APRIL-MAY 2000

COSTUME DESIGNERS SPEND SPRING BREAK IN NEW YORK

By Jerry Kutz
FSU Communications Group

A group of FSU theatre students in costume design spent their spring break on a tour behind the Broadway lights with one of America's most prominent costume designers, Jane Green-wood, who is the 18th visiting artist to occupy the university's $1-million Hoffman Eminent Scholar Chair in Theatre.

The March trip was the first time FSU's theatre students have gone together to New York to meet the industry's contemporary artists and observe their work.

"I hope this is the first of many trips we'll be able to make," said Colleen Muscha, a professor of costume design at FSU. "It is very important for our students to have an opportunity to visit New York at least once as a graduate student, to visit the museums, the garment district fabric stores, the costume shops where the costumes are built "
While several of the students had never been to New York and were excited just to be going, others had seen many Broadway shows and were looking forward to the inside view.

"I'm looking forward to seeing New York through her eyes as a designer," Lee Herb, a master's student, said of Greenwood. "Where does she frequent? What does she look at? She'll take us backstage for her shows, so it will be very interesting just to have a guided tour with someone with this much experience."

Not only did the students draw on Greenwood's experience - more than 200 productions in theatre, opera, film and dance - they studied her current work, which includes three internationally-acclaimed productions: James Joyce's "The Dead" on Broadway, The Metropolitan Opera's production of "The Great Gatsby" and Neil Simon's "The Dinner Party."

She has been nominated for a Tony 12 times and has won a variety of important awards for "Tartuffe," "Heartbreak House," "Mourning Becomes Electra," "The Heiress," "Sylvia" and a lifetime of achievement.
"Part of my project was to research Jane," said Esther Warrandorf, a master's student. "She is published in a book of costume designers. They consider her to be a master of contemporary costume design."
Muscha said Greenwood was the university's choice because of her love for teaching as much as her theatre resume.

"If you spend time working with young people, and see their skills develop, you find that there are many ways to arrive at solutions to problems of design," said Greenwood, who also teaches at the Yale School of Theatre.
Greenwood spent the first week of the semester in Tallahassee, where she reviewed the students' portfolios and assigned them to design the costumes for the opera "La Boheme." She planned to review the student's sketches in March in New York and then come back to Tallahassee for a final review.
"You don't want to tell them how you do it; you want them to find their own voice, their own solutions," she said.

Greenwood's own voice is rooted in historical accuracy. She brings that same detail to contemporary work.

"She studied in England under some of the best authors of costume history available to us," said Warrandorf. "It says so much about her attention to historic detail, the little tiny things in all aspects of her work."

Those little things translate into what reviewers call her ability to capture the innate decency in her characters.

"Don't we all want to recognize the human decency in people?" Greenwood asks. "I want to recognize the indigenous style of the person, not just put a costume on a person."

Not only did she expose the students to a broader understanding of the industry, she introduced them to her considerable cadre of colleagues.
"When she was in Tallahassee with us, she said, 'I have an idea, why don't I just have you all over to dinner and I'll just invite some people over?'" Warrandorf said. "When you stop to think who that means in her world, her casual friends are people we look up to as students. It's really exciting to ... have a chance to talk to some of those people."

Greenwood is the latest in a long list of Hoffman Scholars. The list has included Broadway producer Joseph Papp, British actor Roger Rees, Russian playwright Aleksandr Galin, set designer Ray Klausen, stage and film star Ann Reinking, and Tony Award-winning director Lloyd Richards.

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