PBS arts advisor Jane Chu will also join the committee.
Anna Deavere Smith and Clint Ramos
Anna Deavere Smith, Clint Ramos, and Jane Chu will join the American Theatre Wing’s Advisory Committee while Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda and Howard Wolfson will join the Board of Trustees.
Smith was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her solo show Fires in the Mirror. The play won a Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance, as did her follow-up, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992. Both will be performed during Signature Theatre’s 2019–2020 season. The playwright and performer is also well-known for her TV appearances in The West Wing and Nurse Jackie.
Tony-winning costume designer Ramos made his Broadway debut with the wardrobe for Violet in 2014. He won Best Costume Design in a Play for his work in Eclipsed in 2016, and continues to create the garments for shows like Once On This Island and Torch Song, both of which earned him Tony nominations.
Chu most recently served as chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts and currently acts as an arts advisor for PBS.
Towns-Miranda is a clinical psychologist, focusing on work that assists the well-being of at-risk youth, and is the mother of Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Wolfson develops strategy for Bloomberg Philanthropies' education program in addition to serving as senior advisor to the former NYC mayor.
The theatre institution also announced trustees Howard Stringer and Pia Lindström have been appointed to Emeritus status.
Behind the Tony-winning Costume Design of Broadway’s Eclipsed Starring Lupita Nyong’o
Behind the Tony-winning Costume Design of Broadway’s Eclipsed Starring Lupita Nyong’o
Tony-winning costume designer Clint Ramos shares research photos and sketches from his costume bible as he explains his designs from inspiration to execution.
15 PHOTOS
“Whether you live in utter poverty or you’re super loaded, we put on clothing as a second skin, like this is how we choose to present ourselves.” (Above: Saycon Sengbloh and Akosua Busia in Broadway’s Eclipsed.)
Joan Marcus
A sketch of Rita in Eclipsed.
Clint Ramos
A photo from Ramos’ research: “The African fabrics we show are West African fabrics. A lot of people don’t know that there are prints that are specific to the region. There are East African prints and there are West African prints. Then the second part is to really look at the research at what they’re wearing.”
A sketch of Helena, or Wife #1, wearing a mix of an American T-Shirt and West African fabric.
Clint Ramos
A photo from Ramos’ research: “I think one of the things that was important to me was to honor these women, because they were based on real women. I didn’t want to make them sort of generic Africa. It was really about being very specific. ... In terms of translating it to an American audience, the T-shirts gave me that key because I chose shirts that were familiar to an American audience, but also had a slight political statement to them.”
A photo from Ramos’ research: “It was amazing to me that all these women soldiers were wearing things they we would—maybe girls now or girls ten years ago—would wear clubbing.”
But Ramos reminds us, “They’re literally girls. They were abducted at a very young age.” (Above: Lupita Nyong’o and Zainab Jah in Eclipsed.)
Joan Marcus
Another sketch of Maima from Ramos’ bible.
Clint Ramos
“What I was trying to do with costuming was bridge that culture to an American audience by presenting things that were familiar to us.”
Clint Ramos
The step toward reopening, as part of the NY PopsUp initiative, also includes programming at flexible performance spaces like St. Ann’s Warehouse and The Apollo.
