Since 1986, distinguished theatre professor Steve Vineberg has directed more than a dozen productions at Holy Cross. But he’s not putting on a show when he says that departmental majors who take part in these plays and musicals are getting the real deal.
For example, a whopping 26 costumes were designed from scratch by theatre major Katherine Fritz ’08 for his latest directorial production, Dinner at Eight, which runs through April 12 in Fenwick Theatre.
Theatre majors work with highly accomplished professors on all aspects of the production. Students who show the initiative and perseverance to meet the department’s high production values are allowed to take on larger roles as upperclassmen.
“She’s extraordinary,” Vineberg says, who had Fritz in his American Film class. “We haven’t had a student design costumes for a main stage show in recent memory. Katherine is an extremely smart woman, and she was an excellent student.”
“The design process is a really intricate one,” he says. “It involves doing a great deal of research on the period before you even think about sketching, so Katherine has a big portfolio of work that she started working on last summer.”
Fritz worked on the costumes under the direction of Kurt Hultgren, lecturer and costume designer for the theatre department. “When I saw the costumes on the characters earlier this week, my jaw hit the floor,” Vineberg says.
The strong student-faculty interaction in the theatre department allows students like Fritz to reach their full potential.
“We’ve never had more than 30 majors in the theatre department, so we can pay attention to the needs of all 30 majors,” he says. “When a student like Katherine comes along who wants to focus on this one discipline, we can make sure it happens.”
As she writes in her blog, Fritz has taken advantage of all these opportunities. In fact, even after she hits the commencement stage, she’ll be back to work this summer on A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Redfeather Theatre Company, a professional acting troupe in residence at the College.
Related Information:
• Press release on Dinner at Eight
• Profile of Steve Vineberg
• Holy Cross Blogs
The Final Act
Theatre professor Steve Vineberg says theatre majors like blogger Fritz ’08 afforded invaluable experiences at Holy Cross
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