Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545089
the workroom, Perry Ash was there working as a Pattern Maker. I had also worked with him at The Costume Shop, so it felt very familiar." Unlike Finished Costumers who are all required to join the union at the entry level, The Custom Made path allows for some people to join the union at different levels. "I was brought on as a Table Person because I've worked with Ben for more than 10 years. In theater, a Table Person is called a First Hand because they are literally the first hand that touches the fabric, touches the patterns after they've been created. I end up taking those patterns, prepping the fabric that has been given to me, cutting out the patterns, then either sewing it myself, or giving it to a Stitcher or Draper. So, my position is kind of like the middleman/mediator. In film, essentially, it's called a Table Person because I work mostly from the table. Ben said, 'You're doing the job of a Table Person anyway.'" Tanya's theatrical rigging skills were put to the test during Book of Boba Fett, her second project with Lucas Film, where she came up with the solution to character Fennec Shand's mechanical stomacher. "I made the rig. It had the green screen on the inside when she opened up the latch. Specialty was trying to figure it out. They made all these plastic things." But Tanya's experience told her it would be too heavy to stay on. She suggested, "What if I just make it like a hat, where it's fabric with wires and buckram, and then you put two magnets on it?" This is the version that eventually made it to screen with VFX blending in the rest. This is just one of many instances where her heavy theater background honed her creative problem-solving skills. "Theater kids are very much jack-of- all-trades, but masters of none. We're scrappy and we have to just figure it out with no budget, no material. Everything needs to be done at the same time. It's always going to be her love of costumes developed in college. She attended the University of Redlands, located in the Inland Empire, where in an effort to "not go crazy with math and science," she made a point of taking a "fun" class every semester, before realizing that all her fun classes were theater classes, "I was like, oh, I guess I'm a theater major! I had an opportunity to do a work study program within the school, and I got a job in the costume workroom. That's where I fell in love specifically with costumes and sewing." With her goal of eventually working in television and film, her journey soon hit a delay. "I was at home for almost a year because my aunt had had a stroke right after I graduated. And of course, it was also 2008, with the whole recession. Everyone's like, nobody wants to hire. Nothing was happening. So, at that point, someone needed to stay home to take care of my aunt. I was there for almost nine or 10 months, until my dad noticed that I was going stir crazy. He's like, 'You need to go and do stuff, we can figure this out.' I remember looking at wanted ads for anything that was related. I found that they needed an assistant for an opera in Long Beach, and that's how I met Ben." The opera, Cunning Little Fox, designed by Costume Designers Guild member Jaqueline Saint Anne, had costumes built at The Costume Shop, (later Valentino's Costume Group before it closed in 2024), a resource in the Valley catering to theatrical productions, where Tanya would meet 705 Custom Made member Ben Kahookele in the workroom. "We're making costumes for this opera. Cute fur ears, that kind of stuff. Afterward, Ben said, 'Just come back in,' and I ended up working in the workroom." Tanya went on to work at The Costume Shop for nearly 10 years, while also supervising and coordinating other theatrical shows across Los Angeles and for regional theaters in Orange County. "I essentially was the designer/coordinator, taking packages of shows, organizing all the fittings, basically choosing what I wanted from a set package. When I was working at the shop, Ben always promised me, 'I'm gonna get you into the union.'" Ben made good on that promise. One fall day in 2019, Tanya got a call at 6 a.m. for an interview. "Are they even working right now? It was unbelievably early," Tanya laughs. "Luckily, I guess I got used to it after." The show turned out to be The Mandalorian. "That was my first union job. It was the second season, and so we were literally working on it when they were premiering it on Disney Plus and everyone was learning about The Mandalorian. It was kind of fun watching it unfold." Yet for it being her first union show, Tanya found herself right at home. "It was similar to the workroom environment that I had from The Costume Shop, because not only was Ben head of 12 SUMMER 2026 (Above): Creating Ahsoka's arm bands inspired by a katana sword for Star Wars; (opposite): Costume team from The Mandalorian, Season 3.; (right):