Monday, November 09, 2020
'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' Costume Designer Ann Roth on Her Method
Variety: “Are her bra straps dirty?” “When she goes to bed, where are those clothes? Do they fall on the floor? Does she care about them? How much do they cost? Does she hang them up?”
Those are all questions Ann Roth, whose work can next be seen on “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” set to be released Dec. 18, asks herself as she reads a script.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I got to see Ann Roth speak at CMU a year or two ago, and I really enjoyed getting to learn about her work and her process. I am really excited to see her work on August Wilson’s classic work too. I am sure she will bring a lot to the movie. I do not have much experience with costume design, but I really appreciate the way in which they are so crucial to the character building in shows and movies. It is a real collaboration between the designer and actor that is not really seen in other departments. To hear her describe her fittings with famous actors is really great. The way she describes finding the character together and the difference that one coat or scarf or pair of shoes can make to an actor to really bring them into the role is really interesting. It is a transformational art that has a lot of nuance and so much power behind it. I love how she describes her process of thinking about the clothes and how the character would treat them. It is this level of detail that brings Roth’s work above others.
As much as I understand and appreciate the work and creative process' of all theater designers, I love watching and hearing about the costume designers the most. I'm of the belief that fashion and clothing capture the moment, it captures the mood of the character, it captures the day they went through. It's all of those qualities that Ann Roth is talking about when she talks about the bra straps and how she treats her clothing. I think that often times people think that costume designing can be as easy as putting on clothes for the day but its much more complex and artistic than that. Aside from the technical work or purchasing and creating, I think that a costume designers script study allows them to approach a play or piece from the perspective of the character, similar to the actor. Its a unique role to play in a theatrical process and not all designers know what it takes to hit the mark.
I really love to read and hear about a designer’s process that they go through while designing a show, so the opening paragraph of this article really hooked me. It is also really neat to learn about Ann Roth, given that she is a Carnegie Mellon Drama alum. I do not think I realized the vastness and the scale of the work she has done in the entertainment industry, and I for sure had no idea that she was a scenic painter for the Pittsburgh Opera at once point. I wonder how her costuming work for film and for theatre have differed. Based on the discussion of her work for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” it sounds like work for films has to be so particular, even down to creating rubber suits for the actors. I do see how these steps really transform a person though. Clearly she puts a lot of time into these costumes, and thinks about them in a really detail oriented way to make sure they are perfect. It is poetic, and it really shows.
It’s so interesting to hear about the process of someone who has been as successful, and working as long as Ann Roth has. I particularly liked hearing about the fitting with Meryl Streep (but that might just be because I’m obsessed with Meryl Streep). I love what she said about watching the actor disappear into the character. I always love watching behind the scenes videos so I can see the exact moment, with the help of hair, makeup, and costumes, that an actor disappears and a character is born. Ann Roth really seems to have tapped into the true power costumes hold. I also loved to hear that at the beginning of her career she was feeling unsure and unhappy. Just goes to show the amount of growth that can take place even beyond college and adolescence. I am feeling unsure about many things at the moment. But hearing how Ann Roth felt, then seeing how much she was able to achieve is incredibly uplifting.
Post a Comment