The Merchant of Venice @ Trinity Repertory Company

Photo by Mark TurekI had the pleasure of seeing The Merchant of Venice at Trinity Repertory Company last week, directed by Curt Columbus. The Merchant of Venice is William Shakesphere's tragic comedy about the merchant Antonio who owes a hefty amount to the Jewish moneylender Shylock. The cast did a magnicifant job with standout performaces from Joe Wilson, Jr. who played Antonio as well as the prince of Moroco, Darien Battle on triple duty of the duke of Venice, Salerio, and Launcelot Gobbo, Mary C. Davis as Portia, and Stephen Berenson as Shylock.

But of course since I'm a fashion photographer I was there mostly to check out the costumes. I had the chance to have an email interview with the costume designer, Olivera Gajic.

Brittanny Taylor: Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. Can you introduce yourself to my readers? Where are you based? Where did you go to school? How long have you been doing costume design?

Olivera Gajic: I am a New York based designer. I come from Serbia, where I went to the Academy of Fine Arts. After a five-year program of strong art training I received my BFA degree in painting, fashion and costume design. Then I came to the US and I got a MFA from the University of Connecticut. I’ve been working professionally for 15 years.

Photo by Mark TurekBT: Where did your passion for costume design first develop?

OG: I come from a tailor’s family and I grew up in a costume shop.  Basically, I’ve been designing all my life.  My grandmother’s wooden sewing machine is still covered in the paintings I made when I was a little child playing in the shop.  During all of my education, including high school for textiles and costume construction, I’ve been heading towards this same goal of being a designer. I learned in my 20’s that I actually wanted to be a costume designer.

Photo by Mark TurekBT: Since the play didn't exactly define what period it was set in, was it your choice to mix in the modern with the Elizabethan era clothing? Most of the younger men in the cast wore jeans and along with more accurate shirts and jackets of the era.

OG: Director Curt Columbus sad that he wanted the clothing to be inspired by the 30’s, look modern and feel like Shakespeare. I tried to make costumes that have their own world, that are sort of timeless. I researched Italian Renaissance fashion of the times because that’s the setting of the play. I used the famous Venetian red; I looked at Italian painters, and the historical facts regarding fabric trade. Those rich fabrics came to Italy from around the world. Also if you look at the men’s silhouettes of the times they wore leggings, and small doublets. So that is where skinny jeans and fancy jackets reflected the period. I don’t think that I ever did traditional Shakespearean costumes. Actually right now I am working on a Charles Ludlum play “Stage Blood,” where the play within a play is Hamlet and I am doing those costumes very traditionally, but that is determined by the playwright.

Photo by Mark Turek BT: You took inspiration from designs found on the runway from Alexander McQueen, Armani, and Cavalli to name a few. Certain designers are so theatrical in their designing it makes sense to see it on the stage. What was your inspiration to do so instead of just making a traditional costume you would usually see for this play?

OG: Alexander McQueen is my ultimate favorite, but for this show I did research Italian designers. I looked at some of Versace, D&G and Armani’s fashion. I am so influenced by fashion that sometimes I even don’t know where certain ideas come from. I absorb the fashion and research periods, and then let the play inspire me. I draw parallels between period characters and contemporary references, so often I look into movie stars, their fashion, old Hollywood, real people, businessmen, politicians, musicians...whatever speaks to me. Basically I look for inspiration everywhere and then I do my own thing.

Photo by Mark TurekBT: I see that you won an award for costume design. That is an incredible achievement! What was it like?

OG: Yes I was recipient of the 2011 tdf/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award, 2010 IT Award for Outstanding Costume Design. And it was so amazing. We all work so hard, with out competing or trying to win any prize. We just work so hard to make the play happen, to create the world that will help the story to be told…and then one day someone recognizes you. This award was given to me by my established colleagues, and it’s humbling and reassuring to know that I am on the right path. That I am part of this group of people that I admire, and also to know that someone is looking out for you…
 
Photo by Mark TurekBT: What is in the future for you? Would you ever consider stepping into fashion design or is your heart in costume design?

