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Show 1 V- v y" ; Brent Matthews and Erick Melton shed their 20th Century duds in i ! exchange for Elizabethan attire befitting Antonio and Bassanio in t I I "The Merchant of Venice." I nfHKW, o I Hi. CS -v. , . , ; -y,.., I photos by Nan Chalal J m m1 if ' I ' 1 !i A 1 VI f f F ' ( . pi)aii 1 r kJ ',',''.' 'f "$ ' '' I Macbeth finally attains the imperial robes but, says Linwood Thompson who will portray the crazed monarch this weekend, we -all -know what - happened then. Ruth Ann Roberts has helped to set the stage i ; for this summer's Shakespeare Festival by designing original costumes for "Macbeth," 1 - r-"A-Yon-fclke-It and' "The Merchant of - - ; Venice." After weeks of research Roberts closes the design books, sets aside the script and starts sketching. This is her original design -for Lady Macbeth whom she-dubs, together with Macbeth, "the ultimate Yuppies." Ruth Ann Roberts returns us to the days of Lord and Lady Macbeth l by NAN CHALAT , i ' Record staff writer i dlF Ruth Ann Roberts has "Idone her job well, you I won't even notice the -. costumes it has taken her weeks to ; design and sew. , "It is the costume designer's job i to enhance the character, not to show , i off the skills of the costume maker," ' she said. i "When the audience doesn't K ' notice the costumes except to say ; ? 'that is the way it should be,' then I 4 have done my job well." ) Roberts has taken on the I formidable task of creating the i I costumes for this season's Park City Shakespeare Festival. There are ; " three productions "Macbeth," "The Merchant of Venice" and "As .' You Like It." All of them open this j weekend, and Roberts has buried r , is all hand-dyed cheesecloth. I thought they should look like owls," she said. Roberts earned a master's degree in theatrical costume design from Brigham Young University and claims she has wanted to be a costume designer since she was eight years old. But she recently took a year off from the field to try her hand at bridal designs. "I was getting burned out on the theater and I wanted to try running my own business." Although she said the business was successful, she added, "It stifled my creativity, so I decided to give costuming one last try. "It takes long hours of hard work, but when you see it on stage it is rewarding," Roberts said of her craft. In addition to her career as a freelance costume designer, Roberts is also a genealogist. herself in an Edelweiss condominium condo-minium under piles of fabric, costume jewelry, measuring tapes and stage directions in the rush to finish. "The actors are in rehearsal nine hours a day. I have to catch them on the fly to take measurements," she said. In addition to authenticity, Roberts Rob-erts said she also worries whether actors will be comfortable in the costumes she creates. "They have to be able to act, to do the moves they have been blocked to do. I want them to be at ease," she said. Roberts said she begins a new costuming assignment "by reading the play very thoroughly." Second, she said, she writes down her general perceptions about the characters and the time period. The next step is to pick the play apart for any changes in the time of day or locale and any references to a character's dress or props. "In this I always try to work closely with the director," she said. Then Roberts immerses herself in research. She has several reference books which feature period clothing from medieval to modem days, from battle dress to evening gowns. "Then I close the books and start sketching," she said. For her rendition of "Macbeth," Roberts has borrowed from the Byzantines and the barbarians. "It is a matter of creating the illusion of a time between 800 and 1100 A.D.," she said. Costumes for "The Merchant of Venice" will be Elizabethan. For "As You Like It" she has emphasized a folkloric style. "I like to use a lot of symbolism in color and texture. I dress strong masculine characters in blue or brown and feminine ones in pinks and pastels." Roberts said she took special care in creating a crown for Macbeth "so gorgeous he would do anything to obtain it." Her costumes for Lady Macbeth are "a reflection of what he wears." Roberts is also excited about the costumes she has designed for the three witches to wear as they stir their cauldron of toil and trouble. "It |