JULI BOUNDS SHOP MANAGER FIRST HAND
Summary
TLDRIn this Utah Shakespeare Festival interview, Julie, a shop manager and first hand at Dickinson College, shares her theater journey. Starting in costume shops during college, she now manages student workers, teaches costuming, and collaborates on productions. Julie discusses her roles, from managing schedules and paperwork to hands-on sewing and fittings. She highlights the joy of working with talented teams and the high standards of craftsmanship in theater, emphasizing the importance of life skills like sewing and the creative outlet it provides for students.
Takeaways
- 🎭 Julie is a first hand and shop manager at the Utah Shakespeare Festival and Dickinson College, where she manages costume shops and student workers.
- 👗 Julie's theater career began in college, working in the costume shop at the University of Pittsburgh, and she continued to develop her skills at Dickinson College.
- 📚 She has a supportive faculty member at Dickinson who created a position for her, allowing her to contribute to the theater department with her expertise.
- 🧵 Julie teaches costuming skills to student workers and also instructs an introductory sewing class, highlighting her role as an educator in addition to a manager.
- 📋 As a shop manager, Julie is responsible for organizational tasks such as scheduling, hiring paperwork, and managing dressing paperwork for the designer.
- 👗 She also assists in fittings, taking notes, and assigning tasks to stitchers and workers, showcasing her hands-on involvement in the costume creation process.
- 📏 At the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Julie's role as a first hand involves cutting out fabric according to patterns made by a draper and working closely with stitchers.
- 🎨 The festival operates at a high standard, which allows Julie to focus on the quality of her sewing and finishing work, different from her role at Dickinson.
- 🤝 Julie values the collaborative environment at the festival, mentioning the importance of teamwork with other departments like props for creating costumes.
- 🌟 She has worked at other companies, such as the Berkshire Theatre Group and the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, gaining diverse experience in theater and ballet production.
- 🏞️ The setting of the Utah Shakespeare Festival and the talented people she works with are the main reasons Julie returns each year, emphasizing the value of the experience.
Q & A
What is Julie's role at the Utah Shakespeare Festival?
-Julie is a first hand at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, responsible for cutting out all the fabric, marking it, and working with stitchers to instruct them on how things go together.
What does Julie's job as a shop manager at Dickinson College involve?
-As a shop manager at Dickinson College, Julie is in charge of scheduling student workers, handling hiring paperwork, managing dressing paperwork, and assigning tasks to stitchers and workers. She also teaches costuming skills and an intro to theater technology sewing class.
How did Julie's theater career begin?
-Julie's theater career started in college where she worked in the costume shop at the University of Pittsburgh for all four years. She was then hired at Dickinson College in an overhire position, eventually becoming a shop manager.
What is the significance of having a supportive faculty member at Dickinson College for Julie?
-A supportive faculty member at Dickinson College helped create a position for Julie, allowing her to have a role where she could advocate for the positions needed in the theater department.
How many student workers does Julie manage at Dickinson College?
-Julie manages between eight and ten student workers at Dickinson College who are interested in sewing and costuming.
What is unique about the student workers that Julie works with at Dickinson College?
-The student workers Julie works with are not all theater students but come from various majors, with a common interest in sewing and costuming, providing them a creative outlet outside their primary studies.
What is the difference between Julie's role as a first hand at the Utah Shakespeare Festival compared to her role at Dickinson College?
-At the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Julie is more focused on the technical aspects of sewing and working with a high standard of finishing work, whereas at Dickinson College, she has a broader role including management and teaching.
Why does Julie continue to return to the Utah Shakespeare Festival?
-Julie returns to the Utah Shakespeare Festival due to the love for the setting, the opportunity to work in a different environment than Pennsylvania, and most importantly, the talented people and friends she has made over the years.
What is the process of collaboration with the props team like for Julie at the Utah Shakespeare Festival?
-Julie's collaboration with the props team involves receiving instructions for what is needed for the show, such as creating a dummy robe for a dead body dummy, but she does not work closely with them; the designer and the shop manager handle most of the communication.
How does Julie's experience at the Utah Shakespeare Festival differ from her experience at other theaters?
-At the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Julie works with drapers' patterns and does not use commercial patterns, unlike at Dickinson College where commercial patterns are commonly used. The festival also operates at a high standard, which allows her to focus on quality sewing and finishing work.
What other companies has Julie worked for in the past?
-Julie has worked at the Berkshire Theatre Group in Massachusetts as a first hand stitcher and briefly at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, contributing to their elaborate ballet productions.
Outlines
🎭 Journey to Theater and Shop Management at Dickinson College
Julie, a firsthand at the Utah Shakespeare Festival and shop manager at Dickinson College, shares her theater journey. Starting in college at the University of Pittsburgh's costume shop, she later became an overhire at Dickinson, eventually taking on a supportive role in the theater department. As a manager, she oversees student workers, manages schedules, and teaches costuming skills. Additionally, she has begun teaching an introductory sewing class, emphasizing the importance of sewing as a life skill.
