Logan Esco

get wiggy with it

Amid the backstage bustle of drama students quickly moving about, changing into their costumes and perfecting their makeup, junior Logan Esco carefully styles their wigs.

Esco’s interest in wigs and synthetic hair began in middle school when he would attend cosplay conventions, a place where anime fans gather to dress in elaborate costumes to portray their favorite characters. “As I was getting older, I was like, ‘I’m growing out of this.’ But I still was very attached to the artistic aspect of it,” Esco said. “I didn’t know what to do with those skills, and I was getting super into theater.”

During his freshman year, Esco decided to further explore where he could apply the techniques he practiced in middle school. After offering his help to drama teacher Robin Barson, Esco joined her stagecraft class, where he learned to improve on his abilities. Here, he also met one of his closest friends, junior Lexi Roldan.

“He’s easily one of the most interesting people I know because his mind is so full of ideas and concepts full of color and beauty, and I wish I could think like him,” Roldan said. “We’ve been friends for about a year and a half, but it’s felt like a lifetime.”

He also aids Palmetto’s Activities Director, Elizabeth Valero, who has a background in theater and assists with school productions. She began to work closely with him two years ago.

“Logan is my president for the Palmetto Theatrical Technicians, and he is a really dedicated person,” Valero said. “He will make something happen no matter what.”

As his involvement with theater production at Palmetto grew, his skills progressed.

“As I started doing it here, I started getting more and more into the more ‘proper’ way to do it. I do stick with pre-made wigs usually, but I would style them in damaging ways,” Esco said. “For example, how I style them now, I set them with rollers and then I hit them with heat — like with steam — but back in middle school, I would just get a curling iron. The hair is synthetic, so it burns.”

Esco purchases his wigs from a number of websites, and has even toyed with building his wigs from scratch.

“I don’t do [construction] a lot because it’s very painstaking. I used to work with wigs that had a lacefront — I knew how to work with them in middle school, but barely — and now I know how to place them on a wig head right. I know how to hand-tie hairs into the lace,” Esco said. “It’s very, very painstaking; even masters take days. The average time is like 40 hours to finish an entire wig.”

The difficulty of construction thus requires intense determination.

“Putting together a wig from start to finish...is something that I haven’t even been able to master,” Valero said. “He’s really hyperfocused on the outcome from the beginning to the end.”

For drama shows at Palmetto, Esco usually waits for cast lists to come out before searching the internet for the perfect hairpiece. From there, his process accelerates in preparation for the final performance. He must decide upon a color, choose a style and practice the look.

“I can see if the color of the wig would match their skin tone and look good on them...Then I’ll get a style to compliment it and do my research on the period and the character…kind of supplementing Barson’s vision,” Esco said. “We go into dress rehearsals and shows, putting them on and pinning them up.”

However, the process of styling the wigs up until that final show is far from simple. Esco experiences frequent trial and error and has made drastic changes in the past to ensure the right look.

“For example, during ‘Merrily [We Roll Along],’ the character Gussie’s updo was originally down. She looked young, and we had to make her look aged. So I stuck the wig to my wig head and just played with it. I finally got the one [the audience] saw,” Esco said.

Last year, the entire cast and crew of the play “The Drowsy Chaperone” performed the show on several occasions. The production follows a character who avidly loves theater. It was reviewed by the Florida Thespians Festival judges, and then qualified for a mainstage performance.

“Getting to work with a show so much and getting to work so closely with those people, it became sort of familial. I also got to get a really good grasp on the source material,” Esco said. “Getting multiple opportunities, I would get to rework my craft and make it more and more perfect instead of getting to do it just once.”

Esco has also earned significant recognition for his work.

“At District competition our production team got top honors, which is the highest [recognition] you can get, and I got one point away from a perfect score for my hair and makeup,” Esco said. “For the show we just did, ‘Merrily [We Roll Along],’ I got a Broadway Star of the Future nomination. It’s basically kind of like the high school version of the Tony’s, and at the state level.”

Wig-making and styling, along with the makeup skills that Esco practices, seem more niche and unique to the average person.

“You don’t see kids as often that have a passion for makeup and wigs and hair work and things like that,” Valero said. “It’s great because you know he’s going to get to work no matter where he falls. If it’s in beauty and fashion, or theatrics, or special effects, or theme park work, he’s going to get to do what he loves to do.”

Many schools offer the fine arts degrees that Esco hopes to pursue. He sees himself making a career out of his expertise by pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

“There’s hair and makeup design BFAs,” Esco said. “I plan on applying next year to the University of North Carolina’s School of the Arts and DePaul is my second choice.”

Allison Strasius Editor-in-Chief a.strasius.thepanther@gmail.com

Camilla Bondy Design Editor c.bondy.thepanther@gmail.com