Interview with Ellen Oshins, Metropolitan Opera Scenic Artist, Newly Appointed Assistant Scenic Charge
For 16 years, I have been a scenic artist at the Met. We paint new shows, and we also take care of all the revivals on stage. There’s such a big stage, with so much scenery and so little space. Everything gets taken apart and put together every day, sometimes two with a rehearsal and an evening performance. There are a few scenic artists who are responsible for the shows onstage. And I was (and still am) one of them putting shows together on stage every day.
Did you start as an artist as a kid? And how did you get to the Met?
My training is in theatre; I have a degree in theatre arts. As a scenic artist, you could work in a shop painting scenery where there’s no stage involvement; the scenery comes to you, you paint it, and then it gets taken away. But I started out doing TV work— which doesn’t have great scenery, but at least you are involved in a production, which is what my training is in. And then, a woman that I worked with called me and asked me to come work for a day or two [at the Met], and I’m still here 17 years later. I loved it, because I got to paint scenery and be part of a production, which is really unusual for a scenic artist.
So you’re involved from the beginning, even with planning.
Now I am, now that I’m working with Scenic Chargeman Bob Moody. We’re involved in planning the productions, which are two or three years out. Before, I would just be involved in the current productions, and fix them as they’d go up. I know some shows really well; I’ve been in charge of Bohème since I’ve been here. For 15 years, every time Bohème shows up, I’m involved in making sure it looks good on stage. And it’s a lot of really old scenery. I tend to be involved in the big Zeffirelli productions, and there are 4 or 5 of us that do that, who are involved in each production that comes in. And then there are other scenic artists that build and paint the new scenery.
How long is the process for getting a show ready?
A year ago we were in the early process of looking at things like Rosenkavalier or Rusalka, and now we’re in the process of building them. And that will be for next season.A show will typically come in a few days before it’s going to be onstage and we assess what shape it’s in, and go from there. Sometimes backdrops are torn, or things need to be refurbished. We have incredible scenery and we want it to look as good as we think it can. It’s grand opera; you want to see that opulence. That’s what you get with Turandot, which is also one of my shows. You want to keep that looking as fresh and beautiful as possible. But I also do Butterfly, which is challenging in its own way. There are screens made of paper that need to be kept fresh, and the deck needs to be as shiny as possible. Even clean shows that look like they don’t have much scenery take a lot of time. I think Butterfly is one of our best productions, especially when the cherry blossoms come down. Every year that we do Butterfly, those cherry blossoms come in, and they’re ratty and tangled. We hang them on a paint frame in the shop, steam them, and try to make them look as good as possible. That takes time, so we usually get those about a month before the show.
Do you have a favorite production?
Bohème and Turandot because I’m so involved in them, and I know them inside and out.
What was the first production you worked on?
It was the old Cavalleria Rusticana. The Zeffirelli Carmen and Traviata were also some of my first productions.
Is there a system for storing scenery that is not currently in use?
Yes. We have the big containers with everything stored in them, and somebody has to go out and check on them. They leak, and they’re not temperature controlled. Someone checks out the production to see what shape things are in, and how much time we are going to need to fix stuff.
Is there a production that you’ve found very challenging?
Lucia was really challenging, because it has a mound in the opening act with grassy knolls. And that was hard to keep fresh. We also did all the poppies for Prince Igor. There was one shop that built the poppies—1,000 poppies a day! They had an assembly line going. And they would ship them to me at 186th street and then I placed them on the platform. First we painted the deck, made a grid, and then we would figure out exactly where we wanted the poppies to go. And they were all different heights, so we had to lay it out. It took all summer, and that was really challenging. Ultimately, it turned out so great that I’m not sad about it.
I imagine it is like a small army to get everything done.
Ultimately it is, but we are a really fine-tuned crew, and we’ve worked together for a long time. We are a little bit in transition now, as I am taking over Margot [Therre]’s position (Assistant Scenic Charge). It’s a little different for me. Now, I’m running the crew, and am on stage less, but it works because all the guys know me, so if I need something done, I know them. I know all their names.
Have you seen a change in your 16 years in the amount of women working backstage here?
Actually, a lot of our scenic artists are women. We used to have more men in the department, but now we don’t. I think it’s just the ebb and flow of scenic artistry. There was one woman stagehand for a while, and there are a few more in the night gang. And they are tough. It’s tough to come in at night and work with a bunch of guys moving scenery around, but they do it. So, no, I don’t see a lot of change.
Is there anything else you’d like to share that our audience might not know?
Just how detailed and meticulous we are. Going back to the poppies, we had to figure out the kind of stem, and the kind of inside, and we would get all these different silk petals. We tried four different kinds of silk, and cut them out to see which worked best. We do full stage samples of things under the lights to see what works, because things are too expensive to take chances.
Have you ever had to replace anything mid-production?
Not mid-production, but sometimes in pre-production. We go through a lot in the sample process; we change a lot of things then.
I’m a lucky, lucky scenic artist. I really enjoy what I do. I’m always happy to wake up and come to work. It is so interesting, and so different. And to walk onto that stage—it’s the Metropolitan Opera! It’s fantastic, and we often have to remind ourselves that we are doing grand world-class opera. Sometimes we get a little used to it, and I snap people out of it, and tell them “look what you’re doing!”
Do you have any female role models or mentors?
I’d have to say my mom. She always worked, and was always creative and crafty. I learned a lot from my mother. Moms are great!
The other women scenic artists have really shown me a lot of great ways to do things. Margot [Therre], who just left the company, really helped me out a lot. The women I work with are phenomenal. And we are not selfish, we help each other out. If you don’t know how to do something, you can always ask someone, and grow that way.
What has become of Afghanistan's women's movement?
http://origins.osu.edu/article/long-long-struggle-women-s-rights-afghanistan
#WomensHistoryMonth #WHM2016 #Afghanistan
In 1918, Anna Saylor (1871-1956) was one of the first four women elected to the California State Assembly. She introduced legislation to allow sisters to administer estates just as brothers always could.
She also sponsored the bill that ended the death penalty for those under 18.
Photo by No Culture Icons: I’m selling some x2 colour riso prints, printed with the lovely fellas at Workhorse Press in Edinburgh - 50% of every one sold will go to FORCE, which is a charity based in Exeter who help and support patients and their families coping with cancer. You can buy one on my shop here
