Alyssa H. Kang
VISUAL ESSAYS
The story of a lifeaholic
Terri Lynn Raridon is a happily busy individual, living life to the fullest while juggling her sex shop business, teaching yoga, rescuing wildlife, producing the Texas Burlesque Festival, volunteering at animal shelters, among other things, while simultaneously managing the equally busy life of her eleven-year-old son Ryan.
Grasping every opportunity that life throws at her, she has been able to walk the most peculiar combinations of paths while still managing to build for herself a loving family. In Lynn’s dictionary, there is no such thing as wasted time. Exhilaratingly busy, Lynn is the living example of carpe diem.
Josephine McAdam, a theatre major at UT, is a full time employer at the House of Torment. Although the House does not open until August, she spends most of her time there reconstructing the interior and designing new costumes in preparation for opening week.
During opening week Josephine works as an icon, who dresses up as a monster to entertain crowds in lines outside the haunted house. “Icons’ costumes are always harder to make because we need to work on a lot of details. Unlike other monsters that scare people indoors, icons are in the light where people can see us better.”
“I know I spend a lot of my time on costumes, masks, and makeup. I love it, but my ultimate goal is acting. I just want to use this as a way to get to know a lot of people, mostly important people, and to scope out different aspects of the job so that I have a more solid foundation when I begin acting. I don’t want to go into the field blind.”
Josephine McAdam, a theatre major at UT, is a full time employer at the House of Torment. Although the House does not open until August, she spends most of her time there reconstructing the interior and designing new costumes in preparation for opening week.
Josephine
Josephine McAdam is a theater student at the University of Texas at Austin as well as an employer for the House of Torment, a haunted house in Austin. Although the House only opens in August, she works on reconstructing the interior and designing new costumes throughout the off-season.
Through this experience, Josephine can construct a full-on scary outfit. “I know I spend a lot of my time on costumes, masks, and makeup. I love it, but my ultimate goal is acting. I just want to use this as a way to get to know a lot of people and to scope out different aspects of the job so that I have a more solid foundation when I begin acting. I don’t want to go into the field blind.”
Behind the tease
Silence. Dark. Somewhere in the room a phone vibrates. A Pause. Spotlight. Burlesque dancer Dolce Dream, skin covered in glitter galore and lips spattered with blood rouge, is the one to make the first move. Decked out in black lace, she is ready to marry the music. Joined by Strawberry Tart and Lilly White, she seduces the crowds with her wild persona. It is hard to believe that when she is off stage without her bedazzled costumes, she is an ordinary scientist. "When I go on stage, I've just become this whole different character and I almost step outside of myself - I find myself becoming whatever I want to be."