Interview with Roxana Ramseur, Costume Designer!

As promised, here is the interview with the talented Roxana Ramseur! She is an extremely creative individual and capable of anything she puts her mind (and hands) to! For more on Roxana & photos, please be sure to check out her blog:

http://roxanaramseur.tumblr.com/

dc: First of all, please tell us about what you do?

roxana: I design and build costumes for theater and dance, as well as, theatrical millinery (hats) and crafts (everything that is worn, but is not a hat or clothing (wings, masks, jewelry, shoes, armor...).

dc: How did you get started?

roxana: I've been making things pretty much since I can remember. One of my earlierest memories of sewing is from when I was a tot. Mom would give me a big, dull plastic needle and I would force it (it's very difficult to sew with a dull needle!) through a folded scrap of swiss-dot or whatever remnants were lying around, stuff it with fiber fill, and make tiny pillows.

dc: What is your training and background?

roxana: I have a BA in Textiles and Apparel Design from UT Austin and augmented those classes with UT's amazing costume design (w/ Susan Tsu) and draping (w/ Jim Glavin) classes. the rest of my training comes from work experience in my field - the best way to learn!

dc: When did you know this is what you wanted to do?

roxana: Finally, in the last semester of my undergrad junior year, I admitted to myself that I was studying to be a fashion designer - I had previously considered it an unrealistic sort of job - and declared my major. I left fashion and moved to theater 5 years later, after deciding that I needed more daily access to making things.

dc: What is your favorite project you ever worked on?

roxana: I found immense satisfaction carving bead foam with an electric knife and a rasper to sculpt warrior masks for the opera "Radamisto" designed by Gideon Davey at the Santa Fe Opera (2008). the shape was fill-out with oil clay, a paper-mache cast was made for the mask, which was finally painted and decorated.

dc: What would you like to work on next?

roxana: I am very excited to be designing costumes for writer/director Young Jean Lee's new work "Lear" commissioned by the Soho Rep., which an adaptation of Shakespeare's "King Lear". It will open in this coming January at the Soho Rep. in NYC. I designed her last play "The Shipment" which is currently on tour and playing in Paris and Berlin in the next weeks.

Thanks Roxana, we are all very inspired by what you do and probably a little envious, it sounds very exciting!