OG:I actually come from fashion; I first did runway shows before I knew that I would be a theatre designer. But when I did my first play I really knew that that is the world that I belong to. I am an artist, and theatre is the place where I can fully express myself. I guess I loved creating the worlds and telling a story more than making pretty things, and theatre definitely provides me with opportunities to do beautiful designs. It is more inspiring to me to make beauty with deeper reasons, such as depicting a character who will be able to tell us a story that will move us, or helping to us to transcend our world, characters that carry messages that might change someone’s life. They do change mine. And theatre is so collaborative, and it’s so amazing how much more all this joining ideas and efforts can do.

Photo by Mark TurekThe Merchant of Venice is running now until March 11th. You can purchase tickets online on Trinity Rep's website and keep up to date with the theater on Twitter and Facebook. Also be sure to check out more of Olivera's work on her website.

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Spotlight // Mel DuPont

I met Mel DuPont when we both volunteered to do video services for Providence's monthly Pecha Kucha. We exchanged business cards and have since caught up with each other to have lunch and talk business. Mel is a fun loving person who has a serious passion for video making. In this interview, Mel will talk about her transition from the techinal writing world to making web ready videos for small businesses.

// Tell me about yourself.

I'm Mel DuPont. I live in Pawtucket RI, and I have been making videos for websites since 2008. I'm a writer and a geek.

// When did you realize you wanted to do web videos?

I'd been a technical writer from 1995 to 2009, and in that time I got to work on so many geeky projects - everything from rewriting knowledge base articles to testing software to writing a training guide for operating a bright-strip annealing furnace. I really enjoyed interviewing engineers and developers, getting to understand what they were doing and why, and writing it down so anyone could understand.

I started burning out when my technical writing work segued into producing regulatory documentation, which is more grind-by-numbers than geekery.

I had time to sit back and reflect, and I realized that, over the next decade or so, the major technology players of the world - India, China, Japan - are going to be cranking out college-educated kids who speak English as a first language, who can write technical and regulatory documents just as well as me (or better), and who will do it for less money.

My industry was drying up. Rather than wait to be forced out, I decided to dive into building the skills for the next career that intrigues me - creating web videos.

Why learn how to make videos? Well, having written a lot of excellent technical documents - and having struggled to get constructive feedback on them - I can tell you that very few people are readers.

It doesn't matter how good your writing is, if no one wants to read it. You can put typed content out there all you want - but if you're sending, and no one's receiving, you're not communicating.

If you want to reach an audience today, you'd better turn your brochure into a video, your blog into a vlog, your novel into a film. People don't want to read. They want to watch video.

// Who inspires you?

People who inspire me: everybody I see working hard to follow their passion, grow their skills, and contribute to society. People who work to fix their problems inspire me. People who envision a better tomorrow inspire me. People who challenge conventional wisdom inspire me.  People who say "I can" and "I will" and "I am doing it" inspire me. People who ask "How can I help?" inspire me.

I follow a lot of inspiring people on Twitter - people I know personally, and famous people, and total strangers... What keeps me following a person is, when they tweet, are they out there, doing something good or fun or amazing? If they're just griping, I won't be following for long.

// What are your current projects?

I just delivered three videos for Providence comedy troupe Unexpected Company (Unexpected-Company.com), and did a side project to provide some footage for an upcoming Hasbro ad campaign.

I'm currently planning a video with KathyBlackOnline.com (she's offering a retreat in October), and I may be creating a pair of videos for a group of doctors in Connecticut. Beth Hicks (Wordsole.com) and I are wrapping up writing our first short film, and we could be shooting in the fall or spring. I'm recording a keepsake video with another friend, and there is talk of a comedic tribute/homage short, as well as a B-horror short. I never would have predicted this much activity and variety, but I like it!  :)

// What are your goals for the future?

