Lizard Skin, Part One of Two
Sep. 21st, 2012 10:21 amOur graduate program at UNC-Chapel Hill affords some students the opportunity to work as a crafts artisan on one of the mainstage productions for PlayMakers Repertory Company. Typically this happens in their second and third years, as in the first year they usually do a show working as my assistant.
When i design a mainstage show, a student--usually in their second year--will serve as the crafts artisan, where they may have a degree of autonomy over the position but still have some direct mentorship. In the third year, if a student has a particular interest in crafts as a career specialization, they are afforded a broader sense of professional responsibility and work as my co-craftsperson on a large craft-heavy show.
Such is the case with our forthcoming production of The Imaginary Invalid, for which third-year graduate student Adrienne Corral is serving as the production's dyer/painter, and overseeing the production of one of the crafts builds. At this point in her graduate study, Adrienne has served as my assistant on a show, worked as production crafts artisan on last season's The Parchman Hour (which i designed), and has completed the series of four crafts classes which i teach. In addition to her academic work, she has spent two summers working as a craftsperson at the Utah Shakespeare Festival and one summer in the same position at Glimmerglass Opera. Adrienne intends to work as a dyer/painter after graduation, hence her duties on this upcoming show.
This post is the first in a two-part series, chronicling Adrienne's process for making lizard skin samples for a character who has a reptile tail. (It's a new translation of the Moliere script--if you don't remember a reptile man in the show, you're not missing something! He's not specified in the original.)
Take a look at the research images our designer sent for reference:
( Read more... )
When i design a mainstage show, a student--usually in their second year--will serve as the crafts artisan, where they may have a degree of autonomy over the position but still have some direct mentorship. In the third year, if a student has a particular interest in crafts as a career specialization, they are afforded a broader sense of professional responsibility and work as my co-craftsperson on a large craft-heavy show.
Such is the case with our forthcoming production of The Imaginary Invalid, for which third-year graduate student Adrienne Corral is serving as the production's dyer/painter, and overseeing the production of one of the crafts builds. At this point in her graduate study, Adrienne has served as my assistant on a show, worked as production crafts artisan on last season's The Parchman Hour (which i designed), and has completed the series of four crafts classes which i teach. In addition to her academic work, she has spent two summers working as a craftsperson at the Utah Shakespeare Festival and one summer in the same position at Glimmerglass Opera. Adrienne intends to work as a dyer/painter after graduation, hence her duties on this upcoming show.
This post is the first in a two-part series, chronicling Adrienne's process for making lizard skin samples for a character who has a reptile tail. (It's a new translation of the Moliere script--if you don't remember a reptile man in the show, you're not missing something! He's not specified in the original.)
Take a look at the research images our designer sent for reference:
( Read more... )