”

Ratke reads and rereads the script as she designs. “I do a lot of historical research, so we set the show in the 1970s, so I was doing research ranging from the ’50s to the ’70s to make sure that I accounted for generational costumes and things like that,” she said.

She noted that the show, while comedic, also encompasses elements of horror.

“There’s a lot of dark and really dangerous material about domestic abuse in the show that we traditionally have laughed at, joked about,” she said. “And it is certainly still there, the humor, but we really, particularly with this version, wanted to honor some of that story, to point out that it’s been a joke in the past to kind of illuminate the fact that this is a grave situation for Audrey.”

The “Little Shop” of the title is Mushnik’s Skid Row Florists, where Seymour Krelborn (played by Jordan Matthew Brown), a kindly floral assistant, finds an exotic plant with an unsual appetite. Seymour names the plant Audrey II, after the co-worker he has a crush on. Throughout the show, the human Audrey finds herself trapped in situations that jeopardize her safety, both emotionally and physically.

“So a lot of my design is based around that narrative of taking her through the show and making sure that we’re honoring that real danger that she’s in,” said Ratke, who designed three or four different “looks for Audrey.

Ratke designed another “50 to 60 looks” to outfit the rest of the cast.

“When I see the costumes on stage for the first time, I guess, I feel gratitude usually for the actors, “ said Ratke. “What really is important is that the actors and I meet in a place where they can inhabit the clothes and make them feel alive, like actual clothing and not like a costume.”

Inside the puppet

Garner, meanwhile, gained 13 years of experience at Mesner Puppet Theater, now What If Puppets.

“Puppetry is a whole unique way to tell stories,” said Garner, who has been immersed in puppetry since his childhood. “I think you get to tell very heartwarming and funny, and sometimes dark stories with puppets.”

There are four puppets in the production, including the Audrey II, so large that it slides on and off the stage on a moving platform.

“Having Zach Garner, a professional puppeteer, makes all the difference not only making our Audrey II’s come to life but also because of Zach’s exceptional imagination,” Carden said. “Zach has contributed not only to the technical aspects of puppeteering but contributed to the entire production with his unique perspective and creative problem solving. It is amazing watching him bring an inanimate object to life!”

The Audrey II Garner operates from inside has been rented for this show.

“Audrey II is the singing and dancing one I wear, it’s like a full body thing, upper lip, bottom lip,” said Garner. “My legs are the roots, basically.” Pulling one side of a lever opens the mouth wide, a very wide mouth. “You see all of the teeth and stuff.”

Though he can’t see the audience, live puppetry, Garner said, is exciting.

“You can’t see them, but you can hear them and you can kind of feed off their energy like any performance,” he said. “You can really hear their reaction and not feel like, ‘Oh, I have to do more because the puppets are already doing everything that it needs to do.”

Garner said the show is exhausting. “It’s a physically demanding show,” he said. “But the theater has supplied me with a great physical therapist, so every week I’m getting realigned and put back into play so I can do it all over again.”

The KC Rep’s “Little Shop of Horrors” runs through May 19 on the Spencer Theatre stage.