An interview with Jacqueline Lawton about Asian Americans in theatre. Removing the Tags

"Debra Kim Sivigny’s costumes vibrate with crayon colors in clothes that sometimes bow to Japanese traditions and sometimes just riff on them. The animals with Momotaro sport distinctive headdresses and armbands of yarn and cloth. Kiji, the bird, is a very bright green indeed, and Saru, the monkey, has enormous banana-yellow ears. When actors play “invisible” roles — carrying props or doing puppeteer duty — they wear all-black outfits, as the omniscient narrator Koken (Ryan Sellers) explains early on."--The Washington Post

Read the whole review here: Anime Momotaro is Truly for Kids of All Ages

"The witty costumes (by Debra Kim Sivigny) and the warm Italian scenic design (by Natsu Onoda Power) deserve praise. Sivigny’s duds impress right from the start, when Lydia makes her entrance by crawling down to the stage through the audience in a tattered beauty of a wedding dress open at the back, so quickly did she and her sisters flee their fate." -The Washingtonian

"The design team, meanwhile, has created a visual and aural environment to match the haunted elegance of the words: Newspaper pages and homemade missing-persons flyers paper the theater space’s walls, while bits of detritus—plush toys, plastic bottles, 45-RPM records—hang from the ceiling. Ingeniously, when an actor needs a prop, it’s usually hanging just overhead." -Washington City Paper

"It is at this point that Costume Designer Debra Kim Sivigny shines, as she transforms the soldier’s plain overalls and helmets into animal traits. Sivigny cleverly does this by using battle supplies: a long, eerie gas mask becomes the face of a horse, an aviator cap becomes the floppy ears of a dog, and an upturned tin can becomes the snout of a pig, among others."

Read the whole review at http://mdtheatreguide.com/2011/12/dr-dol

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticle

"Hats off to Debra Kim Sivigny for the gorgeous costumes. The beautifully paired costumes and animal puppets (Andrea “Dre” Moore) for Duck and Bird are awesome, as is the wolf’s “coat,” and wiry nose headpiece." -Miriam Chernick, DCTheatreScene

"Rorschach, which is devoted to the magical aspects of storytelling, provides an interesting melding of Asian and American pacing for this story. There are aspects of American culture enmeshed within the Japanese styling. Hence, Debra Kim Sivigny's costumes are authentic kimonos, yet underneath the young women are wearing everyday modern skirts and blouses. This modern meets ancient brings out the humanity in the story and helps personalize the characters a bit more." -Rich See, CurtainUp DC

http://livedesignonline.com/resourcecent A small feature in Live Design Online

Radar Middlebury College 2009, Choreography by Leyya Tawil