HomeMy WebLinkAboutSetting The Stage, 1998-06-24, Page 45By Allison Lawlor
Cecile Belec: Wardrobe head also designed costumes for
Wilbur County Blues.
costumes they will use a lot of
natural fibres like cotton and
denim and good sturdy shoes.
Cecile has been designing for 15
years. She studied sculpture at
Emily Carr Art College in
Vancouver. After graduation, she
returned home to Toronto to make
props for a street theatre group
called Kensington Karnival.
At the time she became
interested in a street theatre group
Cecile Belec was born and
raised in the heart of
Toronto's small theatre
world. Despite her awards and
Dora nominations for costume
design, Cecile is happy to stay
where she is.
As head of wardrobe this season
at the Blyth Festival Cecile's first
job is to design the costumes for
Wilbur County Blues by Andrew
Moodie.
"We started with the word
'blues.' We used denim pants,
shirts, hockey shirts...But we
didn't want too much blue so we
brought in a little'green and red."
To someone not involved in
theatre or design talking about
colours in this way might sound
foreign, but Cecile explained that
in costume design she almost
always- starts with colours.
"Colour creates a profound
dramatic and emotional impact."
Cecile first reads the script of the
play she is working on and finds
colours to evoke the emotions in
the play.
"The first question we ask when
we are beginning a show, what's
the palate for the show?"
After the colours are chosen
Cecile moves to texture. In Wilbur
County Blues the setting is rural so
there is a lot of brick and wood in
the set design. Cecile said for the
Mike Wallace has stage managed 18 Blyth plays
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Mike Wallace: Blyth
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worked at Young People's Theatre
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He said knowing people from the
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"I run into people from Blyth all
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SETTING THE STAGE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 1998. PAGE 21.
Head of wardrobe knows the role of colour, texture
in Holland. The Canada Arts
Council gave her a grant to study
sculpture and earn her masters
degree in Amsterdam. In Holland,
she studied and travelled
throughout Europe with her stilts
for three seasons with a Dutch
street theatre company.
When working in sculpture,
Cecile said she always did
portraits. "In Amsterdam I was
getting closer to theatre but I didn't
know it. I was taking
characteristics of people I knew
and translating them into textures
and shapes."
When Cecile is working wii
costume and set design this
essentially what she does. St
takes the script of the play ar
translates the words into colour
shapes and textures.
In 1989, she returned to Toron
and has been working with ti
Tarragon Theatre, Theati
Columbus, Canadian Stage ar
others.
"As long as I'm working wit
my hands and there's a direct lir
between the textures I'm workir
with and the script, I'm happy."
By Allison Lawlor
S ince 1992, Mike Wallace has
been involved in 18 plays at
the Blyth Festival. —
This season he will be the stage
manager for Yesteryear by Joanna
McClelland Glass and Thirteen
Hands by Carol Shields.
Mike heard about the festival after
spending a summer at the theatre in
Grand Bend.
After graduating from Upper
Canada College, a boy's private
Matt Farrell: Technical
director (see story page 15)
Christine Oakey: assistant -
stage manager (see story
page 15)
school in Toronto, he didn't know
he would go on to study theatre.
In high school Mike was involved
in school musical productions,
working behind stage in
management and props.
"We put on these huge
productions where there would be
30 kids in them. Mostly because
they didn't have to be paid," said
Mike in a dead-pan, humorous way.
Mike left Toronto to study at The
University of King's College in
Halifax. He didn't know what he
wanted to study until his second
year when he started choosing his
courses and realized most of them
were in theatre and history.
After graduating with a general
arts degree he went on to complete
Dalhousie University's Technical
Theatre program.
Mike seems to like what he does
and can't see himself acting or
directing.
"One year I had to go on stage
when we had a sick actor. That
experience re-affirmed that I don't
want to be an actor."
"It's nice to come back for the
summer and see familiar faces," he
said. "And there are enough new
faces to make it different."
Before coming to Blyth earlier
this month he toured across Canada
for five months with Crows Theatre.
Mike has also toured the
Maritimes with Neptune Theatre,
Mermaid Theatre and Theatre New
Brunswick. In Toronto, he has
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