[violins play in bright rhythm]
♪ ♪
(Kate Sutton-Johnson) In theater, you start with a story
and that story is sort of the guiding principle
of all of the choices that you make.
So living inside of that storytelling space
and trying to serve it as an artist
is really motivating for me.
I actually always feel this sort of rush of excitement
about the fact that we're going to do something
and it's going to exist in this live format.
Every night will be somewhat different
because it's about live performance.
And then when the show's over, it's gone!
♪ ♪
[bass & guitar play syncopated jazz]
♪ ♪
(Kate) I would say from an early age
I showed an interest in visual arts, also
in singing and performance and theater and things like that.
Then I went to the North Carolina School of the Arts
and I studied set design.
I was a senior, I was about to graduate, and the Guthrie Theater
came to a job fair, and I was hired to come out to the Guthrie
as associate prop manager and I was
at the Guthrie a couple of seasons
and then I launched a freelance career here.
♪ ♪
After I left the Guthrie I took on a lot of work at Mixed Blood.
I also began doing some work at Park Square.
Eventually I began working at The Children's Theatre Company,
the Ordway, Theater Latté Da, at this point
I've worked at most of the sort of mid- to large-size theaters.
♪ ♪
After I started designing a lot for different theaters,
I also started working for some corporate clients doing
event designs, and then I also got into this museum exhibit world,
both as a painter and as a designer.
And now, my career has evolved so that I really am
just doing theater work and museum work.
This is a scale model of the "Sportsology" Exhibit,
a new experience that will be permanent
at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
This is a great example of the kind of design work that I do
for other museum exhibits that are created here.
So one thing that goes into decision making
about materials in exhibit design isn't just the color
and the glossiness and so forth, but there's a lot of sensitivity
and durability issues that factor into these exhibits,
so it really limits the materials that we can use.
Museum design work and theater design work are similar
in that I'm designing environments
that are about an experience.
I think space is a huge part of that, making people feel
like they're in a space that is beyond
what they can do in their own bubble.
They want to sort of access something
that's bigger than them.
[plucked strings play in bright rhythm]
♪ ♪
I love modeling; I don't hand-draft any longer.
For years I hand-drafted my shows
and now I draft everything on the computer.
♪ ♪
Having a 3-dimensional model and really being able
to sort of understand what it's like to be inside that space,
it is just not the same in a digital version,
it doesn't feel the same.
♪ ♪
On this project,
"Six Degrees of Separation" with Theater Latté Da,
it became apparent early on
that the set dressing for this project
was really critical in setting us
in a very upscale apartment in Manhattan.
So I got the idea to contact some friends
that have beautiful art
and see if they would be willing to loan us some things.
Hi Wyn, Hi Bob. Hi.
Thanks for having us.
Come in. Hello, welcome.
(Kate) Peter and I and Abby are going
to my friend Bob and Wyn's house
to check out art and also their plants and all sorts of things.
The play takes place in 1990, but we wanted to give the space
a feel that was very sort of mid century, very classic.
Abby's with us today because she is the brainpower
behind all of this, and she's going to keep us organized,
and Peter is here because Peter has excellent taste
and after all, he's the director.
Okay, this is the one that I was talking about
going in that alcove. That is cool.
This feels like tons of texture here, but onstage actually
everything is going to get so much more locked down.
This would be a good hanging one. Yeah?
So it's just a hair over 7 feet.
(Peter) A cactus makes so much sense, it's New York in the wintertime.
I mean, it's clearly not indigenous to their neighborhood.
Theater Latté Da is a company that I've had a relationship
with now for a number of years,
and Peter Rothstein is certainly a major artistic partner for me.
A diptych is interesting I think...
I know. I have one in there, yeah,
and I was imagining the one that's in the living room
'cause I like the colors in that one, but I like that as well.
(Peter) You know what I love about working with Kate
is that she brings to the table
a ton of research at the beginning.
I've met with some designers where they bring a model of the set
the first rehearsal and like, whoa, whoa! then I feel like
what I'm doing is, I'm critiquing the work they've done,
rather than collaborating and creating something together.
Oh, I want to measure that tiny one.
(Bob) In the kitchen there's a better one.
I'm not sure that's even done.
Well, we will decide! [all laugh]
[synthesizer plays softly]
(Kate) 1, 2, 3.
Great.
Today we're going to spend the first part of the day onstage
doing a bunch of notes.
There's going to be lots of departments sharing the space,
electrics and sound and scenery, paint, props,
and then the actors will be on our tails
showing up around midday
and then we'll begin a rehearsal.
This is just a little cover
that's going to go over all of the feet of the sofa.
This is a good lesson in how to use tricks to make things
look way more expensive than they really were.
In the role of set designer, I provide the schematics
to the people who are going to build the set, and I also provide
a lot of information to the scenic artist and the prop manager.
And in those two departments in particular,
it's really fun when you can collaborate with people
that have a real sense of play
and sort of are artists in their own right
and really want to contribute as well.
[bass, violin & piano play softly]
♪ ♪
When I think about designs that stand out in my mind
as being really sort of iconic images in my portfolio,
I think designs that are overtly sort of psychological or
designs that feel like a bigger gesture are probably designs
that stand out in my mind as being,
I don't know, they just stand out.
I don't know that they're my favorite designs,
but I think minimalism is actually quite difficult.
It's easier to throw a ton of layers all on top of each other
and have it look like something interesting.
Tell them.
I am shaken.
You have to do something!
It's open. Is anything gone?
How can I look, I'm shaken!
Did he take anything?
Would you concentrate on yourself?
I want to know if anything's gone?
(Kate) A few years ago, Peter and I were talking
about shows for the season, and I had been kind of thinking
about whether or not Peter might at some point
let me assist him as a director.
So I approached him with it, and he jumped on it,
and the rest is history, now that's sort of how we work.
[all laugh]
We weren't auditioning, I just kept thinking
$2 million, $2 million.
It's like when someone says, "Don't think about elephants,"
and all you can think about is elephants, elephants, elephants.
$2 million, $2 million.
When you're on a Kate Sutton-Johnson set,
your work is elevated.
My work is elevated; I'm a better actor
because that's the environment I get to perform and process in
as we move through it and move to a performance.
He's in for 2 million!
2 million?
He says the Cézanne is a great investment.
We should get it for 6 million
and sell it to the Tokyo bunch for 10!
Happy days!
(Kate) Working in this field ticks a lot of boxes for me.
There's so many ways I can immerse myself in these projects
that allow me to grow.
I think the more experienced I get and the more I feel like
I can do that well,
the more exciting it becomes.
For more infomation >> Here & Now for Monday 15 May 2017 - Duration: 1:02:12. 
For more infomation >> Nepalese Vote for Local Officials - Duration: 0:50. 
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