Rafael Jaen Tackles Costuming for Dickens' Classic Nicholas Nickleby

There are 167 costumes, or 1,687 costume pieces, for the cast of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. All 1,687 pieces were designed, created, or in some way touched by Emerson Department of Performing Arts faculty member Rafael Jaen.

As the Costume Designer for Nickleby, Jaen worked with a design team that included Emerson alumni and students—but the Emerson connection goes even further. The Producing Artistic Director for the Lyric Stage Company production of Nickleby is Spiro Veloudos, an Emerson alumnus from 1974 and the Associate Director is Courtney O’Connor, who earned her master’s from Emerson in 1991. Last but not least Emersonian Sasha Castroverde ’08 plays Fanny Squeers and Madeline Bray in the production—roles, which The Boston Globe says, are challenging to pull off because they are so different.

“It’s a difficult trick playing one character who is insanely, hilariously over-the-top (Fanny Squeers, daughter of the schoolmaster, who wrongly believes Nicholas is in love with her) and another character who is the genuine, demure object of Nicholas’s affections (Madeline Bray),” writes Globe reviewer Don Aucoin, who goes on to commend Castroverde for mastering both roles, and says she could be the “future of Boston theater.”

Aucoin also praises Veloudos’ direction, “amid the many digressions and scores of rapid-fire scenes that make up Nickleby, Veloudos maintains a coherent flow while drawing solid performances across the board from his 24-member cast.”