Stefanie Genda: Costume Designer

If Stefanie Genda had chosen to call her I.S. a “dependent” study rather than an “independent” one, theatre experts would have instantly understood why. The costume designer’s role is part of an interdependent, collaborative process.

A course in costume design in her sophomore year convinced Genda, a theatre major, that this was a specialty she wanted to pursue. Her acting experience, artistic skills, and art history minor were the perfect combination of interests for a costume designer. And designing costumes for the theatre department’s production of the musical Cabaret was the perfect, creative capstone project.

Genda began her work by researching the musical’s setting—Berlin in the 1920s. “It was a decadent, incredibly excessive time,” she says. “Germany was in a horrible depression after World War I, and American money could buy anything—sex, alcohol, drugs; it was really a wild time. The cabarets were a snapshot of what Berlin was.”

She read the writings of author Christopher Isherwood, whose actual encounters with cabaret personalities in Berlin are the basis of the musical’s central character, Sally Bowles. “The show reincarnates this very real woman, right down to her green fingernail polish,” says Genda.

She studied costumes of the time and was particularly influenced by a painting that showed a dancer leaning against a wall. “She wears a feather boa and shorts, and the colors are black, purple, and pink. But it’s not a pretty pink, it’s a dirty pink.”

And then came the interdependent work. For example, Genda changed her idea that the Sally Bowles character would wear a 1920s flapper-style dress, when she saw the curvy lines of the actress cast for the part. “Katy didn’t look good in that style, so we used a 1930s style that flattered her by accentuating her curves and heightening her sexuality.”

The message that designers want their costumes to communicate depends on the play’s overall tone, and Genda learned that the director wanted this play to be gritty, raw, and realistic. Genda’s challenge was to create costumes that appeared more risqué than they really were. She needed to give the appearance of exposed flesh, but keep her Wooster actors comfortable. To this end, she made liberal use of flesh-colored tights under black stockings and garter belts. When her costumes appeared too “clean” she dyed them to reflect sweat stains and spilled drinks.

Her favorite character was the master of ceremonies, Emcee, said Genda, because of his sexual ambiguity. “He had so much potential; he could be so many things,” she said. “I wanted him to have an ambiguous look, but still look like a dandy.” So she dressed him in what she describes as “deconstructed” tuxedos, sometimes pairing black tails with black shorts, and sometimes white vests with white shorts. In one number, he joins the dancers of the Kit Kat Klub wearing a black nightgown, stockings, a black bob wig, black leather biker hat, and harlequin mask. In a scene where he represents the conscience of Sally Bowles, he dresses just like her.

Genda’s designs depended on the play’s setting, the actors’ physiques, and the director’s vision, but mostly they depended on the characters themselves. “Costumes are literally the closest thing to touch an actor and they can make or break a character,” she says. “If things doesn’t feel right, the show can suffer.”

The interdependence of workers in a theatre company results in close relationships, and Wooster’s team was no exception, said Genda. Like the Independent Study experience itself, the opportunity to work on Cabaret was intimate and individualized. She worked closely with her advisor and the show’s director, Ansley Valentine, associate professor of theatre and with Charlene Gross, the department’s resident costume designer.

Genda says she is confident that her portfolio of sketches and photographs will be a major asset when she applies to graduate school in costume design. In addition to the Cabaret costumes, it also contains designwork she did for two seniors, who needed costumes for their final Independent Study performances. 

Other students’ Independent Studies and the department’s dance concerts have provided Genda with the opportunity to design for dance, as well as theatre. “When you’re designing for dance, you need to be conscious of the body and how it moves through space,” she says. “In dance, the costumes help create the story almost more than in theatre. The story is so visual.”