Stage Makeup

I have been so very lucky to get to do something that I love, and have people pay me for it - I believe this is what is called a "Dream Job".  But there is a little part of my Dream Job, that I wish came up a little more often, and that's Stage Makeup. 

For those of you who do not know - I started in makeup in the Theatre program at U of C, where I got to turn my face into a Chinese Opera Mask, or become an old woman, give myself a beard, pour face molds and build latex prosthetics!  I loved it!  Stage Makeup, or Special FX were my favorite thing!!  My Prof used to hand out a different famous painting to each of us, an then ask us to duplicate it on our faces, which involved brush techniques, mixing proper colors and a steady hand.  I love a challenge, especially a makeup challenge, and I was thrilled when he would hand out these pictures!  You haven't lived until you've made your face into this:

Francis Bacon - My prof's favorite artist, and my challenge

One night my room mate had my car, and I was bored waiting for her to come home from work - so I started playing, and before I knew it - I had done this:

***In trying to find pictures for this Blog Post, I went to the U of C photographer's website, and actually found 20 year old Heather from one of the shows I worked on!  Look at how Cute I am!!***

In University there was a calling for stage makeup artist - each theatre production needed makeup artists to do anything from just helping the actors with basic stage makeup, to creating a complex character makeup look, so my talents were in high demand in University.  The play that was the most fun to work on, was an adaptation of Medea.  The Graduate student who was assigned to direct this show was known for her abstract shows, so they gave her the stuffiest old greek play they could - and she ran with it.  She did a slight re-write on the play, gave all her characters unique ridiculous costumes (one guy had a helmet with corn broom mohawk that stuck on with velcro):

and built a spectacle stage complete with large metal box center stage that held Medea:

and added in a dance and drum beats.  It was by far my favorite show in University, and I was so thrilled I got to work on it. 


One of my jobs in the show as running crew, was to help braid Andrews shoulder length hair each night, into 15-20 braids all over his head, as well as slick down Dereks Very curly hair so that when he removed his over sized top hat, his hair would not budge, as well as helping Dan make a hand print across his face, and other fun jobs:

 Now - does this look like a Greek tragedy?!?

Another show that was a blast for me to work on was The Last Sorcerer, where I got to transform a 19 year old into an old man!

Here's a closer look:

Man.  Looking through all these photo's, I really miss Stage Makeup.  There's not much call for it in Boudoir Shoots, and Weddings these days - but luckily, Halloween is coming up!!  And if there is any time where I can really stretch my Stage Makeup Muscle, it's Halloween!!   And Luckily, Ben likes to take advantage of the skill too, and always strives for unique makeup heavy costumes.  Last year, he was a broken statue:

And this year, we are doing a couple's costume - Ben will be the big man himself:

And I will be going as his partner in crime (and puns):

I'm so excited!! It's been a year since I got out my Stage Makeup kit, and I'm itching to play!!