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| Costume Designer Kristopher Castle |
Entire contents are copyright © 2012, Keith
Waits. All rights reserved. Published in conjunction with Pure Uncut Candy
magazine.
Arts-Louisville: From where do you draw
inspiration?
Kristopher Castle: If I’m designing a show, the inspiration can come from any
number of sources depending on the period in which its set, or the director, or
a concept that myself or the other designers might choose. For True West, it's drawn straight from
history and the socio-economic class of the characters in the show. But if I
were to, say, be working on something set in France in 1792, I would be looking at
art, painting and sculpture from that time. But for this, I did pictorial
research, looking at things such as advertising from the period, things like
that.
AL: So research is the first step. How much
do you take your cue from the director? Does that change from show to show?
KC: It does. True West, for example, is set in the interior of a house. But the
director (Adam Rapp) has chosen to strip away that realism and apply a concept
to the play, placing the two actors inside a plexi-glass box, so the characters
are like caged animals on display. The play is much more sparse – there aren’t
a lot of props – so the costumes are one realistic element, they aren’t stylized
in any way. These are actual period pieces that these people would have worn.
But sometimes a play is hyper-stylized and the costumes might be distorted
shapes or colors inappropriate for a time period. So you take that sort of lead
from the director, then the director and the creative team sit down and develop a
concept that the characters can live within.
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| Sketch for Lee in the upcoming production of True West at Actors Theatre. |
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| Lee 2 |
AL: The plexi-glass box sounds intriguing.
KC: Yeah, he’s very excited about the idea
that the actors, when they get so physical in the second act, about having
their sweat, blood and saliva smeared on the glass walls, reinforcing the image
of caged animals getting into some sort of row.
AL: Although the concept is different, the
costumes seem closer to how previous productions have depicted the characters.
KC: Austin is a screenwriter and a “preppier”
sort of character; he has a family, whereas Lee is the ne’r-do-well brother,
ten years older, and he has this late ‘60s early ‘70s rock-a-billy kind of
feel. The mother is just returning from a cruise and has a suitcase, so the
people themselves will be very realistic, Lee will most likely have tobacco
stains on his teeth and dirt under his fingernails. But they will live within
this world that is completely different from how the play was written.
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| Sketch for Austin in the upcoming production of True West at Actors Theatre. |
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| Austin 2 |
AL: There are only four characters in this play.
Does that make your job easier?
KC: This isn’t necessarily a complex show. I
design the clothes and I wanted to use actual vintage pieces to make it as
realistic as possible, which is possible because the period is recent, only
30 to 40 years ago, that it’s not so difficult. If it were an earlier period,
something before 1960, there would probably be a lot more building involved.
AL: What is your background? How did you come
to be a costume designer?
KC: I went to school at Morehead State
University to study theatre. I started as an actor, but it was a very
production-based department, so we were able to experience all the different
facets of theatre. So in my very first year, I worked as an assistant costume
designer and just became fascinated with the transformative process of turning
somebody into a character. The next year I designed costumes for two shows and
then the following year more than that, etc., etc., and just fell in love with
costumes. I worked in summer theatre a lot and then went to New York, where I
worked for Playwright’s Horizons. Then I was at Washington National Opera for five years, and then came this job at Actors Theatre. This was always my dream job in
Kentucky.
AL: Besides the high-profile reputation, what
in particular makes you want to work at Actors Theatre?
KC: When I was in college, I saw a production
in the Bingham of Angels in America, which was one of the best productions I had ever seen; the use of space and the
design work was so ingenious and the acting was brilliant. It was very
inspiring.
AL: It is a pretty daunting schedule of
productions, more than most regional companies. Although you don’t design all
of the shows yourself, it must be a challenge to be the Resident Costume
Designer here.
KC: We have 17 productions a year. Once I
know I’m designing a play I immediately go into research mode and start
thinking about the different elements, even while I’m working on another show.
With the apprentice projects, we actually have the luxury of the entire season
to workshop them. The playwrights get to spend time with the cast, and I have
plenty of time to speak with the director and suss out ideas and concepts, do a
proper sketch and design discussion period and make sure we’re on the same
page. Some shows, especially during the Humana Festival, have a much more
truncated production period and you have to work more on the fly. I’ll be doing
two plays myself, with technical rehearsals only about a week apart.
AL: As Costume Director, how closely do you
work with guest designers?
KC: It depends on the show. For instance, Romeo & Juliet (which just recently
closed) was set in a modern era, so it was pretty much shopped. The designer
came in and shopped for a couple of days, did fittings for another couple of days, and then was out. It was a very quick process. Long Day’s Journey into Night, however, was entirely built, so
Lorraine Venberg started working earlier; she was picking her fabrics, then we
had to fit those builds into the schedule while Dracula and other shows were
being prepared; and we make certain they all get an equal amount of attention,
so it’s a lot more work to coordinate all of that.
AL: So it must be a real traffic jam during
the Humana Festival?
KC: If we have more than two shows that are heavily
built then we’re in trouble. But, fortunately, many of the plays in the Festival
tend to be placed in a modern setting and are pretty easily shopped. It makes
our job easier. On the other hand, shopping can be difficult because there
might be something very specific that you are looking for and you just cannot
find it anywhere – where are we going to find that taupe “members only” jacket
that has never existed in the real world?
AL: Do you shop online very much?
KC: Oh, yes. There are a lot of great vintage
stores online. We found a lot online for
True West. We just found some vintage Fruit-of-the-Loom underwear – a three-pack
of Fruit of the Looms from around 1978!
True West
on-stage at Actors Theatre
November 13 - December 9
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