Genice Normand is a scary witch and Kurt Owens portrays a mysterious man in the PAPA production of “Into the Woods” which opens July 11. Today’s column applauds costume designers for North Coast theater troupes. Patrick Webb

When I take photos of the casts of North Coast and Long Beach Peninsula theater productions I always harbor a secret wish.

“I wish I was one of them.”

I felt that buzz when I grabbed my camera and stepped out of my car into the rain at the Fort Columbia Theater in Chinook for a Peninsula Association of Performing Artists rehearsal a couple of weeks ago. Director Jerr Harding summoned his cast of “Into the Woods” onto the stage and my reaction was electric. They performed a short couple of verses from a finale and settled into a group pose to begin our photo session.

I was enthused. But it was the costumes that made the first impact. Four Grimm fairytales are represented in the Stephen Sondheim musical, so we had Cinderella in bright yellow, complete with tiara, her stepmother, regal and evil in ornamented turquoise, a stepsister in a shimmering green, Red Riding Hood plus a couple of handsome princes in distinctive blue and red coats. 

Costume designer Angela Grote had worked her usual magic.

I’ve had the privilege of appearing in four plays since my move to the coast, and in each case the costumes helped make the play. Susi Brown, who is a skilled actress and director, is among those who have dressed my characters. In one show, I was a mute tramp, in another, a butler conned into wearing cross-gartered yellow stockings to please his lady. Most recently, Marco Davis did a stellar job with another Shakespeare production, my first time in a kilt.

I’m big on giving credit to “unsung heroes” so this is my shout out to all the costume designers for our region’s theater groups. They create make-believe magic on tight budgets.

Grote’s contribution to PAPA is remarkable. The actors in the Astor Street Opry Co.’s fun shows are always colorfully clad. Nancy McAllister does so well, too, with Peninsula Players in Ilwaco. 

And Sondra Gomez is an asset at the Coaster Theatre in Cannon Beach, most recently dressing the comedy “Elvis Has Left The Building” in 1970s’ outfits. When actor Tim Schwieger arrived on the stage for his photo, I did a double-take: I wore clothes just like his that year I blossomed into eighth grade.

• Thanks to eagle-eyed bird experts who pointed out our June 26 feature on puffins incorrectly identified guillemots as cormorants. The captions on two photos were inadvertently switched during the production process. Both photos are online with the story at www.coastweekend.com.