At the iconic moment in “Cinderella,” the musical that ran from March 1 through 8, lead character Ella spins around, and her simple skirt and blouse transforms into a magnificent white ball gown.

After creating three of these dress transformations for the musical “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” it is no surprise that it is the show Oak Park and River Forest High School senior Kanohi Gurgas is most proud of.

Gurgas joined costume crew her freshman year. “I’ve sewn my whole life, and my neighbor was in costumes. She said I should join, and that it’s really fun. And I’ve always loved musicals.”

She began her time on costume crew in October 2021 with the show “Ms. Holmes” in OPRF’s Little Theater. From there, Gurgas worked on 17 more shows with costume crew. She has been head costumer eight times as a student at OPRF and has designed the costumes for a show three times. She designed the Studio 200 show “God of Carnage” in April of 2024 and the two most recent main stage musicals “Mean Girls,” also in 2024, as well as “Cinderella” in 2025.

Gurgas has also worked on the Orchesis dance team and Synchronized Swimming shows as the lighting designer and electrician. For “Cinderella,” Gurgas not only took on the challenge of creating three on stage dress transformations, but she also designed the costumes for the entire 92-person cast, many of whom had multiple costumes throughout the show.

“It’s been incredible to work with her for so long and to have grown closer as friends. I remember freshman year I was sort of intimidated by her,” said senior Veronica Jurgus. “I feel like I’ve grown a lot from her because she doesn’t take incompetence.”

When Gurgas is designing a show she begins with what she calls her “pre-research,” which for “Cinderella” meant reading through and annotating the script and using it as a guide on which to base her designs. “I knew I wanted to do historical,” said Gurgas, “because doing some weird modern ‘Cinderella’ is not the vibe we wanted.” From there she begins drawing out her designs.

For Jessica Loesel, one of the co-costume supervisors alongside Lindsay Janicki, working with Gurgas has “been like having another adult on hand. I have full faith that she’s managing the project well, and has her sights on the end product.”

Gurgas recommended that students interested in design seek out opportunities. “I think for anyone who…wants to do costume design at the school, I would say do Theater Tech and Design and design or a studio show,” said Gurgas. “You really have to self advocate because there’s no specific design program.”

After leaving OPRF, Gurgas hopes to study math and costumes in college, hopefully in New York.