There’s an advantage to retiring from theater when you love to watch theater.
Since 1993, when Gwen Alsedek became resident costume designer at Open Stage of Harrisburg—the professional downtown theater established 10 years earlier by her older brother, Donald, his wife, Anne, and Marianne Fischer—she’s been too occupied behind the scenes to be in the audience very often.
Now that Alsedek is retiring, she expects to spend more hours on the other side of the lights.
“I love to go to the theater, and I love being part of an audience,” she said.
Her professional affiliation with Open Stage actually began in 1991, when she costume-designed “Nora,” Ingmar Bergman’s take on Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” as a freelancer.
Early on in her tenure, she costumed such diverse plays as “Harvey,” about an imaginary rabbit, and “The Lioness of Berry,” about writer George Sand. Sometimes, she both stage-managed and designed costumes.
Fittingly, she wrapped up her career at Open Stage last month with “Stories from Home: People Who Care,” a celebration of those who have worked hard to make Harrisburg a better place.
“When I look back, I’m amazed how many shows I’ve done and how many the theater has done,” she said. “I wanted to be here because of the plays.”
Coming Home
If not for a family crisis, Alsedek might not have returned to her native Harrisburg. She was a visiting artist at Hofstra University in Long Island when her mother became ill.
“I knew she needed help, so I came home,” she said.
Meanwhile, Open Stage was growing and changing. It had moved from a tiny location in Elizabethtown to its present venue on Walnut Street in Harrisburg, and Alsedek found herself more and more “entrenched.”
“It’s pretty amazing to do in your hometown and make a living doing what you studied,” she said. “As a graduate student, I wrote in my final paper how much I was looking forward to a theater family. Literally, I found it.”
Alsedek studied costume design at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, which is affiliated with the Missouri Repertory Theatre (now Kansas City Rep).
Over the years, she accumulated wonderful experiences and memories. She rattles off the names of many shows, always with awareness that she might be leaving something major out. She mentions “’Master Harold’ . . . and the Boys,” “A Trip to Bountiful,” “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “The Laramie Project,” among others.
“The Big Bang Theory” was particularly memorable, because, as Alsedek described it, “all things had to turn into other things.” There was “The Immigrant,” in which she also performed and “got to wear these cute little outfits.”
The costume designer also had a cameo in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”—it took longer for her to get dressed for the part than the time she was onstage.
Alsedek did both the sets and costumes for “The Threepenny Opera,” which remains one of her favorites.
“I love the work of composer Kurt Weill and librettist Berthold Brecht,” she said.
Dynamo
Alsedek’s career at Open Stage has been nothing if not diverse.
Over the years, she has designed for “I Am My Own Wife,” about a transgendered German who survived Nazi and Communist rule, all the way to “Crowns,” a soul-stirring Gospel musical, which meant a lot of hats for the church ladies.
Two annual productions, “A Christmas Carol” and “The Diary of Anne Frank,” gave Alsedek the opportunity to dress (and wig) many different casts over the years.
She recalls actors and staffers, including the late Jim Woland, set designer for the theater, whose talents she admired and whose company she enjoyed. “It’s special if everyone is committed to a project 100 percent,” Alsedek said.
Though she seems like a quiet, one-woman dynamo, Alsedek didn’t work totally alone. She had volunteer helpers “along the way” who came in and sewed with her, especially mothers from the “Christmas Carol” casts.
Then I asked her the obvious question: Is it easier or more stressful to work with family?
She responded that the experience has been overwhelmingly positive. She and brother Don had previously been co-workers in their family restaurant. And, she said, they share the “same work ethic and the same tastes” and get along well.
“I sort of knew what he wanted, and we were always on the same page,” Alsedek explained. “It was very collaborative, but Don gave me full artistic license. We agreed on the message we’re putting out and how to get it out.”
The two siblings also have a younger brother, who is not in theater but whom Alsedek calls “very artistic.”
Other than seeing more theater, Alsedek prefers to remain a little vague about her future plans, including where she may end up living. She does say, “there’ll be some trips and visiting people—both were difficult to pull off,” while working full-time-plus—and there will be “no deadlines.”
Alsedek acknowledges she’ll “truly miss” tech week, when all the elements, all the artists, come together and the play gels.
“There is always a certain wonder in that magical week before the show opens,” she said.
She’ll also think with nostalgia about the “dark, quiet theater with only the sounds of the artists at work. It can be very spiritual.”
Speaking of “spiritual,” she expects to devote more time to her hobby of a decade—studying and creating the sacred art of Byzantine iconography. While today the term is most closely associated with wooden panel painting, in Byzantium, icons could be crafted in many media, including ivory.
Alsedek also hopes to spend more time outdoors—she loves the seashore and mountains and once was an active kayaker.
Unequivocally, though, Alsedek says she’s “really happy” the time for retirement has come.
What message does she have for other costume designers? Ironically, she said, the greatest satisfaction often comes when their work isn’t noticed.
“If clothes don’t get in the way, if people don’t think about it, but about the acting and what a great show it was, I’ve done my job,” she said. “I’m there to support the actors.”
To learn more about Open Stage of Harrisburg, visit www.openstagehbg.com.
