Q&A with Civic Theatre's Michael Lasley
December 18, 2025
Images provided by Civic Theatre
As a part of our limited-run White Christmas Artifact Display, our friends across campus at Civic Theatre generously gave us the opportunity to feature several unique pieces from their 2024 stage production of White Christmas, helping to bring the classic story to life on stage. Highlights include the design team’s recreation of the iconic Haynes Sisters’ blue feathered fans and the custom-designed costumes worn in the production.
We had the chance to catch up with Civic's Executive Artistic Director Michael Lasley for a Q&A diving deeper into his work handcrafting the iconic "Sisters" fans!
Meet Michael:
Earlier this year, Michael Lasley, celebrated his 35th anniversary with Civic Theatre. In his role as Executive Artistic Director, Michael shares reflections on his career and his journey with Civic in this wonderful feature by Carmel Monthly.
You personally crafted the fans for this production—something not every director does! What motivated you to take on that hands-on design work, and how does that connect to your overall artistic vision for the show?
"The primary reason was the cost of purchasing fans. Fans of this size will run anywhere from $500 - $1500 each. And the quality of the available fans was highly variable. But there’s always a bit of, 'I wonder if I can do this?' It was important to have them in order for 'Sisters' to be as satisfying as possible."
Those iconic blue feathered fans immediately evoke the “Sisters” number from the film. Can you talk about your process for designing and crafting them? What details were important to get just right?
"The main concerns were color and size. We actually started with what feathers we could get and then the costumes were matched to the feathers. For the number to evoke the performance from the movie it was important that they be large enough to make an impact!"
Props like the fans have to be both beautiful and practical for performers to use. What challenges or surprises came up in creating fans that were durable and eye-catching for the stage?
"I used large white fabric fans as the base and added the feathers on both sides. This makes it hard for them to be closed, which is part of the original choreography. Ours don’t close completely, but enough to do what we want them to do. Being double-sided was required for the choreography as well as it's very limiting if you can only hold the fans one way."
How much time do you estimate it took to craft each fan? Are there any other fun #’s or stats associated with your process (# of feathers, amount of glue, cost, etc.) you’d like to share?
"I built a total of 4 fans. Betty and Judy use 2 of them. Bob and Phil use them later in the show. We used the same pair for each number but we also had a back-up if needed. Overall, it took about 20 hours to build 4 fans (not including touchups as the show went on). In addition to the base fan, each one of the 48 aqua feathers was attached with hot glue. I was able to build all four at a total cost of $600 in materials."
Check out the work of Civic LIVE this December in their production of A Christmas Story, The Musical!
