One of our last mini series will focus on make-up design. Make-up design often includes the design of hair and make-up, although often in bigger theaters, there are separate designers for each, as well as wig designers and others that may be required depending on the show and the needs. We have a couple students who are currently very passionate about stage make-up including Gabrielle Bourgeois and Angelia LaBrecque. Angelia spent a lot of time for this production, researching and coming up with some design concepts and then implementing them in a demonstration workshop for her castmates.
Make-up is always a very artistic process and can go from basic stage make-up, which is used to simply enhance an actor’s facial features and make sure nothing is lost under the powerful stage lighting, to very complex designs like aging someone or making them into an animal. Scarring, bruising and wounds is another required make-up design at times. For our production, Angelia had to focus on making the cast look dead. She focused on whitening the skin, making the eyes and cheeks look sunken and dark, added some red around the eyes and then let cast members be creative with other details they may add. Our hairstyles are basically summed up in one word, “insane”! We told everyone to go wild and make their hair look as crazy as they could to support that consistent theme of our show.
Make-up and hair is one of those final details that really seem to help performers truly feel that they are fully in their roles and in the moment. It’s also a time when castmates really step up and help each other- taking care of aspects that the actor cannot do for themselves. We are blessed with some very talented students in many different ways!
