The Diary of Anne Frank
Play by : Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich
Director: Pietro Cortelli
Stage Manager: Jadyn Lamison
Assistant Stage Managers: Maleah Anderson and Holli Ridinger
Lighting: Anna LoGudice
Sound: Izak Harrelson
Set Design: Kailee Cieslak
Art Design: Lia John
Properties: Kiara Valle
Costuming: Kayden John and Ayanna Willmore
Makeup: Lucinda Robbins
Hair: Akshitha Pinnamaraju
The Diary of Anne Frank is where I perfected my ability to do aging makeup and where I learned to use spirit gum to apply facial hair. I had done aging previously for the show All My Sons but it lacked the shading and dimension of my aging now. I think the biggest challenge of everything though was not the learning process but having to teach others how to do the makeup as their director.
I made sure to do research on the individual characters, giving them certain features that matched their real-life counterparts. For my aging makeup, I would create aging lines that followed the natural wrinkles that would be on an aging face with a dark contour shade. After doing so I would highlight with a lighter shade where the light would naturally hit the face. This would make the makeup pop out on stage.
This photo was from tech week and was much more of a trial for what the makeup would become. As tech week went on the shadows would become darker and more highlight would be added. Otto Frank is my favorite character I have every done makeup for, I think this makeup and how it looks on stage is absolute perfection.
Teaching others how to age becomes difficult because I have noticed others struggle with finding the natural aging lines people will get. As an artist, I study a lot of these small details about humans, I always have, because I reflect it onto my art. Another part is that people struggle on where to place highlights, I had in past trials of the show as well. I realized though the key is to understand lighting and where light is likely to reflect most on your face. Those are the area that are raised up most. After that, I was able to give my team reliable information and teach them how to find these spots on the actors.
Overall, this show is one of my favorite that I have done makeup for. I don't think many makeup artists choose aging as the thing they love to do but I genuinely think it is my favorite. I love doing fun and colorful looks but I find the simplicity and beauty of aging to me much more joyous. Getting old is beautiful and I think there is a love actors can find by seeing themselves in the future, almost like a time machine. While this is an emotional way of viewing this style of makeup, I think it is the best reflection of my love towards the technique and this show.