📚 Shop Management and Collaborations at Utah Shakespeare Festival
In this paragraph, Julie discusses her role as a firsthand at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, which involves cutting out fabric, assisting stitchers, and taking notes during fittings. She highlights the high standards of the festival and the precision required in costume making, contrasting it with the use of commercial patterns at Dickinson College. Julie also shares an experience of collaborating with the props team to create a dummy robe for a show, showcasing the diverse skills needed in theater production.
🌟 Experiences at Other Theaters and Returning to Utah Shakes
Julie recounts her experiences working at the Berkshire Theater Group in Massachusetts and the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, emphasizing the variety of productions and designers she encountered. She expresses her fondness for returning to the Utah Shakespeare Festival, attributing it to the unique setting, the opportunity to work in a different environment, and most importantly, the talented and supportive community she has come to know over the years.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Utah Shakespeare Festival
💡first hand
💡shop manager
💡costume design
💡Dickinson College
💡student workers
💡theater technology
💡management skills
💡commercial patterns
💡drapers
💡collaboration
Highlights
Julie's journey in theater began in college, working in the costume shop at the University of Pittsburgh.
She was hired at Dickinson College as an overhire position, eventually becoming a shop manager.
Julie manages between eight and ten student workers at Dickinson, teaching them costuming skills.
She also teaches an introductory sewing portion of a theater technology class at Dickinson.
Julie's role as a shop manager involves significant organizational skills, including scheduling and paperwork.
At the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Julie serves as a first hand, working closely with the draper and stitchers.
Her responsibilities include cutting out fabric, marking patterns, and assisting in fittings.
Julie appreciates the high standard of work at the festival, allowing her to focus on quality sewing and finishing.
Dickinson College uses commercial patterns for costuming, unlike the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
The festival creates patterns from scratch, ensuring precision and fit for actors.
Julie's first hand role involves being the primary fabric handler and pattern cutter.
She has also collaborated with the props team to create costumes for non-actor characters.
Julie has worked at the Berkshire Theatre Group in Massachusetts, gaining experience as a first hand stitcher.
Her brief experience at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet introduced her to the world of ballet costuming.
The Utah Shakespeare Festival's setting and the talented people she works with keep Julie coming back each year.
Julie's passion for theater and creativity is evident in her work and her commitment to the festival.
Transcripts
hello students and welcome back to the
Utah Shakespeare Festival today we are
going to be talking with Julie Julie is
one of our first hands at the Utah
Shakespeare Festival Julie why don't you
tell us about your journey in theater
where you started and how you ended up
here at the Utah Shakespeare Festival
great hi um like Rosa said I'm Julie I'm
a firsthand here and I'm also a shop
manager at Dickinson College um a small
liberal arts school School in
Pennsylvania um my
theater career started mostly in college
I started working in the costume shop um
at the University of Pittsburgh and I
worked there all four years of college
um and then I was lucky enough to be
hired at Dickinson as an overhire
position um for a couple years um
working as sort of a shop manager
Stitcher
firsthand
whatever was needed um and then I was
lucky enough to have a supportive
faculty member
who made a position for me at Dickinson
which is great um to have someone who
can advocate for the positions that are
needed in a theater Department um so I'm
a shop manager there now and we have
between eight and 10 student workers who
work with us um who who are all sort of
students at Dickinson they're not all
theater students but they're all
interested in sewing and costuming um so
I work with them and teach them sort of
costuming skills that they need and I
have recently started teaching our intro
to theater technology sewing portion of
um the class so I teach intro sewing
skills to a class of about 15 people and
every fall semester so that is sort of a
very basic overview of what I do at
Dickinson so I think I brought you on
this one um I specifically said about
shop management so at Dickinson um we've
talked with a lot of costume designers
we've talked with some Drapers tell us
exactly what you do as shop manager like
how much management skills go into yeah
yeah it's definitely a lot of
organizational skills which I think I'm
pretty good at um I have have to
schedule all of our student workers so
at the beginning of the semester they
send me their schedule and availability
and I schedule them I'm in charge of
like doing all the hiring paperwork um
I do a lot of that kind of stuff I'm
also mostly do the sort of dressing
paperwork cuz we don't have a wardrobe
manager position in a way that can get
that done so I do a lot of the paperwork
for our designer um we have a resident
faculty designer who designs basically
all of our shows um unless she's like on
sabatical
or has a load that doesn't support a
show so we sometimes do hire in um
designers that I'll sort of help through
the process of like what we can do and
how we work in our shop um I am also in
most of the fittings taking notes um so
I do all of that kind of
management um I also am like assigning
the our stitchers and workers sort of
what they're going to be working
on um and I do also just like cut and
sew things also we don't have a draper
position so we're such a small shop and
a small program that we don't have sort
of the time or the skill the expertise
so we mostly work with commercial
patterns that we alter and you know do
what we need with um but it's you know
sort of enough for what we need um when
we're doing it so this is a theater
appreciation class so we have students
from all over the campus who aren't
necessarily theater Majors you said that
