Published:
By Amy J. Barry
Raven Ong didn’t try on a lot of careers before he found his passion as a costume designer. Over the past 15 years, the prolific assistant professor in the Central Connecticut State University Theater program has created costumes for more than 25 world premieres.
Ong’s work has been featured in hit musicals in his native city of Manila, including “Waitress,” “Kinky Boots,” “Matilda,” and “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.”
Since he moved to the U.S. in 2014, Ong has designed costumes for numerous productions at Red House Arts Center in Syracuse, N.Y., including “La Cage Aux Folles,” for which he received a Syracuse Area Live Theatre Award for Best Costume Design.
In Connecticut, where he now resides, Ong created costumes for Playhouse on Park’s “Pride and Prejudice” in West Hartford and Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s “Spelling Bee,” “Sense and Sensibility,” “The Laramie Project,” and “King Lear.”
In 2007, Ong obtained his undergraduate degree in Production Design at De La Salle – College of Saint Benilde, School of Design and Arts. In 2017, he received his MFA in Costume Design from the University of Connecticut. He is in his fifth year of teaching courses for Central’s Theatre with Specialization in Technology, Design and Production program.
No summer slowdown
In Ong’s fast-paced career, summer vacation is a bit of an oxymoron. Not only did he design costumes for four theatrical premieres, but they were among the most challenging of his career.
Ong’s costumes are featured in a triptych of Shakespeare plays by DE-CRUIT Productions, a national nonprofit that supports veterans by employing theater as a tool for processing trauma. The three plays, adaptations of “Richard III,” “Macbeth” and “Henry VI” — staged respectively as “The Head of Richard,” “Make Thick My Blood” and “She-Wolf” — just finished a three-week run at Manhattan’s Studio Theatre. All three two-actor plays have different directors and costumes.
“It was amazing to work with DE-CRUIT,” Ong says. “Their mission is to be of service to the community and use methods to heal trauma. It gives theater a lot more substance. They have adapted each of these plays in a very clever way, focusing on specific types of trauma.”
For instance, “The Head of Richard” highlights the fraught relationship between a mother and son. “Make Thick My Blood” focuses on the trauma of losing a child — for which Ong articulates the highly detailed process that went into creating Lady Macbeth’s costume.
“It’s a highly choreographed play with a lot of dance,” Ong explains. “It was an incredible collaboration to make it work and feel magical. I designed a full overlap circle skirt with snap closures around her waist that are easy for her to unsnap at the end [when she dies] to reveal a bloody nightgown. It’s the most complex costume I built for all three plays.”
“I want to give a shout out to Central,” Ong adds, “for being so very generous to let me use the costume shop to conduct the fittings for these plays.”
Ong also designed costuming for “The Ecstasy of Victoria Woodhull” featuring a clairvoyant channeling the spirit of Woodhull—a Suffragette, owner of a Wall Street firm, progressive New York City newspaper, and first woman to run for president.
Last March Sean Harris, artistic director of Playhouse on Park Theater Company asked Ong if he would collaborate on this new play that was going on tour.
“I went to California during spring break to meet with the director, playwright, and actor,” Ong says. “The play is a long journey told by one actor, and they thought there needed to be a costume change when the spirit of Victoria Woodhall inhabits her body. I said, ‘Why not create one costume with different layered components that build throughout the play?’
“The role of costume design is to support the idea of storytelling,” Ong adds. “In this case, the adding on of each element had to make sense as the story progresses.”
The play finished its runs in Hollywood and New York City this summer and it was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland in mid-August. Thanks to a grant from Central, Ong flew to London to take a short course on hand embroidery and creating latex costumes. While he weas there, he was able to catch a performance of “Victoria Woodhull” at the festival.
His other hat…
Ong says becoming a university level educator has also been “an amazing journey.”
He teaches a broad repertoire of classes at Central including Fundamentals of Theater Design, the history of fashion, period styles, and costume construction.
He says he gives a lot of attention to the creative process and seeing his students’ growth.
“I help make them aware they have a gift,” Ong says. “My job as professor is to highlight skills and encourage my students to go further. It’s magical for me to see them at the beginning—afraid to even draw—and very proud of their work at the end, designing and creating costumes.”