“A great start to the end” – Academy Blog by Alexandra Lord
I can’t believe that my time in the Academy is half-way through! I am starting this second and final year working on a range of different productions in a wide variety of ways. I am just finishing off assisting Dana Osborne on her costume design for Morris Panych and Brenda Robins’ Picture This and am about to start assisting Astrid Janson on her set design for Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance, directed by Diana Leblanc. It is such an honour to witness these two designers in the mastery of their crafts as well as the sheer joy they bring to their work every day. I aspire to be so inspired as I progress through the different stages of my own career.
Costumes for Picture This, designed by Dana Osborne.
I have also just submitted my final costume designs for Edward Albee’s The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?, directed by Alan Dilworth, with the set designed by Lorenzo Savoini. It has already been an incredible learning experience to work alongside these two artists who I first encountered as teachers and am now developing a collaborative relationship with as co-creators. I can’t wait to get in the rehearsal hall with both of them and our actors.
Dana Osborne and Jeff Hughes in Soulpepper’s costume shop.
I am also looking forward to our upcoming Academy masterclass with world-renowned Canadian-born designer Michael Levine. His set designs for opera and theatre, particularly his collaborations with Complicite in England, have inspired me for quite some time. I can’t wait to learn more about his creative process, which I know has inspired much of the design work at Soulpepper through how Lorenzo, as the Young Family Director of Design, works and the manner in which he has taught us in the Academy to approach design. So far this has been a great start to the end of my time here and I am looking forward to what follows.