Theatre Arts faculty member draws prestigious Drama Desk Award nomination

May 19, 2015 Andrew Bruso

Andrea Varga, associate professor in the Department of Theatre Arts at SUNY New Paltz, has been nominated for a 2015 Drama Desk Award in the category of “Outstanding Costume Design” for her work in the Mint Theatre Company production of George Kelly’s “The Fatal Weakness.”

The Drama Desk Awards are awarded annually by a committee of theater critics, editors, reporters and publishers. They uniquely recognize the achievements of both Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, and nominations are therefore drawn from a much wider body of works than other theater awards.

As the only Off-Broadway play nominated in this category, “The Fatal Weakness” is being recognized for superior design achieved with a much leaner budget than the larger productions it is up against.

“I’m not the least bit surprised that Andrea has been nominated for the Drama Desk Award,” said Jack Wade, chair of the Department of Theatre Arts. “Her work both on-campus and professionally always reflects incredible mastery of the art of costume design. The department could not be prouder of this amazing achievement and of Professor Varga’s invaluable contributions to Theatre Arts and the College at large.”

Varga’s name appears alone on the list of nominees, but she acknowledged that this honor results from a collaborative effort that included two New Paltz colleagues.

Eleanor Wolfe, the costume shop manager for the Department of Theatre Arts, helped to bring Varga’s designs into being by custom-crafting costumes for the performance.

“I couldn’t have done this if I hadn’t had Eleanor working with me,” Varga said. “To me, this is a co-award, because there’s no way people would have noticed the costumes for the show if she hadn’t built them so beautifully.”

Jena Goldberg ’13 (Theatre Arts – Performance & Technical) worked as an assistant to Varga on this production, and parlayed that job into a full-time position as wardrobe supervisor for the Mint Theater Company.

“Andrea was like my unofficial advisor,” Goldberg said. “She always stressed the importance of having a good work ethic. I had a great time working with her in a professional setting, and I can’t imagine where I would be without her and without the connections I made at SUNY New Paltz.”

Varga said that her work in the profession is vital to her ability to prepare students of the Design and Technology concentration, which has seen enrollment increase by five times since 2005 and has cultivated job placement rates that rate alongside the strongest such programs in the nation.

“This is what I teach: how to enter the industry and be a professional,” she said. “I’m implementing the exact same practices in the classroom as I would in a production, so when students go out and enter the profession, they’re not surprised; they’ve done it.”

Varga will attend the Drama Desk Awards ceremony on May 31 at The Town Hall in New York City. A complete list of nominees for this year’s awards is available online.

More information about the Mint Theater Company production of “The Fatal Weakness” is available on their website. Reviews of the production were published by “The New York Times” and “The Wall Street Journal.”