Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Stratford’s Tamara Kucheran was a bit surprised when she received an email from the Ontario Arts Council informing her she had been named this years’ recipient of the Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design, along with $20,000 in prize money.
Although she said she was humbled and thankful for the nomination and the award itself, she still has no idea who nominated her, a mystery Kucheran hopes to solve at the awards reception in Toronto May 15.
“I’m looking to sort of find more information on how I was nominated. I don’t know who nominated me,” she laughed.
Kucheran, a graduate of the University of Victoria and the National Theatre School of Canada, has designed costumes and sets for productions across the country. Currently living in Stratford with her husband and two kids, Kucheran has worked for countless big-name productions, including Two Gentlemen of Verona at Stratford’s Studio Theatre, Fanny Kemble for the Stratford Festival, Macbeth at the Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre, and, most recently, Cabaret at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in 2015.
“My children are six and almost five years old, and I think that’s one of the gratifying things about the award is that I know theatre professionals that continue to work while having families, but it’s a very tricky balance – travelling is really tricky. So, I made the decision to take a step back and just weigh each opportunity as it came, and not actively pursue work. So, it was amazing I was even nominated,” Kucheran said.
Since she hasn’t been actively working in costume and set design for the past two years, Kucheran has had the opportunity to refocus her efforts on the teaching and mentorship side of her career, something she has been doing on and off with the Off the Wall Stratford Artists Alliance for the past decade.
“I come from a tradition of mentorship, so I was very lucky to have mentors that included Mary Kerr, a designer based in Victoria (B.C.), Susan Benson is a name that people recognize here in Stratford and she remains a strong mentor all these years later, Michael Whitfield, (Benson’s) husband, Desmond Heeley, as well, before he passed… So, what they passed on to me was this real need and desire to continue on the mentorship, to try and be the filter for all those lessons they gave me so I can pass them down to all those generations to come,” Kucheran said, adding that she is willing to teach and mentor theatre production students aged anywhere between 16 and 106.
Along with winning the Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design, Kucheran has also won a Dora Award for Outstanding Costume Design, a Tyrone Guthrie Award for her work with the Stratford Festival, and the Ian and Molly Lindsay Young Design Fellowship, also through the Stratford Festival.
As part of her nomination for this year’s award in costume design, Kucheran had to submit a proposal to the panel of judges detailing what she would do with the $20,000 in prize money, should she win. Now that she has won, Kucheran has begun planning an educational trip to England, ideally at some point over the summer.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to have this amount of money to just go and fulfill your dreams in terms of personal development… My dirty little secret, for someone coming from a very traditional theatre practice – it’s very sort of British-based and sort of that British tradition – I’ve never been to England. I say it’s my dirty little secret because throughout my entire career I’ve never had the opportunity as a student – I’ve had the opportunity to go other places – but when I was a student there was not an opportunity to go to England,” Kucheran said.
As part of her trip, Kucheran hopes to visit London to take in some theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, the famous Globe Theatre, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Tate Modern art gallery.
“For me, the premise of my proposal is looking at the way our traditional works are being now interpreted for a modern audience. I think that there are countries right across this world that have really unique takes on modern ways to show traditional work, like Shakespeare for sure is done in a whole variety of ways. For me, England right now is within a very small footprint of travel and it’s probably doing the most work in that regard, so that’s why I’ll be going,” she said.
“I think that part of what we do as theatre artists is that we learn from what’s going on around us. I think that while I can read magazines and online articles and look through textbooks, I haven’t had that experiential learning.”
And not only will her trip to England enhance her understanding of her craft, but Kucheran will also be able to bring back what she learned overseas and impart it to her theatre production students. In that way, Kucheran noted, the award money can be put to use beyond her own personal and professional development.
According to an Ontario Arts Council press release, Kucheran was selected to win this year’s award by a selection jury comprising wardrobe supervisor Kathleen Johnston and costume designers Melanie McNeill and Sean Mulcahy.
The jury was unanimous in their decision, stating, "We are very impressed with Tamara's nuanced use of pattern and mix of textiles in her innovative designs. She is a storyteller. Her designs define character but do not overshadow the actors. Tamara’s commitment to mentoring emerging designers enriches the arts in Ontario."
Established through a gift under the will of Dr. Virginia Cooper, the Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award is to be given "for the love of creation.” Cooper served as a director of the Tarragon Theatre, she was a charter member of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, and she had a keen interest in the performing arts, particularly in costume design.
The Ontario Arts Foundation manages the endowment that funds the award, while the Ontario Arts Council administers the nomination and selection process.
By Galen Simmons for www.stratfordbeaconherald.com.
Photo: Tamara Kucheran. ©2017 Terry Manzo.
2017-04-28
Stratford: Tamara Kucheran wins the 2017 Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design