I'm a growth freak. I want each video I make to have a greater impact than the one before - more views, more "likes", more conversions to followers and/or sales. I want to produce better and better videos for my clients - ones with more emotional connection to the viewer, ones that look, sound, and flow better. I someday want to provide a small staff with steady, paid employment. I want to complete my first short film - hopefully we'll shoot this year or early next. Long-term, I want to produce some videos that help some folk - by making them laugh, by educating them, by empowering them and inspiring them. That would be nice. ;)

You can contact Mel DuPont on her blog MelDuPont.com and on Twitter at @WebReadyVideo.

Spotlight: Roger Mulcahy Jr.

Our latest Spotlight features local documentary filmmaker and a good friend of mine, Roger Mulcahy Jr. Roger and I went to college together and spent many, many hours working away in the multimedia lab on campus. He has recently finished his documentary Thompson Chemical and is working on two more docs. As if he is not busy enough, he and his longtime girlfriend Kim planned a wedding and are getting married next month. Without further ado, I present Roger Mulcahy Jr.

Tell me about yourself.

I am a documentary filmmaker that tells stories of subjects that are generally misunderstood or unknown by the public and shed some light on them and giving the audience a different viewpoint. I think documentaries have the potential of being stale if the filmmaker doesn’t look at a subject with a fresh gaze. There are a lot of docs that have similar subject matters but you can go down different avenues with the topic and produce something different. I real enjoy that process.

When did you realize you wanted to be a filmmaker?

It was when I made the decision that I was not going to be a writer anymore (at least full time). I was heavily into the writing process but then I took a media course in college and saw the power visual media could have on an audience. I fell in love with it and I started to play around with images rather then words.

Who are your influences?

So many to choose but I really admire filmmakers who are able to pull off setting a mood in their films. To me thats the bread and butter, to be able to give off a feeling in a skillful way. My influences are Errol Morris, Frederick Wiseman, Werner Herzog, David Lynch, Jean-Luc Godard.

Tell me about the first documentary you made.

I was in college and I wanted to make a film using videos I had from high school. My friends and I use to record ourselves doing an extreme sport that we made up called Scabbing (we would wear helmets and lay down face first on skateboards and go down hills all over Providence). We had a good size crew and we would all go after school to find places. Neighbors were annoyed, kids loved us, and the police thought we were crazy. So I had over ten hours of footage and I made an experimental documentary titled “Flesh Wounds and Scabs”. I am very proud of it. When I have some free time I want to revisit it. Some of my friends who were in it want me to make a longer version.

What are your current projects?

I have a few projects that I am working on. I had my directorial debut last month. Itʼs a historical documentary titled “Thompson Chemical” about a chemical explosion in 1964 and the effect it had on a small community in Massachusetts. We are currently shopping it around to festivals for next year. I am also editing and co- producing a doc on the tent city that was up in Providence, R.I. last year with my friend and fellow documentary filmmaker David H. Angell called Hope City. Lastly, I just finished shooting a doc in July about an older gentleman who is trying to promote the next Christmas character Blinker the Bunny. I followed him around on and off for a year and documented his trials of getting people behind him and his dream of getting character blinker to the children. I was attracted to the project because I thought it would be very interesting to follow another artist around trying to get his work seen by an audience. I found some similarities with him while documenting him. I will be working on Blinker & Bill and Hope City this fall.

What are your goals for the future?

After I finish up on all these projects I want to start researching and looking into producing short documentary vignettes on the web while I am in between projects. A lot of times the documentary process can take a year to get to a finished product and you can get consumed by the project and the world keeps spinning. I want to do something on a smaller scale so that I can keep my filmmaking chops and stay relevant. I think mixing the web and documentaries will be a good way to keep me experimenting.

To keep up to date on what Roger is up to follow him on Twitter and visit his website RogerMulcahy.net.

Spotlight: Shevon "Muffin" Young

I met Shevon Young (also known as Muffin) last October after I was asked to take photos at The Spot on Thayer one night when local hip hop artists were performing. She was a little ball of energy, running around making sure everything was running smoothly.

