Susan Hilferty
Susan Hilferty | |
---|---|
Born | Arlington, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Education | Syracuse University (BFA) Yale University (MFA) |
Occupation | Costume designer |
Website | Official website |
Susan Hilferty is an American costume designer for theatre, opera, and film.
Biography
Early life and education
Hilferty grew up in a big family in Arlington, Massachusetts, where her greatest source of joy was the library. "We didn’t have a television," she says. "Reading was my entertainment."[1] says Hilferty, whose interest in art and designing clothing led to her making all of her own clothes by the age of 12.[2]
As an undergraduate at Syracuse University, Hilferty majored in painting with a minor in fashion design.[1] She also fulfilled her work-study responsibilities in the school's theatre.[2] She credits her Junior year, studying abroad in London as the experience that led her to designing for the theatre. "I had been in plays as a child, but I’d never actually seen a production onstage. It turned me on to theatre design because I immediately understood how the visuals are an integral part of storytelling. I see myself as a storyteller who happens to use clothes as my medium."[1]
After graduating from Syracuse, Hilferty headed to
Career
Susan Hilferty has designed costumes for more than 300 productions all around the world.
Her many collaborations include productions with such well-known directors as Joe Mantello, James Lapine, Michael Mayer, Walter Bobbie, Robert Falls, Tony Kushner, Robert Woodruff, JoAnne Akalaitis, the late Garland Wright, James MacDonald, Bartlett Sher, Mark Lamos, Frank Galati, Des McAnuff, Christopher Ashley, Emily Mann, David Jones, Marion McClinton, Neil Pepe, Rebecca Taichman, Gregory Boyd, Laurie Anderson, Doug Wright, Carole Rothman, Oskar Eustis, Garry Hynes, Richard Nelson, Yaël Farber and Athol Fugard (the South African writer with whom she works as set and costume designer and often as co-director since 1980).[4]
Her work in regional theatre in the United States includes productions with A.C.T San Francisco, ACT Seattle, The Acting Company, Alley Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Center Theare Group, Court Theatre (Chicago), Geffen Playhouse, Goodman Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, McCarter Theatre, New York Stage and Film, Old Globe Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Signature Theatre (Arlington, Virginia), Trinity Rep, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Yale Repertory Theatre.[5]
As set designer, Hilferty's work has been seen all over the world. In addition to her collaborations with Fugard, she has frequently designed sets and costumes for director and playwright Richard Nelson including premiere productions of his The Apple Family Plays: Scenes From an American Life, The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of one Family, and Illyria, all at The Public Theater. Her work with writer and director Yaël Farber includes Hamlet at the Gate Theatre in Dublin and St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, Salomé at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. and Royal National Theatre in London and Blood Wedding at the Young Vic in London.[6]
Her costume design for
Hilferty teaches design at
She currently lives in New York City.[2]
Productions
Broadway
- A Lesson From Aloes - 1980
- Blood Knot - 1985
- Coastal Disturbances - 1987
- The Comedy of Errors - 1987
- How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - 1995
- The Night of the Iguana - 1996
- Sex and Longing" - 1996
- "dirty BLONDE" - 2000
- Into the Woods - 2002 *Nominee Tony Award for Best Costume Design, Nominee Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design
- Wicked - 2003 *Winner Tony Award for Best Costume Design, Winner Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design
- Assassins - 2004
- The Good Body - 2004
- Lestat - 2006 *Nominee Tony Award for Best Costume Design
- Spring Awakening - 2006 *Nominee Tony Award for Best Costume Design
- Radio Golf - 2007
- Sondheim on Sondheim - 2010
- Wonderland - 2011
- The Road to Mecca - 2012
- Lewis Black: Running on Empty - 2012
- Annie - 2012
