About face

Linda Pisano has powdered the nose of Satan himself. \nIn 2005, Pisano, head of costume and design of IU's Department of Theatre and Drama, designed the costumes for a production of Christopher Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus." She transformed the already 6-foot-4 actor playing the devil into a 7-foot-tall bruised corpse with bat-like wings that spanned 12 feet. \n"How do you frighten in live theater?" she asked herself.\nWith white contacts, high heels, two long horns, a black yak-hair wig and an excess of blueish-white makeup.\nStage makeup goes far beyond covering up the imperfections of an actor's face. Along with the set design and costuming, it assists in defining the world in which a character lives. \n"Costume design is about creating a character, not just what they're wearing," said Angie Burkhart, a costume design graduate student who is the costume designer for the IU Theatre Department's upcoming production of "Urinetown, the musical." \nPisano, who is also the costume designer for "The Birthday Party," which is currently playing at the Ruth N. Halls Theatre, said stage makeup helps serve two fundamental purposes.\n"It enhances the character, whether it's Juliet or some bizarrely twisted, murderous villain. It could be someone who's been injured, someone old or someone young," Pisano said. \nThe second purpose of stage makeup is to prevent the actors from disappearing or looking flat underneath the bright stage lights.\nThe most basic of stage makeup is called "straight" or "corrective" makeup. It consists of finding a foundation for the skin tone of the actor that will keep lighting from drawing out undertones. For instance, people with very pale skin have blue undertones, and without the proper application of foundation, they can look "strange, pasty and washed out," Pisano said.\nCorrective makeup is applied by the actor and usually takes between 10 minutes and a half-hour. The costume designer typically holds a workshop for the actors before each production opens to teach them how to apply their makeup for the particular show. \nSophomore Josh Hambrock, who plays a lead role in "The Birthday Party," applies his own makeup and learned how to make facial stubble using a wire sponge and a dark pigment.\nUnlike "street" makeup, the brands theater companies use are water-based, easy to blend and come in a variety of colors, Pisano said.\nStage makeup is not limited to just the face, either. The costume designer must take into account the hairstyles and the overall appearance of the actor. \n"(In 'Urinetown'), we create characters through hair," Burkhart said.\nStage makeup can create a variety of illusions from the stage. It can make a person look thinner or heavier, noses can be altered and eyebrows can be made to look menacing. \nBut Pisano and Burkhart agreed that the most challenging makeup transformation is aging a college student. To make an actor or actress look older, costume designers typically play up natural highlights and shadows in the performer's face. But because college students do not have the age lines that define older faces, designers are often forced to create new wrinkles using latex and prosthetics.\nHowever, beyond accenting existing facial features, stage makeup can also be used to create special effects. \nWrinkles, burns, lacerations and black eyes can be created using an array of materials such as wax, latex and assorted pigments. \nPisano said she used many of these techniques to create her Satan character for the Utah Shakespearean Festival in 2005.\nBefore creating the costumes and makeup for a show, designers take everything about the atmosphere of the performance into consideration. For example, if a performer is playing an alcoholic, the actor or actress should have more yellow undertones in his or her complexion and darker under-eye circles. For "The Birthday Party," Pisano noted the climate and the seaside location in northern England determine the appearance of the characters, such as the couple's drab appearance and the wife's wig.\nIU offers two courses in theater costuming, one undergraduate and the other for graduates. Costume design majors at IU undergo a more independent study program, working hands-on with local productions.