On March 19 and 20, the SAU Theatre Department welcomed back alum Brian Hemesath ‘94, a multi-Emmy Award-winning and Broadway costume designer. He volunteered his time for a Q&A session and a master class on costume design renderings.
Hemesath graduated from St. Ambrose with a bachelor's degree in Theatre with an Art minor. He earned his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Costume Design from Carnegie Mellon University in 1997.
Students, faculty and past alumni gathered in the intimate space of SAU's Studio Theatre to get caught up the artistic life of Hemesath. He talked about his typical work day, how to make connections within the theatre world, his past and current projects, experiences that have led him to his success and the inside scoop on working on Broadway, to name a few.
Surrounded by some of his achievements and displays of his breathtaking renderings, Hemesath was remarkably humble. When asked if he felt like a celebrity, Hemesath stifled a laugh.
"I don't ever feel like a celebrity until I come back here and people enjoy telling me that I am, which I always believe is more of a joke than anything else," Hemesath laughed. "It seems sort of ridiculous to me because what I do is just what I do."
Hemesath explained that this was his first time experiencing this type of Q&A session because he's used to one-on-one interviews or panels.
"It was sort of less daunting because of the environment and being in a place that really does feel comfortable," Hemesath said. "It's always great to be back at St. Ambrose. It's like coming home."
There were an abundance of people, including an impressive number of alumni, present for Hemesath's Q&A. Many alumni were curious about how he made his connections and how he balances his work and various other activities. Current students were impressed with his talents and learned from him how to thrive in different environments.
However, some students had the opportunity to do more than ask questions. Dr. Corinne Johnson's Costume Design class took part in a rendering master class with Hemesath. These students met with him in the Studio Theatre, where he had some of his materials and art supplies available for them to use.
Hemesath taught them the basics of rendering, like how to trace a base of a silhouette for a general shape then adding or taking away aspects to make it unique. He then showed them how he uses watercolors, and they had the chance to paint either their own sketch or one of his previously-made sketches.
"I think it's kind of amazing to see how fast everybody took to these techniques and how everybody made them their own very quickly," Hemesath said. "It was actually really rewarding. I enjoyed that part of the teaching day a lot more than just the lecturing part."
Hemesath has worked on a wide variety of projects. He was a costume designer for Saturday Night Live for 14 years, currently designs costumes for Sesame Street's "Human Department" and designed costumes for Honeymoon in Vegas on Broadway. His work on Sesame Street earned him five Emmy nominations and two Emmy Awards. He has also worked on movie sets and actually prefers designing for the screen rather than the stage. Still, he considers the theater his home.
Currently, he is the Assistant Costume Designer for a Steven Spielberg's remake of "West Side Story". Hemesath knows the head designer from working with him before, which helped him get the job.
"The designer, Paul Tazewell, was brought on the project and was looking for an assistant who had some theatre background as well as film background," Hemesath said. "I got in touch with him and told him I was interested. Then, we set up a phone interview, and I talked to him and got the job."
It's always great to be back at St. Ambrose. It's like coming home.
Brian Hemesath '94
During his time at Ambrose, Hemesath designed and acted in a few shows for the Theatre Department. Yet, his favorite memory of returning to SAU was designing SAU's 1999 production of Tartuffe.
For SAU's current production of Tartuffe, which opens April 12, 2019, Hemesath has graciously designed and constructed Madame Pernell's costume.
Hemesath believes his education at St. Ambrose prepared him to do almost anything in the real world. He explained he was given the tools needed to find his way throughout his career.
"My education here gave me a great background for the design portion of what I do, giving me a way of thinking of things that made it possible for me to do what I do," Hemesath said.
For anyone interested in pursuing costume design, Hemesath advises:
"Create your own opportunities to become a self-starter. People who are self-starters tend to go farther in this business."
He suggests asking to assist on small projects and petitioning to design on a smaller scale in order to eventually work up to bigger projects and productions.
The SAU Theatre Department is incredibly grateful to Hemesath for taking time out of his busy schedule to volunteer to share his wisdom and inspire current students to work hard to achieve their dreams. The Department thanks him kindly and wishes him well on all his future endeavors.
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