- Hands on a Hardbody - 2013
- Black to the Future - Visual Consultant - 2016
- Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Play, Nominee Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design of a Play
- Funny Girl - 2022 *Nominee Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical
- Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Musical[10]
Off Broadway
- The Flats - 1975
- Juno and the Paycock - 1975
- Emma! - 1976
- Six Characters in Search of an Author - 1981
- John - 1976
- Jack Fallon, Fare Thee Well - 1976
- My Sister in this House - 1981
- Glass House - 1981
- Jungle of Cities - 1981
- Paper Angels - 1982
- Skirmishes- 1982
- All Night Long - 1984
- Mensch Meier - 1984
- Sister and Miss Lexie - 1985
- Cheapside - 1986
- A Soldier's Tale - 1986
- The Road to Mecca - 1988
- O+ - 1988
- Approaching Zanzibar - 1989
- My Children! My Africa!- 1989
- Ubu - 1989
- What a Man Weighs - 1990
- Boesman and Lena - 1992
- One Shoe off - 1993
- Playland - 1993
- Iphegenia and Other Daughters - 1995
- Arts and Leisure - 1996
- Valley Song - 1996
- The Devils - 1997
- The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told - 1998
- Chesapeake - 1999
- Goodnight Children Everywhere - 1999
- The Captain's Tiger - 1999
- Songs and Stories from Moby Dick - 1999
- Jitney - 2000
- dirty BLONDE - 2000
- A Skull in Connemara- 2001
- Crimes of the Heart - 2001
- In the Penal Colony - 2001
- Necessary Targets - 2002
- Sorrows and Rejoicings - 2002
- Franny's Way - 2002
- Helen - 2002
- The General From America - 2003
- My Life With Albertine- 2003
- Rodney's Wife - 2004
- Madame Melville - 2005
- Fran's Bed - 2005
- Frank's Home - 2006
- Spring Awakening - 2006
- The Marriage of Bette and Boo - 2008
- Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? - 2008
- Conversations in Tusculum - 2008
- The Retributionists - 2009
- Our House - 2009
- The Book of Grace - 2010
- That Hopey Changey Thing - 2010
- In the Wake - 2010
- 4play - 2010
- Compulsion - 2010
- Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus: Fully Charged - 2011
- Sweet and Sad - 2011
- The Illusion - 2011
- Sorry - 2012
- If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet - 2012
- The Train Driver - 2012
- Blood Knot - 2012
- The Broken Heart - 2012
- Three Kinds of Exile - 2013
- Neva - 2013
- Jackie - 2013
- Regular Singing - 2013
- Sticks and Bones - 2014
- Stage Kiss - 2014
- King Lear - Theatre for a New Audience - 2014
- Posterity - 2015
- New York Shakespeare Festival- 2014
- The Spoils - 2015
- The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek - 2015
- Hungry (The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family Play One) - 2016
- Buried Child - 2016
- Familiar - 2016
- Turn Me Loose - 2016
- The Father - 2016
- A Doll's House - 2016
- What Did You Expect? (The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family Play Two) - 2016
- Women of a Certain Age (The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family Play Three) - 2016 *
- Love, Love, Love - 2016
- "Master Harold"...and the Boys - 2016
- Chita: Nowadays - 2016
- How to Transcend a Happy Marriage - 2017
- Illyria - 2017
- An Ordinary Muslim - 2017
- Fire in Dreamland - 2018
- Uncle Vanya - 2018 (Co-design with Mark Koss
- Boesman and Lena - 2019
- The Michaels - 2019 (Co-design with Mark Koss)
- A Bright Room Called Day - 2019 (Co-design with Sarita Fellows)
- Hamlet - 2020
- What Happened? The Michaels Abroad - 2021
- Parade - 2022
- Waiting For Godot - 2023[11]
References
- ^ a b c Yackel, Christine. "A Cut Above".
- ^ a b c d Monroe, Colleen. "Episode 19 - Susan Hilferty". Archived from the original on 2014-12-23.
- ^ a b "Susan Hilferty". Playbill.
- ^ "Susan Hilferty Costume Designer". www.susanhilferty.com.
- ^ "Susan Hilferty - Portfolio - COSTUME DESIGN REGIONAL". Archived from the original on 2014-12-09.
- ^ "Susan Hilferty - Portfolio - Set Design".
- ^ "Susan Hilferty - Portfolio Costume Design for Opera".
- ^ "Susan Hilferty Arts Professor".
- ^ Jannuzzi, Kristine. "Alumni".
- ^ "The Tony Award Nominees - Artists - Susan Hilferty". TonyAwards.com.
- ^ "Portfolio – Susan Hilferty".
External links
- Susan Hilferty at the Internet Broadway Database
- Susan Hilferty at IMDb