Tucked away on the eastern side of Illinois lies a town of less than 34,000 people known as Danville.

Danville is known for its coal mines, and for famous names including Gene Hackman, Dick and Jerry Van Dyke, Bobby Short and now Gregory Duckett, lecturer in music. As a child growing up in Danville, Ill., Duckett did all the activities other kids his age did, whether it was playing baseball, swimming, playing music, doing arts and crafts or spending time with his family and friends. However, there was one exception. While other children went home every day after school and stared at their television sets, Duckett spent a majority of his time with his two grandmothers, sewing.        

One of six children, some of them step-brothers and sisters, Duckett said he had a family very similar to “The Brady Bunch.”

Attending theater, the family would see shows like the “Ice Capades,” the circus and even attractions at Disney World where Duckett was instantly hooked.     

“For the next month I would recreate my favorite moments and, of course, this included costumes,” Duckett said. “From the color combined with the music, I was in spectacle heaven. My grandmothers were very talented. They were always sewing, creating everything from alterations to wedding dresses. I was lucky, learned a lot and knew at an early age I wanted to be a part of this exciting ‘show business world.’”

It’s a little before noon and Duckett is sitting in his chair in a small office in Pearson Hall. With his glasses on, a deep maroon dress shirt paired with a black tie, and a beguiling smile on his face, he is surrounded by colored pencils separated into different cups. An electric pencil sharpener and graphite prepare themselves for Duckett’s usage. Watercolors and sketch paper are neatly kept all around him.

Duckett has been an instructor and costume designer for ISU Theatre since the fall of 2005. This November, his costume designs will be seen by audiences who attend “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” at Fisher Theater. He gives a chuckle as he begins to talk about working on his renderings, or the pictures that he illustrates showing the basic silhouette and shape of the costume. Some have muted tones while others are exuberantly shaded with harsh but flowing lines of black markings.

“I’ll be sitting in the audience on opening night,” Duckett said. “I’ve been backstage before, too, helping the actors get their costumes on and things like that. But I’m so excited to see how the audience will react to what they see visually with this show. The Sunday show is all ready sold out.”

Although a lot of hard work, dedication and late nights go in to creating these costumes, Duckett admits he is an early bird at heart.

“When I am building or sewing on a show, I try to sew between 6 a.m. and noon. Those six hours are my peak times,” Duckett said. “I am so lucky I don’t have to create these costumes alone. I have help from many people like Doris Nash, a staff of very talented and dedicated individuals who work as costume design assistants in our shop, student workers and many volunteers.”

Doris Nash, costume shop supervisor for ISU Theater and recent costume designer for “The Odd Couple,” is celebrating her 21st year at Iowa State this year. Working with Duckett since he came to Ames, Nash knows him better than most.

The two contribute to shows where there is a deadline for costume designing and need to buckle down to get work done, Nash said.

“We have a lot of fun in the shop, too — telling jokes, listening to music, being silly, things like that,” Nash said. “He’s really good at working with directors and the set and lighting designers and just collaborating, too. I think that’s one of the most important things in theater and design. If you have a director who wants this, this and this, it’s going to be more fun and exciting for us to be able to bring in a lot of ideas. The director certainly has a direction and mood they want to set, and that starts the discussion of things. Everyone brings something to the table, and Greg is very good at doing that.”

Designing costumes is a lengthy process and is much more than just drawing and sewing.

“The process I use includes reading and analyzing the play, researching, conference and collaboration with the director and other designers, creating rough sketches and renderings, working with the costume shop supervisor and team, overseeing daily operations, purchasing, budget control, makeup and hair, costume fittings,” Duckett said. “The list goes on and on. Finally you get to see it all come together at the dress rehearsals, and ta-da, another magical moment becomes a memory.”

Although fairly new to Iowa State, Duckett is hardly new to costume design.

“This May marks 30 years I have been designing costumes,” he said. “I have a memory filled with wonderful costumes, shows and most importantly all of the people and the people is really what it is all about.”