(Updated 12:13 p.m.)
Shakespeare, Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf paid former First Lady Barbara Bush a birthday visit last summer, courtesy of TEN31 Productions of Pawtucket.
The company outfits and hires actors who perform “living art” at special events.
The literary personas brought to life on that special occasion are just one example of the many types of characters TEN31 Productions’ 50 contracted performers can embody, says co-owner Joseph Pari.
“TEN31” stands for Oct. 31, or Halloween, when spirits come to life, Pari said. Events at which one might see a costumed performer range from bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs to birthday celebrations, weddings, corporate parties and themed events.
Pari, executive director, and his partner, Creative Director Eric Auger, launched the business in 2003, about three years after they donned gargoyle and vampire costumes at a Providence club. The longtime friends grew up in Burrillville.
“[By 2003] we were getting bookings, and I decided we would take that leap of faith and open our own business,” Pari said. “Once we started working with repeat customers and special-events coordinators, they started to request custom creations and custom costumes.”
The company creates costumes on demand and preserves them for repeat use, Pari said, although clients commissioning specific costumes have special “premier” rights to them.
“The gargoyle might be good for a Halloween party, but not so much for a holiday event,” said Pari, so having a variety of creations on hand is critical.
Costumes can range anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars to produce, he said. They are hand sewn and hand painted, and must be kept in cool, dark areas, in garment bags or containers with holes to aerate the fabrics.
The most elaborate piece the company created is a mermaid costume with more than 2,000 hand-painted scales, he added.
“The entire collection is the result of custom orders,” Pari said.
The value of a costume and the performance are built into the price for services, he added.
Though the company started out serving the local market, today it serves the Eastern Seaboard. Global assignments have taken Ten31 Productions to Bermuda, Canada and even Shanghai, Pari said.
The company barely made it through the recession but is thriving today, he added.
“The economy still hasn’t fully recovered,” he said. “Things were much more lavish before the crash. [But] people are dropping money now for parties, so things are almost back to where they once were in terms of … lavishness.”
A model experience the firm may bring to other cities besides Providence includes “Mysterium: The Eternal Masquerade,” in which a masquerade ball for the Providence Public Library involves guests collecting tokens and solving riddles.
“It transports you,” he said. “We’re the headliner. We are the event. We are always looking to connect with people in new and interesting ways and transform the experience of the performer [and] the participant. •
