Interview with Shelby Thibodeau 

By: Austin Phillips

 

          Shelby Thibodeau is quite the lady of the month when it comes to the spring production of The Tempest. Not only does Shelby have a role in the play, but she also is the brains behind the construction of several props, costume pieces, and special effects makeup designs for the show. In other words, Ms. Thibodeau is a triple threat. I sat down with her to talk about her involvement with this play.

 

A-So Shelby, can you tell me what your role(s) in the upcoming Tempest show are? I have heard you are doing some prop/fabrication work along with an acting role?

S-My acting role is that of one of the three Goddesses that come sing to Ferdinand and Miranda to bless their marriage. I also sing two other songs towards the beginning of the play with Meg Scully and Kassidy Giggey who are also goddesses. My other large role is as one of the main makeup designers. I am designing and applying the makeup for the character Caliban, Trinculo, and the three goddesses. Caliban's is especially hard because he is a 'half-man, half-fish', his makeup also needs to cover his entire body because his costume is only a loin cloth type deal.

 

A-How did you get involved doing this side project for the show?

S-I had expressed interest in makeup for the show to Jayne during auditions, and she originally just had me working with Caliban, but now I get to work with the goddesses and Trinculo as well! Also I am in the Costume Design class, and we have been working exclusively on the Tempest for a while, I've gotten to work a lot with costumes and props through that as well.

 

A-Were you nervous taking on this project, or was it more excitement?

S-It was very exciting until I learned what Jayne originally wanted for Caliban's feet. They were going to involve mold making and essentially making him a pair of weird Hobbit feet. We have since discovered that the idea isn't going to work for the actor, so we have changed it a bit.

 

A-Tell us a little bit more about this project? How did you do your research? Background on the character?

S-At first I did a lot of research, I made idea pages with textures and mythical creature influences and exactly what was said about and by Caliban in the script to give me clues about what I should do. As it turned out, Jayne already had an idea of what she wanted to do, so I had to change my design a lot, but that's the way it goes in the business!

 

A-Is this something totally new to you as far as materials, ideas? If not, how so?

S-It isn't entirely new, since I started theatre in high school I've been doing my own makeup which included aging a lot. I also learned how to use latex and such last year in a STUMF workshop. What I've found that has really helped my is the internet! I have an entire Pinterest page dedicated to the Tempest haha! That's how I get a lot of my ideas because I haven't done makeup like this before.

 

A-Is this project a step into the direction of what you want to be doing post school?

S-I still am not entirely sure what I want to do after UMF, but I know that I enjoy so many aspects of theatre that I want to immerse myself in as many technical aspects as possible. When I enter the professional field, I want to be able to do everything so that there will always be jobs available!

 

A-What problems are you facing while working on this? Time management? Design?

S-Time management is a difficult one, that's for sure. Along with work for this I also have schoolwork and other projects I'm working on. Design was a worry a while ago, but that has all worked itself out. I've been really fortunate to be able to experiment with materials way ahead of time, that way I will know exactly what I'm doing during tech and won’t waste any time. At first budget was also a problem, thats one of the reasons why we nixed the feet idea, the materials to make molds would have been too expensive.

 

I think I speak for everyone when I say that I’m very much looking forward to seeing Shelby’s personal touches in the show. Don’t miss UMF’s production of The Tempest premiering March 13th at 7:30 pm.