- [Isabella] At Trinity Repertory Company, the costume shop is racing against the clock.

- It's never low pressure (laughs).

I guess I could say that.

- [Isabella] Amanda Downing Carney is the director of the shop.

She's worked the theater for 18 years.

- "A Christmas Carol" is the biggest show we do every year.

It spans so many time periods.

It's a big cast, it's a very heavy costume show.

- [Colleague] Oh my God.

- [Isabella] In just 10 weeks, the team must be ready to dress 24 actors, some of whom have up to five costumes and multiple wigs.

Usually, outside talent is brought in to design the costumes for "A Christmas Carol."

And then the clothes are made in-house.

But after years of waiting in the wings, it's Amanda Downing Carney's turn to design the Christmas show.

- The stakes feel a little raised.

It's the biggest chance I've gotten to present like my art and work, like on this large stage for thousands of people.

- Downing Carney got her start in costuming at the University of Rhode Island.

But she didn't always have theater in mind.

She originally was gonna study crime.

Criminology, costuming.

- Right.

- What is similar about those things?

- I do think that they use similar skills; with criminology, what always appealed to me about that was, you know, getting into the mind of a serial killer, and like why somebody would do what they do.

Now, as a costume designer, you have to empathize with each character in order to know what they would wear on a specific day, you know, within their own circumstances too.

So it's sort of abstractly, again, like empathizing and getting into the minds of these characters.

- [Isabella] This show has her getting inside the mind of one of the holiday season's most recognizable characters.

- Tomorrow is Christmas, sir.

- Very well.

- [Isabella] Ebenezer Scrooge.

(bells ringing) (whimsical music) - It's Christmas.

Humbug!

- How is this "Christmas Carol" a bit different from other Christmas Carols people might have seen?

- The biggest difference I think from this year to maybe some other years is that our Ebenezer Scrooge is a woman.

And I did some research at the time period, 'cause I wanted to make sure that what I wanted to design was actually something that could be worn at that time.

And the director really wanted Scrooge in pants.

And it's really, it's an early time for women to be wearing pants.

- [Isabella] "A Christmas Carol" takes place in conservative Victorian England.

- I found some images of some women that were like equestrians and would do horseback riding.

And they had top hats, and they also would bustle their dress up and wear some sort of legwear.

But at this time, people started riding bicycles too.

And so, like, dresses were hard to wear riding a bicycle.

And so there were like these bloomers, like long bloomers.

And then the dresses got short.

So we gave her pants, but we also gave her, you know, sort of a split front dress, which was important, to walk the line of masculine and feminine.

And then she also has a top hat, which I love.

I love a lady in a top hat.

- [Isabella] After graduating, Downing Carney worked on national and international touring productions.

On the road with the musical "Fame," a talented young actor came to fill in.

- Who's this new person coming in?

And like, will they mesh with us?

And like, is he cute?

And like, you know, does he like girls?

(laughs) Is this musical theater?

You know?

And like, who is he gonna like?

- [Isabella] 20 years later, she and Joe Carney are married with two children.

- And it turns out (laughs) the new guy did like me.

- [Isabella] Besides gaining a life partner, Downing Carney also learned valuable lessons from helping actors with quick changes on tour.

- Transitions can be really the death of a show.

You gotta keep it moving, and it's gotta feel seamless and magical.

- [Isabella] And that's what she's striving for in this production of "A Christmas Carol," her vision for the Ghost of Christmas Past is a costume worthy of Marie Antoinette.

- The set designer, Michael McGarty, told me he wanted her to come out of an elevator on set.

I said, "How big is this elevator gonna be?"

And he said two feet.

And I said nope.

And he said three feet.

And I said okay.

- [Isabella] They needed to find a way that this giant dress could pop out of a small compartment on stage.

She tapped Alyssa Carnes to make the magic happen.

- She has this great big wide skirt, but she's coming in a very small door, so she needs to be quite little.

And then also come out gracefully every time.

- [Isabella] It's not the only surprise that Downing Carney has planned.

- It's not too heavy, but it's squishy, it's silicone.

you know, it's a wild idea.

- [Isabella] The Ghost of Christmas Present, also played by a woman, will be portrayed as a divine mother.

- I don't think I've ever seen a pregnant ghost here at Trinity Rep. (sewing machine whirring) - [Isabella] But costuming isn't all fun and games.

- My days have looked like madness (laughs).

- [Isabella] In the weeks leading up to the production, the team shifts into high gear.

- I'll get up at 3:30 or 4:30 and start, you know, making a dressing list, or ordering some shoes that I didn't get a chance to the night before.

- [Isabella] So that each ghost caroler, accountant, and mourner- - I try to accomplish as much as I can.

You know, every second I'm multitasking.

- [Isabella] is ready for the show to start.

(festive music) - As a Rhode Islander, like, it feels like a big deal.

- [Announcer] Tonight's show will be begin in 15 minutes.

- What can a costume do?

- It can tell a whole story.

Like one look can tell you so much.

A costume and clothing have power, always.

Or there wouldn't be dress codes or there wouldn't be restrictions or there wouldn't be rules.

It's telling the world who you are or what you want the world to know about you without saying a word.

I think that is powerful.