After spending more time with Muffin, I learned about what an incredible woman she is. She's a mother of four, a singer, and a strong proponent for bringing arts and music to the community. I sat down with her last week at AS220 before the Providence Geeks dinner to talk to her about some of her future projects. 

If you are interested in Muffin's future projects you add her on facebook.

Spotlight: Stefan Di Pippo

Stefan Di Pippo is a stand up comedian based out of Providence, Rhode Island. Even though he's only been doing stand up for a little over a year, he has a growing fan base and he regularly performs at the Comedy Connection in East Providence.

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Tell me about yourself.

I’m from Providence. I’ve lived here my whole life. I work in restaurants, which is always a drag, but I do stand up comedy. I get to tell ridiculous stories about my life and people laugh at them. I also volunteer in schools and teach kids how to read.

Click on photo to see largerWhen did you start doing stand up?

It was the beginning of last year. It was actually a Craigslist ad for an online sketch comedy show. I responded to it, met with the guy, and he thought my ideas would work well with his. We brainstormed but nothing panned out but then I had all these ideas and I heard there was a contest at Twin River Casino. I tried it once and I bombed. I was terrified. It sucked so much but when nobody laughed I didn’t care. I just kept talking and got people to laugh. I’ve been doing it since and I’m getting more comfortable. Now I just go up on stage and shoot the shit. If the people don’t laugh, move on. It’s not a big deal. Just have fun doing it.

Click on photo to see largeThe premises are all based on reality but a joke has to be exaggerated. Of course there are parts when I just make up stuff to get the shock factor or get the point across. My mother doesn’t come see me anymore. She used to. She’s says I’m too gross.

Is your family supportive?

They see I get the people to laugh and I’m good at it so they’re supportive. My dad was an entertainer. He’s a musician. My mom was a photographer. We’re all entertainers. My uncle Tommy said, “We’re all clowns in this family. It’s nice to see that somebody has the balls to go up on stage and entertain people”.

Click on photo to see largerWere you the quiet kid or the funny kid?

I was so shy. I was wicked shy until three or four years ago. I kept to myself. If you watch me now I’m this loud, gross, shit talking dude. I had fun with my friends but I would have never gotten in front a group of people and started saying stuff like that.

Who are some comedians you look up to?

Dave Chappelle, Lewis Black, Louis CK, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, and definitely a lot of my family influenced me.

Click on photo to see largerTell more about your volunteering in schools.

I was going to go into teaching elementary school. The school where I volunteer, it was fifth grade and there was literally not a white person in school. This part of the school the kids didn’t speak English. The first day I go in, the teacher pulls me aside and goes, “There is this one kid and he’s the biggest troublemaker. He’s always starting problems with the kids. He never does his work.” The more I got to work with the kid the more I saw he was just a good kid. He was one of the more well rounded kids in the classroom as far as reading and math. It was just his father was in jail. His mom would go to bars and come home drunk. His brothers are in and out of jail. You know how kids come to school with snacks and cookies and stuff? He comes in with a half pack of Saltines. I think his life must be shit. How do you expect him to come to school and listen to some unqualified b*tch nagging at him to do his work when he’s ten and he has the world on his shoulders? The teacher will yet at him to get his work done and when she walks away I’ll tell him to not worry about it. I talk to him about sports. I joke around with him. Show the kids some positivity and they’ll go in the right direction.

The kids love me. They look forward to me coming there. Two people volunteer in that fifth grade class and they like me way better. One kid who always busts my balls, he said “[the other volunteer] is better than you”. I said, “I don’t care. I’m not competing against him to be the better helper”. Later on they made us cards in mine that kid wrote that I was the best helper in the class.

Click on photo to see largerStefan is really a funny and awesome guy so I definitely recommend checking him out at the Comedy Connection or wherever he is performing. Add him on Facebook to keep up to date with his shows. And also ladies, Stefan is single. Who doesn't want a guy who will make you laugh, loves kids, and will also cook you dinner? So be sure to ask him out on a date.

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