Soojin Lee is a 2008/2009 double Ovation Nominee for Costume Design - Large Theatre for her designs for THE REHEARSAL and OLIVER TWIST, both at A Noise Within. She was previously nominated in 2007 for her costume design for PARADISE LOST: SHADOWS AND WINGS.
As an Ovation Award Nominee, LA Stage asked Soojin the following questions:
What was the moment that first inspired you to pursue working in the theatre?
I have loved to draw and make things since I was little and I have always wanted to be a painter from then. In my college senior year where I studied fine arts in Korea, I happened to watch the closing ceremony of the France World Cup on TV. When I saw the people performing in their costumes, I was completely inspired and amazed by those creative costumes. It just made me feel alive and my heart started fluttering. It was the moment when I decided to step in the world of costume designs and to work in theaters.
What do you feel made the production you were nominated for particularly successful, either overall or for you specifically?
Team work! All talented people in different fields at the theatres, have worked together as family to create such productions of Oliver Twist” and “Rehearsal.”
What projects are you currently working on?
I have just finished “Noise off” for A Noise Within and I am currently working on “Much Ado About Nothing.”
What do you love most about theatre in Los Angeles?
I love various theaters in Los Angeles that are open to new adventures and diverse audience who are open to those new challenges .
What’s your dream project?
I would say all projects that make my heart race and lead me to grow more as an artist are my dream projects. However, what made my heart pound for the first time when I was little, designing costumes for Olympic ceremony would be my dream project.
BIOGRAPHY: SOOJIN LEE - God Save Gertrude, Paradise Lost: shadow and wings (Ovation nominee), Othello at the Theater@Boston Court , Putting it Together ,A year with Frog and Toad at South Coast Repertory, The Taming of the Shrew , The Rehearsal , Oliver Twist, Henry IV: Part 1, The Winter’s Tale, Dear Brutus, Man of La Mancha, A Touch of the Poet,Noises off at A Noise Within. Touch the water at Cornerstone Theater, Dawn’s light , Voice from Okinawa at East West Players. Invisible Glass at REDCAT, Cabaret at ICT, La Ronde at Zephyr theater and FringeNYC, Book of Tink , Skin, The Masque of the Red Death, Marriage, Fire disease, herStory, Back to the heaven, Dusk, King Lear, Faust, Believe it.
Education/Training: Wimbledon school of Arts ( U.K) , MFA in theatre design from California Institute of the Arts
Website: www.soojinlee.com
For a full list of Ovation nominees, or for information about the Ovation Awards Ceremony on January 11th, click here!
