Berkeley Repertory Theatre Celebrates The Longevity Of Its Staff

Berkeley Repertory Theatre isn't only celebrating the success of its shows at home and on Broadway - the Tony Award-winning nonprofit is also celebrating the longevity of its staff. This season marks the 20th anniversary of Alameda resident Kitty Muntzel, who has been working in the costume shop since 1989! In addition to working on 150 shows over the years, one benefit of Kitty's tenure at Berkeley Rep was meeting her husband, Paul Feinberg, when he was a properties manager at the Theatre. The couple lives in Alameda, where Kitty is also active with East Bay Heritage Quilters making quilts for children in hospitals and homeless shelters.

"Kitty embodies the best of Berkeley Rep," remarks Susie Medak, the Theatre's managing director. "She is a master of her craft. She cares so deeply about the quality of her work. She thinks about the details and pays attention to comfort And she is a generous colleague. Designers and actors who come through our doors always rave about her."

When she left her native Bay Area in the early '80s, Kitty Muntzel was an artist and a teacher, with students ranging in age from kindergarten to the golden years. She landed in St. Paul and, while touring the Minnesota Opera, she heard the costume shop was looking for stitchers to help build costumes for Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel.

"I thought I'd give it a try," Kitty recalls. "As an artist, I had learned to sew working on fiber sculptures, and I had experience in taking something flat and making it three-dimensional."

Kitty quickly discovered a love for sewing, and after a year under the apprenticeship of Gail Bakkom at Minnesota Opera, Kitty began working in costume shops around the country, from the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis to San Francisco Opera to the Folger Theatre in Washington, DC. With each new experience, her skills grew, as did her title.

In the summer of 1989, Kitty came home to the Bay Area when she became a draper at Berkeley Rep. Now celebrating her 20th anniversary, Kitty can most often be found in the costume shop adjacent to the Thrust Stage. On a recent morning, Kitty was working amid dress-forms displaying favorite costumes she helped to construct over the last two decades.

With Leonard Cohen music playing in the background, Kitty demonstrates the craft of a draper using as an example one of David Zinn's elaborate gowns for In the Next Room (or the vibrator play). First comes the costume designer's sketch, which in this case is for the character of Mrs. Daldry played by Maria Dizzia (who is wearing this same design right now in New York during the show's Broadway run).

Kitty's job is to realize the designer's vision, and she starts with what lies underneath the garment that will help create the proper silhouette. Using muslin (an inexpensive, workmanlike fabric), and employing the actor's measurements, Kitty begins draping the dress-form to create a mock-up for the garment that will then be used for the actor's first fitting. Once adjusted on the actor, the parts of the muslin garment are traced onto sturdy brown paper, which then become pattern pieces in the costume puzzle.

Those final pattern pieces are then used by Kitty's "first hand" - costume speak for "assistant" - and a crew of stitchers to cut the fabric and begin building the actual costume.

During a "build" for a show, there is never an idle moment in the costume shop. Kitty is involved in constant cutting, fitting, stitching, and, most importantly, problem-solving to make sure each costume looks and works exactly as it's supposed to in terms of the designer's vision and the actor's mobility.

"Kitty has an amazing aesthetic and a really great eye," observes Maggi Yule, Berkeley Rep's costume director. "She pays a lot of attention to detail, and everything she makes is beautifully done - clean, all finished off. She's really conscientious and is great about figuring out how to make things work. That's all part of the expertise she provides to designers to help them have a better product."

For Kitty, the greatest reward of her job is watching a show come together and then experiencing the audience's response on opening night. "That is such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment and pride," she says.

Having worked for many different companies, including the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Kitty maintains that there is no place like Berkeley Rep.

"This theatre has everything - subscribers who are smart and supportive, and a season that is always challenging and interesting," she says. "And we get to work with the highest-caliber designers from around the country. I love how varied our seasons are. Already this season, we've gone from a huge musical to tiny one-acts. There's so much flexibility here, and that's why the costume shop itself is a seasoned shop and designers look forward to coming here. We know what we're doing. We bring a lot of skill and experience to the support we provide."

Coming from a family with a keen eye for design - her father was an architect and her mother designed stationery - Kitty is actively involved with the Oakland Museum of California's Council on Architecture and is a tremendous fan of landscaping and architecture.

"Costuming is a bit like both of those arts," Kitty muses. "Everything has to support everything else."

Constantly striving to learn new skills (last summer she taught herself how to "felt," or turn raw wool into cloth), Kitty is still excited to come to work every day - even after 20 years.

"I love my work," Kitty concludes. "I learn something new and grow with every show."

See tomorrow's plays today at Berkeley Rep. The 2009/10 Season continues with even more daring new shows: the world premiere of Girlfriend from Todd Almond and Matthew Sweet, the world premiere of The Wake from Lisa Kron and Leigh Silverman, the world premiere of Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West from Naomi Iizuka and Les Waters, and local debuts for Athol Fugard's Coming Home and Aurélia's Oratorio.

For details, call (510) 647-2949 or toll-free at (888) 4-BRT-tix - or simply click berkeleyrep.org.


ABOUT BERKELEY REP
Born in a storefront, Berkeley Rep has moved to the forefront of American theatre - and is still telling unforgettable stories. In four decades, four million people have enjoyed more than 300 shows at Berkeley Rep, including 52 world premieres. In the last four years alone, Berkeley Rep has helped send four shows to Broadway: Bridge & Tunnel, In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), Passing Strange, and Wishful Drinking. Founded in 1968, the Theatre quickly earned respect for presenting the finest plays with top-flight actors. In 1980, with the support of the local community, Berkeley Rep built the 400-seat Thrust Stage where its reputation steadily grew over the next two decades. It gained renown for an adventurous combination of work, presenting important new dramatic voices alongside refreshing adaptations of seldom-seen classics. In recognition of its place on the national stage, Berkeley Rep was honored with the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1997. The company celebrated by unveiling a 600-seat proscenium stage in 2001, the state-of-the-art Roda Theatre. It also opened the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, a permanent home for its long tradition of outreach and education programs. The addition of these two buildings transformed a single stage into a vital and versatile performing arts complex, the linchpin of a bustling downtown arts district which has helped revitalize Berkeley. The Theatre now welcomes an annual audience of 180,000, serves 20,000 students, and hosts dozens of community groups, thanks to 1,000 volunteers and more than 400 artists, artisans, and administrators.