Past inspires passion for "John Proctor is the Villain" costume designer

When the play “John Proctor is the Villain” opens in Purdue University Fort Wayne’s Williams Theatre on Friday, it will be a showcase project for the actors involved, but also for costume designer Rin Ulick. It’s something Ulick never dreamed could happen before coming to campus.

When the Elkhart native became a theatre major, they concentrated on becoming an actor, appearing in six plays at PFW. The focus started slowly and shifted when taking a required intro to design class as a sophomore.

“Something just clicked because it makes my love for art and research and history and also theatre more vivid, checking all the boxes for me,” Ulick said. “It was a different way of expressing my love for theatre and hit a different intellectual mark than anything had.”

It helped that Jeanne Pendleton, costume shop supervisor and clinical assistant professor, assigned Ulick to work on her own costumes for plays, including “Dracula.”

“It means something to them then,” Pendleton said. “It helps them understand how long it takes to build a costume, and they really care about it.”

Pendleton recognized Ulick’s talent and the swerve to costume design, slowly offering more information.

“I was like, `Do I love this more than other areas I’ve been working in?’” Ulick said. “I love acting, and obviously it is a passion of mine, but I decided that costume design is what I’m called to do.”

Plus, Ulick loves the work required by “John Proctor is the Villain,” which follows high school students reading “The Crucible” in English class and explores themes of young love, sex ed, and a few community scandals. The setting is a 2018 high school, which immediately sparked Ulick’s memory and imagination as they poured through selfies and pictures of friends to find ideas.

“I knew Rin would be perfect as the costume designer for this play because of their proximity to the era and its style,” said Austin Rausch, the play’s costume design mentor and assistant professor of theatre. “Rin often would say to me, `I knew this person,’ which made their design choices appropriate and strong.

“I wanted to ensure that Rin had a chance to design a main stage production before graduating so they are fully prepared for the professional theatre world.”

Over the play’s seven-day timeline, Ulick’s work encompasses 13 actors and 60 costumes comprised of about 100 pieces. With no intermission, creating easy wardrobe changes means jackets, sweaters, and coats were added to existing combinations to change the looks, a puzzle for Ulick to solve.

Fashion trends, especially for females, have changed three or four times since 2018, Ulick said.

“In 2018, the way they presented themselves was very different, but 80s and 90s retro fashion was big on my Pinterest board in my sophomore year of high school,” Ulick said. “The difference now is we like to wear baggier clothes, where in 2018 it was skinny jeans and ribbed knit shirts that are really close to the body. For women specifically, that’s when skinny jeans and crop tops became popular.”

It’s an era Ulick was eager to revisit.

“The loveliness of costume design is that you can take such a vulnerable part of yourself and share it with everyone,” Ulick said. “That’s what I love about it—the best part.”

“John Proctor is the Villain” continues until March 1.