Over fifty ferociously imaginative emerging artists are working together to bring our world premiere of Folk Wandering roaring into reality. In advance of our first performance on February 23, we’ll be sharing interviews with each of these artists. These conversations will bring you inside this show’s very unique process of creation, and bring you a bit closer to this brilliant and wild group of emerging artists. Today, we are pleased to bring you a spotlight on our miraculous costume designer, Heather McDevitt Barton.
Read the full interview below and get your tickets to performances February 23 – March 18 today!
Pipeline Theatre Company: What first attracted you to Folk Wandering?
Heather McDevitt Barton: I had never had the pleasure of seeing, reading, or hearing Folk Wandering before. I’ve heard countless folks (hehe) talk about it. How magical it is. How big it is. How inspiring it is. But it still held this sort of mystery around it. When Pipeline announced they were producing it, I immediately reached out to Neisler and was like “Hey. I wanna know about this story.” And then I got a chance to read about it and I was like “Oh sheesh. I see what they all meant.”
PTC: What aspect of the Folk Wandering story do you most relate to?
HMB: The idea that we are always looking to the past and idealizing it. Anytime I hit a hard patch in my life, I look back and think, “Everything was so much better when…” But if I really look back and remember how I felt in any given moment, it’s never wholly perfect and it’s most certainly never without pain.
PTC: If you were to write a tagline for Folk Wandering, what would it be?
HMB: Bygones be bygones.
PTC: What big dreams have you been chasing recently (or would you like to chase)?
HMB: In the last year I’ve gone entirely freelance. It’s terrifying. It’s humbling and it’s insanely exhausting. I am starting this blog about the specific process of costumes and designing clothes. To say that I’m trying to start a blog sounds trite, but there are so many blogs and media outlets out there about lifestyle and fashion and travel. There aren’t too many about the creative process of creating theatre. Maybe folks aren’t interested in it, maybe no one has had the time to do it (I know I’m currently struggling to find it), but I have a feeling if folks could see the day to day life of a freelance costume designer (or a freelance producer or director—-to see what strangely and ultimately inspires them)…it’s something worth writing about.
PTC: What first attracted you to costume design?
HMB: I love lines and shapes and I love manipulating them. Since I was young, I have always loved telling stories (even if it was dumb lies when I was a kid—-and oh there’s many-a tales behind that). For a brief time, I thought I wanted to be a biologist, and then a playwright. I wanted to explain life and stories. When I found costuming, I immediately knew, “Oh god. This is how you tell stories with shapes.” I haven’t really looked back.
PTC: Two truths and a lie, go:
HMB: Comic Con is my favorite time of year. I’m obsessed with dinosaurs. Lion King is my favorite film of all time.
Folk Wandering begins preview performances on February 23, opens on March 4, and runs through March 18. Tickets are now available to all performances. Get your tickets today!
