Cast, crew preparing for 2022 Texas Shakespeare Festival

KILGORE, Texas (KLTV) - The sets are being built, the costumes readied, and the actors are hitting their marks in preparation for the 2022 Shakespeare Festival at Kilgore College.

There’s a saying that it takes a village to raise a child, and well, it takes almost as many to put on the Shakespeare Festival at Kilgore College according to Associate Artistic Director Mathew Simpson.

“We have a company of just over 90 people. So, there’s two different contracts. Whether you’re working on just putting the shows up or whether you’re also working on running the shows through their closing. So, if you’re in the first part where you’re getting the shows to opening night that’s about a six-week contract,” Simpson said.

Simpson says those in the show have a ten-week contract. One of those six-weekers is Angelina Herin, one of the two costume designers for the festival.

“I read the scripts, I meet with the director, we talk about characters. We think about their lives before, during and after the script to really understand them as whole people. And from there I do research and then I draw,” Herin said.

Normally there are sixteen people fluffing, cutting and sewing in the wardrobe room, but today was picture day so many were out getting their photos made. But after sketched, Angelina’s designs go before the director and actors.

“Once it’s approved, I render it in color. I use the computer and do digital renderings. So, I paint by hand and the computer also,” Herin said.

And she personalizes the costumes.

“After I do the sketch, I render it with the actual face of the actor,” Herin said.

And that’s a big plus all the way around. And once the costumes are done, so is she. She is just one of the:

“Theatrical nomads,” I said to Simpson.

“Absolutely. Then they go off to another theater and do it all again,” Simpson said.

He says staff does tend to return for several years in a row.

“There will be some audience favorites back in all of our departments this summer,” Simpson said.

Angelina’s in her fifth year and will probably do it again next year. If you’d like to see her work, it will be center stage in July, although she’ll have moved on to dress another play.

If you want to know more about the Texas Shakespeare Festival at Kilgore College, click here.

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