Kjerstin Anderson ’22 is the costume designer for the tumble output of “The Misanthrope.”
For Gustavus Adolphus College’s tumble production of The Misanthrope, senior Theatre major Kjerstin Anderson ’22 is the costume designer. The perform, written by Moliere and directed by Traveling to Assistant Professor Kimberly Braun ’11, is set in 1660s France and explores the value of balancing honesty and societal expectations.
Anderson’s costume structure rendering for Célimène, that includes detachable fluffy sleeves and panniers.
As this production is set in a contemporary actuality Tv set display about 1660s France, Anderson’s models merge historical period of time aspects with present day avant garde style and fact television set inspirations. Anderson states a single of the people the group used the most time speaking about was Célimène, Alceste’s love fascination, as she can be interpreted very in different ways in different productions. “As a character, she is not a super great man or woman, but she’s also not the villain of the story,” Anderson points out. “Is she this lady who’s just applying adult men and not caring for their thoughts, or is this a way of her asserting her possess agency in this time period wherever she does not have significantly?”
“Having the adaptability in her costume to display various amounts of vulnerability is important, so she has things that are sweeter and a tiny fluffier and then she has items that are much a lot more pared back again and factors that are a minimal extra seductive,” she says. Célimène’s costume also incorporates the panniers of the historical time period, which Anderson explains as each a nod to the roots of the perform but also a “very literal metaphor of the cage that women of all ages had been in” in the course of the time period of the perform.
“I am so energized to be creating the layouts that Kjerstin has produced,” states Continuing Assistant Professor of Theatre & Dance Larissa McConnell. “She has brought to this creation her radiance that infects all of us in the costume store generating just about every working day complete of pleasure for what we are executing.” McConnell supervises the costume shop at Gustavus.
Turning the costumes from suggestions and layouts into genuine creations was the section that Anderson was most nervous about. “I perform in the costume shop, and so I do understand how matters are built and how matters are getting made, but I am not our strongest stitcher,” she claims. “It’s just so humbling and invigorating to be about people today who just can do such fantastic things with material and who are so excited to enable these matters that were being literal figments of imagination come to be authentic.”
McConnell suggests Anderson has created an atmosphere of enthusiasm and enjoyment in the costume shop. “We appreciate to present her what we have been doing the job on since her reactions are heartfelt and total of gratitude,” she claims.
“I figured out how to believe in myself and how to have self confidence in my individual concepts,” Anderson states. “It’s just been so exciting and this practical experience is anything that I’m heading to compare all the things to for the relaxation of my lifestyle.”
Anderson programs to show up at graduate university in costume layout following graduating in the spring. “I believe a single of the most vital issues that I have learned is just standing my ground and obtaining religion in myself,” she suggests. “Finding it in myself and genuinely believing that what I’m undertaking is significant, since the way that the arts influence people today and have an impact on views and can develop narratives, I feel, is genuinely crucial to the way that we operate as a culture.”
Performances of The Misanthrope are November 11-13 at 8 p.m. and November 13-14 at 2 p.m. in the Rob and Judy Gardner Laboratory Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.
You should Take note: All ticket holders ought to clearly show proof of total vaccination in opposition to COVID-19 or a adverse COVID-19 examination consequence received within just 72 hrs of the effectiveness, and a valid photo ID to attend the effectiveness. Ages 11 and under are exempt from this necessity. Masks have to be worn at all moments, irrespective of vaccination standing.