The World of Wigs and Makeup by MIKE LAWLER

Hair MIKE LAWLER The world of wigs and makeup BY MIKE LAWLER WHEN YOU WALK into the wig shop of American Players The- atre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, Ralph Holcomb seems out of place. If it weren’t for the intent look on his face as he ties delicate strands of human hair through fine mesh squares on a molded head in his lap, you’d think he stumbled in from the scene shop next door looking for a quiet place to think. Stand- ing well over six feet, with closely cropped hair and a wild shock of red fuzz jutting from his chin, Holcomb cuts an im- posing figure. He’s not the guy you’d imagine as the new wig master for the 2007 season of the classic theatre in the woods. “If somebody told me when I started school, ‘In ten years you’re going to be sitting in a room tying hundreds of knots of hair everyday,’ I would have looked at them like they were stock, but generally they must still do crazy,” Holcomb says. “But once I started getting into it, I fell a fair amount of maintenance and in love with it.” tweaking to make the wig suitable for Now, after several years of supporting himself with his the design. Makeup artists will assist wigs, Holcomb knows how tedious the work may look to out- performers with any complicated siders. Sometimes it is tedious, but it has its rewards, too. “You makeup application that is part of the can definitely see your progress,” he says. “One of my favorite design. parts is when you put that finished, styled product on some- According to Ruskai, there are six body.” different skill sets applicable to both wigs and makeup: wig making, wig From the neck up and hair styling, cut and color, “The wig and makeup industry is complicated and variable,” makeup application, prosthetic lab explains Martha Ruskai, who directed wig and makeup training techniques, and design. Most of these at North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem for are self-explanatory; however, Ruskai nearly twenty years. Though the areas of wigs and makeup explains that the art of one, makeup may sound quite different, they are frequently interchangeable, application, is very specialized. “Not and the work is often performed by the same people. Makeup all makeup artists can do all types artists are sometimes responsible for the care of wigs during and venues equally well,” she says. production and are at times skilled wig makers and stylists in There are several types of makeup their own right. These artists, along with the milliner, are the application that require differing skills people who take care of performers from the neck up. They and training, including fashion, aging, do so, for the most part, in accordance with the costume prosthetics, and special effects. Again, designer’s vision. Wig makers may use wigs that are already Ruskai says that even within these built, having rented them or pulled them from a theatre’s specialties there are stark differences DRAMATICS • MAY 2007 DON CORATHERS James P. McGough in the wig shop at American Players Theatre, left. At right, theatre design and production majors Daniel Townsend and Gretchen Androsavich ventilating wigs in the studio at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. between how they are handled for tume designers who are skilled at costume shops and the occasional the stage versus film, television, or drawing hairstyles and makeup there lack of a costume designer altogether, print jobs. are an equal number who are not,” a specialized area of design has The work of the wig master is also Ruskai explains. “In addition, very evolved: the wig and makeup de- subject to the whims of other theatre few have been trained to apply signer. According to Ruskai, wig and artists as they react to fashion and makeup and style hair.” makeup designers are far more com- changing trends. These trends often The relationship between wig mon in the areas of opera, Broadway, progress along a different trajectory masters and costume designers is at and film and television than in non- than those associated with costumes times very complicated because of commercial theatre. and clothing. the high level of specialization in- James P. McGough, wig designer “Current taste and fashion affect volved, and, according to some wig and head of the wig shop at Virginia hairstyles more than costumes,” says masters, the lack of expertise on the Opera for the past nine seasons, falls Ruskai. “Audiences, directors, and part of the designers. “A costume into such a category, though he ad- performers accept that people in 1692 designer is often stretched very mits his situation is uncommon. wore things that looked different, but thin and so may not want to take “What I have in Virginia is so rare,” often have more difficulty in adjusting the time to think about hair and he says. “Most opera companies don’t to a man in an elaborate, long wig, makeup until all of the costume pieces have a resident wig person.” period makeup, and beauty spots,” are under control, which can be right McGough is also the former wig mas- she explains. before the first dress rehearsal,” Ruskai ter of American Players Theatre, says. “This shortens the amount of where he spent fourteen seasons. Wig and makeup design time available to build, have fittings, While his position with APT was wig Design can be yet another facet of and make adjustments.” master, he has done his share of non- the job for wig masters and makeup For these and other reasons, in- credited design there, guiding and as- artists. “While there are some cos- cluding the common understaffing of sisting costume designers unable or MAY 2007 • DRAMATICS extensively with the costume designer who is, in most situations, responsible for the look of the perform- MIKE LAWLER ers’ hair. The wig personnel will schedule appointments with each of the performers to assess such things as head size, current hair length, hair color, and existing facial hair (if any). If it is not deemed necessary for certain actors to wear wigs, their hair length and style will be examined carefully so that any needed haircut or restyling can be determined and agreed upon. Actors requiring wigs will be measured and sometimes photo- graphed so that the wig shop can create a wig that fits their heads perfectly. Often, wigs will be built from scratch. Other times a wig shop will use wigs that are already built, having rented them or pulled them from their own theatre’s stock. The shop must still do a fair amount of maintenance and styling to make existing wigs suitable for the design and the individual actor. The wig makers spend hours ventilating (see the sidebar on page 23), a term used to describe the tying of the wig material (be it human hair, yak hair, or a syn- thetic material) to the mesh cap that will hold it together. Once the wigs have been created, Ralph Holcomb at APT. the stylist will go to work manipulat- ing the wig to match the desired look. During all of this, the wig shop unwilling to devote energy to wigs A job description may have the actors in for further fit- and makeup. for the wig master tings. For instance, a wig master Holcomb, McGough’s successor, The wig master’s process begins, as would ideally want to have a fitting was trained by a former pupil of with most areas of theatre, when he after the wig cap was built, after the McGough himself, and has managed first reads a script. “We’re reading it wig was ventilated (or tied), and after to create a career in theatrical wigs in with a completely different viewpoint the wig was styled. Depending on a relatively short period of time. Still than anybody else,” McGough says. the theatre or organization, this may in his twenties, Holcomb is an ex- “I’m looking for any hair reference.” or may not be possible based on the ample of how effective networking As an example, McGough cites a re- typically demanding schedules of the can be. He has demonstrated that one cent production of Tartuffe, in which actors and the technicians. can create a niche and build a repu- the costume designer had overlooked When the wigs are complete, they table career as a wig specialist in the- a textual reference to Orgon’s mous- will need maintenance during the run atre. However, Holcomb’s career is tache. In this sense, it is helpful to of a show and probably will also re- probably the exception to the rule, have a wig master who takes the time quire periodic restyling. and by no means easily replicated. It to become familiar with the work. Though professional actors are takes a lot of work to build and The wig master must then deter- usually responsible for applying the maintain a life in wigs and makeup— mine how the desired hairstyles and makeup designed by the costume de- especially if you are planning to stick wigs will be created for the show. In signer, there are times when special- to live performing arts. doing so, the wig master will consult ized makeup is needed for a produc- DRAMATICS • MAY 2007 tion for one or more of the charac- ters. If this is the case, a makeup art- ist will apply the makeup so that it is consistent at each performance.

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