The Rural We: Arthur Oliver
The renowned costume designer explains how he got his start, and why he loves the Berkshires.
Arthur Oliver is used to dressing people up. For over 30 years, the Alabama-born, Lenox, Mass.–based costume designer has clothed some of the finest, including Olympia Dukakis, Karen Allen, and Grammy winner James Taylor. His work has spanned four continents and coast to coast in the U.S. If it weren’t for talent such as his, the show simply wouldn’t go on. Oliver proves that being your true self does indeed lead to success.
Growing up in a small rural Alabama town, I never fit in. I wasn’t like the other kids, where the norm was “grab a rifle, have a beer.” But there happened to be an Alabama Shakespeare Festival nearby. And when I first went to that festival, they recognized that I was this 16-year-old who was clearly out of place in my hometown. I felt a kinship with the artists and designers who were cutting costumes and making wigs.
I recall one day I was loafing around the festival office when Alan Armstrong, who is a costume design specialist, looked at me and asked — a bit sharply — “What do you want to do with your life?” I said I wanted to work in design. And he retorted, “Well, then get yourself out there and work!” And I did exactly what he said, I picked up a piece of fabric and started to work. He saw something in me and took me seriously as a person, and that affected how I saw myself. And that started my career. At age 16 I started interning there. I can’t imagine where I’d be without the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
At age 18, in 1989, I interned at Berkshire Theatre Festival. And in 1991 I started to work summers at Shakespeare & Company. Then I moved to the Berkshires full time in 2000, and worked with Shakespeare & Company until 2015.
Now I travel regionally, nationally, and internationally as an independent designer for theater, dance, film, and opera. I’ve just spent my tenth year with Moscow Ballet’s “Great Russian Nutcracker,” which is the largest touring production of “The Nutcracker” in North America. In addition, my design for international ballet star Svetlana Bednenko just debuted at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London.
It’s my job to design a costume that incorporates the director’s vision, helps the artist tell the story, and also functions well on the person. The costume contributes to the mindset of the performer. The first thing I do is discuss the project with the director and gain an understanding of the setting and time period… what was the world like during the time in which the production takes place? I read the script. Then I clean my desk, organize my pencils, and prep my paper by applying acrylic. A lot of costume rendering is done by computer, but I draw by hand with paper and pencil. I’ll put a piece of paper in front of me and draw a figure, and then I’ll start to get a feeling for the character and it comes through onto the paper. And then it takes many hands to bring to life what I’ve designed.
The Berkshires draws a certain type of artistic person; it’s a unique place. I’m lucky to live here. I love the Berkshires and the arts community here. I’ll live here until I die. I can’t see myself moving anywhere else. It’s got everything: it’s got the landscape, and the intellectual and cultural temperament of New York City. It feels like home. It’s a bit like living in a Norman Rockwell painting.
