To kick off the spring semester, Tony Award-winning costume designer Ann Roth paid a visit to Hilary Rosenfeld’s figure drawing class in Tisch Drama’s Production & Design Studio.
For two hours, Roth, 87, gave advice to production and design students and reflected on her career, which boasts many years on Broadway, in film, and television. Rosenfeld called it “an unbelievable experience.”
“When your idol volunteers to speak to your class, you get to ask all the questions you want—and you’re able to show your students the importance of the class they will be taking for the next 13 weeks,” Rosenfeld said.
To demonstrate her own process, Roth brought along piles of sketches and a book of Piero Tosi’s costume designs and drawings that have inspired her over the years.
“Ann encouraged the class to really look at her sketches and not to think of them as anything precious,” Rosenfeld added. “‘Don’t draw on paper anything that you can’t rip up,’ she told them, ‘so you can begin again.’”
After the class, Roth went to attend a 6 p.m. fitting for King Lear, starring Glenda Jackson, on Broadway—still following her passion.