Rachel M. Sypniewski

Trap Door credits

Costume Design
  • Nana (2024)
  • Mother Courage and her Children
  • Joan and the Fire
  • Princess Ivona
  • Medea Material
  • The Martyrdom of Peter Ohey
  • Queen C
  • And Away We Stared
  • Decomposed Theatre
  • Lipstick Lobotomy
  • The White Plague
  • Love and Information
  • The Killer
  • 25/25 Festival
  • Letter of Love (The Fundamentals of Judo)
  • THEY
  • Occidental Express
  • Into the Empty Sky
  • The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
  • Phèdre
  • Fantasy Island for Dummies
  • No Matter How Hard We Try
  • How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients
  • The Duchess of Malfi
  • The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls
  • The Universal Wolf
  • The Woman Before
  • La Bête
  • Cookie Play
  • Regarding the Just
  • Vatzlav
  • Judith: A Parting from the Body
  • Blood on the Cats Neck
  • The Balcony

Resident Costume Designer

Rachel M. Sypniewski  (she/her/hers) loves having an artistic home at Trap Door. Other companies she has worked with include Music Theater Works, Porchlight, Goodman, Oak Park Festival Theater, Broken Nose, Black Button Eyes, Jackalope, The New Colony, Emerald City, Lifeline, Haven, Griffin , CityLit, Chopin, Promethean, Strawdog, Vitalist, Rasaka, the Factory, Red Tape and Redtwist. She also has designed at Wheaton College, Governor’s State University, North Central College, St. Patrick’s High School, Indiana University Northwest, and the Chicago Academy for the Arts. She is a seven-time Non-equity Jeff nominee, having been awarded one for La Bête at Trap Door. 

Gallery

The costumes by Rachel Sypniewski are lush and jewel-toned—with lacy cupcake skirts and satin bodices for the women and suits and silk ties on the men.

Mary Wisniewski, Newcity Stage (about Nana)

Costume design by Rachel Sypniewski could not have been more fitting for this production.

Around the Town , Julia Rath (about Mother Courage)

Trap Door production takes the metaphor one step further with an effective costume trick designed by Rachel Sypniewski, positing each client in their underthings while carrying a chained miniature portrait of their desired member of the bourgeoisie.
Dan Jakes, TimeOut Chicago (about The Balcony)
Burlesquian costumes by Rachel Sypniewski stylize both the subjugation and the exaltation of female power.
Scotty Zacher, Chicago Theatre Beat (about The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls)
The costumes (Rachel Sypniewski) are subtle but delightful;
Aaron Lockman, Rescripted (about Lipstick Lobotomy)
Notably, flexible costuming by Rachel M. Sypniewski imbues things with a touch of everything from DC Comics to the Industrial Revolution as well.
Brian Kirst, Windy City Times (about Monsieur d’Eon is a Woman)
As with any production at Trap Door, don’t go into this one expecting anything you might find anywhere else in the city. Of course, if you are a Trap Door fan, you already know this. You won’t be at all surprised by the unusual makeup by Zsófia Ötvös and the Rachel Sypniewski costumes that would fit right in at an S&M dungeon.
Karen Topham, Chicago On Stage (about The White Plague)
…a most game and fetching ensemble, attired in Rachel Sypniewski’s Technicolor frou-frou and frippery, wins us over.
Tony Frankel, Stage and Cinema (about La Bête)

Given the time period, costume designer Rachel Sypniewski has a great opportunity for fancy clothes, wigs, and make-up, and she makes the most of it.

David Hirson, Chicago Critic (about La Bête)

The costume design from Rachel M. Sypniewski achieves a similar effect, giving us a clear picture of the bland uniformity that coats our setting. Most everybody is in similar, monochromatic three-piece suits, but subtle differences in color — and level of dishevelment — give each character a clear personality.

Aaron Lockman, PerformInk (about The Killer)

Rachel M. Sypniewski’s costumes are the visual highlight of the production, cleverly accessorized by Zsófia Ötvös’ makeup design.

Nancy Bishop, Third Coast Review (about Phèdre)

Costumes (Rachel Sypniewski) are spectacular.

Bill Esler,Buzz Center Stage (about Nana)