The seamstress and her Singer

In Victoria’s Secret ads, thong-and-corset-filled window displays and Madonna’s latest show, sexy lingerie is all the rage. It also underpins Lynn Nottage’s play “Intimate Apparel,” at the Mark Taper Forum through Sept. 12.

Directed by Daniel Sullivan, who staged a New York production last spring, the play takes place in 1905 Manhattan and revolves around African American seamstress Esther, lovingly portrayed by Viola Davis. To make exquisite undergarments for society women and prostitutes alike, Esther toils ceaselessly on a sturdy Singer sewing machine.

Black with ornate gold embellishments, the machine, according to Taper prop coordinator Dawn Holiski, is of the period. “I pulled it from our stock,” she says. “It’s not electric -- there’s a treadle that Viola actually powers with her foot.”

Holiski says there’s also a backup machine, if need be. The one Davis operates, which rests on a wooden desk and can be folded down for storage purposes, is fixed to a pallet that slides on and off stage. A spool of thread sits on top of the machine; the thread runs through a series of hooks before reaching the needle. A bobbin underneath supplies a second thread. The treadle, a foot pedal on the floor, moves up and down, feeding both strands through the cloth.

“The treadle is really difficult to operate,” says Davis, who admits she had never sewn before. “For it to look seamless,” she adds in all earnestness, “you have to have a certain rhythm on the treadle in order to get a good speed going.”

The actress, who also played Esther in New York, uses the Singer at the beginning of the show and again at the end, when a microphone underneath it is activated to pick up the whirring sounds of the mechanism.

“You get the sense of the machine echoing down through the ages,” Sullivan says of the play’s final moments.

Throughout the play, costume designer Catherine Zuber’s lavish garments make for a visual feast. They include six corsets, among them a pink satin foulard model with lace and floral trim and a delicate version that Esther wears for her wedding. Zuber believes the appeal of lingerie lies in illusion. “It can be more seductive than the naked body. A corset can create an ideal -- it highlights the positive and hides the negative. In this period, it was small waists, full bosom and slim hips. And there’s this sort of naughtiness.”

Along with the sheer beauty Esther dreams up -- one stitch at a time.