`Sorry to keep you waiting," says award-winning costume designer
Jennifer von Mayrhauser. When we met late on a weekday afternnon at
the production office of the television show "Law and Order" in a
giant warehouse of a building on Pier 62 on the Hudson River in New
York City, von Mayrhauser had already been hard at work since 6:45
that morning checking out the costumes for an early-morning shoot on
the already steamy streets of Manhattan. Not surprisingly, by
afternoon, a costume fitting for yet another episode has been running
late.
I wait. On the call board is noted: "Day 4 of 9, episode 17004, 3
scenes shooting." When I am summoned, a costume assistant leads me
through a maze, past the empty courtroom set and racks of costumes. I
finally meet von Mayrhauser whose "office" is a corner desk piled with
scripts and hedged in by racks of clothes. This is definitely a work
environment.
Setting "Law and Order" aside, we are there to talk about "The
Birthday Party," written by 2005 Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter, the
opening play of the McCarter Theater season that goes into previews in
the Berlind Theater on Friday, September 8. Von Mayrhauser has been a
long-time collaborator of artistic director Emily Mann, having
designed costumes for well over a dozen McCarter productions.
With two designer assistants and a staff of wardrobe people, von
Mayrhauser balances an unbelievably busy schedule with the weekly "Law
and Order" productions. Add to that designing the costumes for "The
Birthday Party," while simultaneously putting the finishing touches on
costumes for the upcoming Playwrights Horizon production of "The Pain
and the Itch," which opened Friday, September 1. In her "spare time,"
she heads up the costume department and teaches at Brandeis
University.
"I love my job," says von Mayrhauser. "It’s always interesting,
whether I’m thinking about these relatively poor people written by
Pinter or (for "Law & Order") figuring out what a drug dealer would
wear on Avenue A. It’s fascinating. That’s the essence of being a
costume designer." And she seems to thrive on the variety, whether
she’s imagining street kids on "Law and Order," three sisters who
dream of going to Moscow, or Pinter people in a seedy shore town.
"Actually it’s always about the character and the story, whether it’s
the 1880s or 2006, it comes from the story" – and that goes for be
plays, movies, and television scripts. "It’s about who that person
is."
According to von Mayrhauser, the process of costume design involves
reading, research, character analysis, historical perspective, "where
this person fits in the story," and collaboration with other artists.
"What’s fun about my job is that it is my way of expressing myself in
reference to plays, characters, colors, and exploring different
worlds. Rather than directing or acting, I’m working with clothes in
collaboration with the director and also with the actors. We sort of
have a partnership in creating the character. And I love working with
people."
Von Mayrhauser has been designing professionally since she came to New
York City after graduating in 1970 from Northwestern University with a
degree in theater arts. In New York she studied at Lester Polakov’s
Studio and Forum of Stage Design, but not at Yale University as is
widely noted on Internet sources. "It’s nice of them to give me an MA,
but I didn’t do that," she quips. She supposes that this
misinformation grew from the fact that from the ages of five to 19,
she lived in New Haven, where her father, Thomas G. Bergin, was a
professor of romance languages and master of the Timothy Dwight
College at Yale.
Von Mayrhauser’s artistic eye and fondness for research came to her
naturally. Her father specialized in Dante, Plutarch, and Yale
football facts and figures; her mother, who was English, wrote her
masters degree thesis on the Art Nouveau/ Golden Age illustrator
Aubrey Beardsley. This environment was augmented by her early
education at one of the nation’s leading college-preparatory schools
for young women, the Emma Willard School in Troy, New York.
She met Emily Mann in the late 1970s, when they were both working at
the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Their friendship developed from
there. Other than the fact that both women have exceptionally busy
artistic careers, Mayrhauser thinks that their connection stems from
their both being daughters of college professors, and maybe also that
they are both mothers. "When Emily got married, my daughter and I
helped her get dressed for the occasion," von Meyrhauser says. "When
her son was born, I visited at the hospital." This closeness certainly
gives them the advantage of a kind of "shorthand" when they work
together.
