JESSI STIER [JS]
Can you tell us a bit about your theatrical journey? What got you started, and what are some of your favorite moments from your career?
JESS GOLDSTEIN [JG]
I never really thought about being a costume designer when I was a kid because it seemed like this very flamboyant and exotic career. I think I grew up in too much of a middle-class background to even imagine I could do something like that. I went to college at Boston University, starting as an Art major, and then discovered that they had a Theater Design major. When I discovered that you could major in something like that in college, it made the idea of it as a career more accessible and more possible. I immediately switched to the theater school and became a design major, and got particularly interested in costume design there. That’s what started it for me. It was the first time in my life in terms of school that I felt I was doing something that I really loved and enjoyed. I grew up in New Jersey, right outside of New York, and as a kid, started going to see Broadway shows. I was always very inspired by it and loved the theater, but never wanted to be an actor. Again, I really didn’t think I could do something like design. Once I realized I could do it in college, I was encouraged to make a career of it. After a few years, I enrolled at the Yale School of Drama as a Design major and
continued my education there. I graduated in 1978 with this incredible education from Yale, and then moved to New York […where I] started designing in New York at regional theaters. I pretty quickly made a career in regional theater and off-Broadway. After three years in New York, I designed my first two Broadway shows…and then just continued to work. I started teaching costume design at Rutgers in 1982, and then came back to Yale in 1990 and started teaching costume design there for about 30 years. I just retired from that about five years ago, and that’s where I am now.
[JS]
Tell us about your process as a designer. How did you approach the costumes for Dial M for Murder?
[JG]
It’s a fun show to design because I was always aware of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, even though this is a new version that changes a lot about it considerably. It still has the title Dial M for Murder, which I think intrigues a lot of people who have never seen it… It’s a title that encourages you to do something fun and glamorous with it as a designer, because it’s set in the ’50s. I think audiences are coming to it without necessarily knowing the story that well, but they might know that it starred Grace Kelly who was a very glamorous movie star in the 1950s. So, the show allows you as the designer to do something a little more glamorous version of the 1950s. [Dial M for Murder Director,] Jenn Thompson also said something to me that got me going with it, which was that all five characters are not quite who they pretend to be. Everyone is living a lie a little bit. It allows you as a designer to do something little bit more exaggerated with the clothes. That’s how I try to approach the costumes; not just ordinary clothes from the period, but something a little bit more hyper real, more fun, more colorful, wealthier than you might think these characters might be.
[JS]
What are you most excited for audiences to see in the production or in the costumes?
[JG]
I hope that they see the 1950s in a more stylized version of the period. It looks like a place where you’d want to be. It’s You’re looking at characters that you’d want to know and find more engaging by the way they dress. The two women wear very beautiful clothes. The men are more enhanced in these handsome suits from the period, hopefully making the characters more intriguing and engaging. I think the script says the play is set in the early 1950s. We’ve pushed it just a little bit more towards the
later ’50s, like around 1957-58. As the decade went on, the clothes were less stodgy, and became more youthful.
[JS]
What have you enjoyed most about working with this team at Two River?
[JG]
I’ve done a couple of shows at Two River before, and I’ve seen many shows here because I live in Asbury Park. I’ve always been a long supporter of Two River. I also love the costume shop, and [Two River Theater Costume Shop Supervisor] Leslie Sorenson. She’s wonderful, very supportive, and just fun to work with. I also love the performance space. I find it a very comfortable space to watch a show. There’s not a bad seat in the house. I’m very happy that Justin Waldman is now running the theater, who is a friend of mine. [Dial M for Murder Scenic Designer] Wilson Chin was my student at Yale. I’ve known him since he was a kid, and I’ve seen his work grow so much. He’s incredibly talented, and so I’m very happy to be collaborating with him. [Dial M for Murder Lighting Designer] Philip Rosenberg is somebody I’ve worked with before and love working with as well. I haven’t worked with Jenn Thompson before, but I’ve been aware of her as a director, and I’ve seen things that she’s done elsewhere that I’ve very much admired. It’s just a great team of people to be working with.
[JS]
Dial M for murder was one of the most produced plays of the 24-25 American Theater season. Why do you think this story is so compelling right now?
[JG]
It’s great escapist entertainment where you can leave your cares and your concerns at home. It takes everyone’s minds off of the real world in the best way. It lets you escape into this other world in the past where characters have these terrible problems that get resolved in two hours, which is always fun. Additionally, part of my research was looking at other pictures from productions that have been done across America just to see how the play has been done before. Some of the ideas I’ve liked, and some I’ve changed. It’s been interesting to research the other ways it’s been designed. Of course, I had a look at the Hitchcock movie…Grace Kelly wears this gorgeous red dress in the movie that I was very influenced by. I think there might be a lot of audience members coming to see our production that have seen the film, so I wanted to pay homage to the dress by creating a red dress for the female lead in our production.
[JS]
Is there anything else you’d like to share or add?
[JG]
I know we’re going to be using some of my sketches in the program to illustrate these ideas. It’s always interesting as a costume designer because I sketch things out, but then as I begin working with the actors and we begin fitting, I adjust the designs to fit what they bring to the part, and what they look like – their proportions and coloring, for example. In the end, what gets on stage may not resemble exactly what the sketches originally looked like. Hopefully, people will find that interesting, and not too puzzling, if things change. But, they may not change at all. We’ll see what happens.