throughout the show. They’ll come and I’ll give them a haircut just to maintain the shape and the style that’s needed for the show.’
When the show ends it is then time to reverse the process. ‘I take each wig off that I put on, and help them to take out their pin curls or undo their prep. And then I come back to my workspace and I clean the lace of all the wigs. I take off all the pins that have been put in to help anchor them to the heads. I put them back on their individual blocks, and I tape them down and do whatever needs to be done maintenance wise at the end of the show. Whether that includes wetting it down, taking out braids, putting anything back into a roller set to maintain curl pattern, cleaning up fly aways, that kind of stuff. I’ll usually be done maybe forty five minutes after the show comes down.’
And while she enjoys her day to day routine, Amadio admits her favourite part of the process is in fact the technical rehearsals prior to the start of performances. ‘I really love sitting down before tech with as much paperwork as I’m able to acquire to figure out who’s in what wig, if there are any wig changes, where those wig changes need to occur, if they’re happening alongside a costume change. So that when we get into the tech process I already have all that information and I’m able to be prepared when we get to that point in the script; so that I’m not scrambling or running around trying to figure it out. I’m already there with whatever needs to be at that change. That’s my favorite, that’s a little nerdy. It’s a whole spreadsheet. It’s multiple pieces of paper.’
With the closure of Six Degrees of Separation in June, Amadio is contemplating her next projects for the new Broadway season in the fall. ‘I’m very fortunate to work for Chuck LaPointe. I think he’s an incredible designer and I will do anything he asks me to do. I know he’s got some things coming up, so hopefully something along those lines. In between times I will build wigs for him for other shows that he’s doing and I will swing on Broadway shows.’ Amadio admits that there is the temptation to pursue other opportunities in film and television, but can’t give up the theatre. ‘I love Broadway. I’d always do Broadway for as long as I possibly can. I would love to be in charge of a larger musical where I have a crew of three or four people; because the shows that I’ve worked on so far have just been myself, or myself and an assistant. So I would love to be able to do a bigger show like a big musical and work on something of that magnitude.’