Their first professional collaboration, "around 1978," von Mayrhauser
says, was for a production of "The Glass Menagerie," in which Barbara
Bryne played Amanda. Bryne appears in McCarter’s production of "The
Birthday Party."
"The Birthday Party," often described as a "comedy of menace," is set
in a seedy seaside boarding house owned by Meg and Petey. They have
only one boarder, Stanley, a sad guy. During the play, three other
characters arrive and stir up the mix. One is a young woman named
Lulu; the others, an old Jewish man, Goldberg, and an Irishman,
McCann. Meg decides to have a birthday party for Stanley. This is the
skeleton of the story that in usual Pinter fashion has many levels and
has been interpreted in many ways.
Mann has decided to set "The Birthday Party" in the present day rather
than in the 1950s as it was originally produced. "I was resistant at
first," says von Mayrhauser, "but Emily explained that the subject
matter is archetypical and would work whether contemporary or
`period.’" The desire is to make the story and characters more
accessible, less distant.
As is often part of von Mayrhauser’s process in design, she looks to
other visual artists for keys to each character’s appearance. For "The
Birthday Party," she feels that there is definitely a feel of David
Hockney’s colors and the way he places his figures in a painting.
"There’s a (Hockney) painting of a young girl and an old man that
seems very Goldberg and Lulu," she says. "And there’s a self-portrait
of Hockney that has a feeling of Stanley." Von Mayrhauser says she
also looked at photographs made by Cindy Sherman, known for costuming
herself and for shooting self-portraits "in character." Von Mayrhauser
tells me of a particular photo in which Sherman is crying and makeup
is running down her face. "This is an image that I use."
Early in her career, von Mayrhauser was the resident designer for the
Circle Rep in New York, renowned for presenting the work of Lanford
Wilson. This proved to be a good training ground for her current work
with "Law and Order." "Both were very realistic with new scripts,
wonderful writing, and interesting characters." She credits "Law and
Order" with making her a better designer because the work has to be
done very fast. "And yet everything has to be designed for the
specific characters. Everything for this show passes through my
hands." The list of characters (the usual cast members as well as the
numerous actors who appear for one specific episode) fills up a full
sheet of paper. She has been with "Law and Order" for 15 years.
Her Broadway credits include 20 productions, most recently last
season’s highly-acclaimed production of "Rabbit Hole" with Cynthia
Nixon, and many Off-Broadway plays. For the latter, she was awarded an
Obie for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design. She worked with Wendy
Wasserstein throughout her career. Nominated for an Emmy Award in 1999
for her work on "Law and Order," she was also honored by New York
Women in Film and Television at their annual Designing Hollywood gala
in 2003.
In spite of her busy work schedule, von Mayrhauser has managed to
maintain a marriage of 25 years with actor/playwright Richard
Cottrell. They have two daughters: Julia who is 24, a Vassar graduate
now working for an art publishing company in London; and Lucy, 20, a
student at Sarah Lawrence College.
For period costumes, like the ones she did for "The Bells" at
McCarter, she makes carefully-drawn renderings of each costume. But
for contemporary work, such as this production of "The Birthday
Party," she skips that part of the process. "I had worked on images.
Then on the first day of rehearsal, I sat down with Emily and each of
the actors individually and talked about our vision and had their
input. That was our jumping off point." She likes to gather quite a
few clothing possibilities and "sculpt at a costume fitting." Some
items come from the theater’s costume collection. Some she found in
thrift stores. "I shop everywhere from Saks Fifth Avenue to the
Salvation Army, and everywhere in between. It’s fun."
The Birthday Party, previews Friday through Thursday, September 8
through 14, opening night, Friday, September 15, Berlind Theater at
McCarter Theater, 91 University Place. Drama by Harold Pinter $40 to
$48. Through Sunday, October 15. 609-258-2787.
Facebook Comments