some of your student workers aren't
necessarily theater Majors do you get
fashion design or where are these yeah
so we are a since we're just a very
small school we we don't have a fashion
program at all we have um a visual arts
major that some of our students come
from who are just sort of interested in
the skill of sewing but we also have a
lot of um just like I'm a biology major
but my grandma taught me to sew and I
really like sewing so can I come work
for you um so we have a lot of students
who are sort of just like the aspect of
sewing and want to get involved in that
way and it's a nice way to have a
creative Outlet especially if you're
doing sort of very scientific or
like read a lot of reading or whatever
it's a good um break for some students
to get use their hands and do something
creative that's great yeah I think um
sewing is one of those life skills that
people forget about and I've I've told
my students when they take sewing
classes there are popups all over New
York and Chicago where you'll pay 20
bucks to come into a bar and learn for
an hour how to sew a button yeah and
here you do you just offer those
things yeah you're just honing life
skills left and right um tell me a
little bit about your job as a firsthand
here at Utah Shakespeare Festival and
how that differs from being an actual
shop manager
you're yeah it's I was lucky to get
connected with Jeff 7 years ago so I've
been here um 7 years and I've always
been a firsthand here here which is sort
of interesting that I haven't really
seen been in other positions but I
really like being a firstand um I am in
charge of cutting out all of the fabric
so we have a draper who makes the
patterns and then I um will Mark all the
fabric and cut it all out and then I'll
help work with the stitchers to instruct
them on sort of how things go together
um I also am in fittings so similar to
my shop maner management role um at
Dickinson I take a lot of notes for
fittings and make sure I assign you know
who's doing what alterations and things
um so I keep organized with
that um I do like that I'm not the
person in charge when I'm the firsthand
I it's a little more like I just get to
do the sewing work that I really like um
so it's just a different thing I think
also I love working here at the festival
because we're just working at such a
high standard that it's um really like
fun to really just be sewing really well
and like the finishing work we do is
beautiful and just getting to do all
that fun sewing stuff that I don't
always get to do at Dickinson now you
said at Dickinson you guys use a lot of
commercial patterns which I know a lot
of universities do use commer commercial
patterns do you use a lot of commercial
patterns here at UT no we don't yeah we
I think did use one commercial pattern
this year to make a dummy
robe that wasn't even going on an actor
um but pretty much here unless it's
something super simple and easy we'll
have a draper make every pattern so
everything we made and everything pretty
much I've ever made here has been from a
Drapers pattern okay
and and we've talked with Drapers so we
know that the Draper actually drapes
fabric onto a form that's been built up
to the actor's size so they get precise
finny um tell me a little bit
about the idea of collaborating with
like props to make these dummy CS you
were like it's not even for yeah yeah we
I this was maybe my first time having to
do something like that so we have in our
show um a dead body dummy that has to be
dressed the same way as um the actor so
we had to make a completely second robe
um and figure out the clothes that were
going to be on the dummy and I didn't
actually work too close to the props I
think our designer mostly did the
communication and Sarah our shop manager
here um was communicating with our props
team but we did sort of get the
instructions that that was what was
needed for the show so um they call you
a firstand what does that actually
entail like is that are you the first
one to touch the Fabrics in like what
what do you do yeah I guess what does
that indicate when when they say here's
our first hand that's like such a good
question which is like maybe a history I
don't totally know um but yeah I mean
basically so yeah the Draper makes the
pattern and then it's handed off to me
um so I guess I'm like the assistant to
the Draper the firstand to the Draper I
don't really know um but yeah I
definitely am in charge of all of the
fabric and marking the fabric with all
the patterns and cutting and sort of
keeping track of the real Fabric and
also mockups and if we do alterations
and stuff I'll pretty much touch every
garment yeah that is quite amazing
thanks yeah if there's a piece missing
guess who's follow yeah you got to you
have to be organized definitely
definitely um tell me have you worked at
other companies other than Utah
shakespare Festival Where Have You Been
yeah so I um have worked at the
Burkshire theater group in Massachusetts
um I worked there for two years as sort
of a firsthand Stitcher um position it's
a much smaller shop so I was more like
doing everything um but that was you
know a fun place to be they do a lot of
really great Productions um and have a
lot of great designers coming up from
New York you get to work with so that
was fun I've also worked very briefly at
the central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet
which is a ballet school um in
Pennsylania that does pretty elaborate
ballet Productions so I've I've done a
little ballet yeah lovely um we know
that you're going to go back to your
school again tell us what keeps you
coming back to the Utah shakes yeah it's
definitely I love the setting of where
we are it's a it's a chance to sort of
get out of Pennsylvania and be somewhere
different but probably the most is the
people I get to work with I have really
great friends who I've made over the
years and everyone is super talented
everyone is like working at such a high
level that it's just really fun to get
to be here and and play and and be
creative and make things for theater and
I just I love theater and it's fun to be
here yeah well we are absolutely
delighted that you come back every year
and your talents are amazing Julie um
thank you so much for your time for your
education your Insight today oh amazing
thank you have a good day bye
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