THR 251 Design Practicum
COURSE: THR251 Design Practicum
TERM: Fall 2018
EVALUATOR: Norma Roth
STUDENT: Katherina Stegerman
I would never have taken on this design project if I hadn’t had Katherina to assist. I expected her to be capable, organized and creative. I wasn’t disappointed. Often I handed over specific parts of the design to her and Katherina just did the work. I was so happy with so much of her work, specifically, the back wall, the banners and the crossword.
Katherina is good at what she does. She proved herself to be a competent and capable assistant. However, there were too many times that I felt the need to assert my role as the contracted designer. Too often, Katherina talked as if she had equal weight in making design decisions. This process did have its challenges regarding the amount of time I had in the workshop. There were times when Katherina had to make design calls in my absence but that didn’t change the terms of the contract. Assisting can be thankless work but it is the way to learn. Humility in that role doesn’t go unnoticed.
Katherina is making a transition from fashion design to theatre design. The two are similar but they have one vast difference; fashion originates out of the designer, she is the source; theatre originates out of the play, it is the source of everything. In fashion, the designer leads with her ideas and her view of what she wants to say. In costume design, the play is the leader closely followed by the director. Everything, and I cannot emphasis this strongly enough, EVERYTHING is about the play. Every choice must serve the story the playwright and director are trying to tell. The designer’s role is to bring everything she can to assist in telling that story. Every project is unique unto itself, how will this director lead? Will you have a specific vision handed to you or will the director give you free reign? The designer has to figure that out every show. But serve she must. And communicating costume ideas as clearly as possible is the job. I am thinking of the story boards Katherina presented for the church kids verses the Herdmans. All good ideas but the Herdmans’ board was too similar to the church kids’ board; it lacked the grime and edge necessary to communicate who those characters were. I wanted to almost feel the dirty on my hands after handling their images. The director won’t know what you mean if you don’t communicate your ideas accurately.
Katherina is well on her way. I encourage her to push on to deeper, more connected storytelling. Let fashion and personal preferences go, crawl into the character’s life and design what is actually inside their closets.
Thoughts: This evaluation shows my initial struggle to communicate my design ideas effectively to other people I was working with, I had to realize that people really don’t see what’s in my head and that communication of TONE is just as important as communication of what the piece will look like.