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THEATRE

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Photo courtesy of iaindc

Last night, my family and I had a real treat. In the midst of an impossibly busy week, we took time out to sit in a darkened theatre and be transported to another land and another time.  As the lights dimmed and the orchestra swelled, we were suddenly in 1905 Russia, with Tevye, his wife Golde and their five daughters.  The man sitting next to me hummed along with every song, and I mouthed the words.  Like much of the rest of the audience, I found myself grinning at Tevys’s dancing–and crying when he declared his daughter, Chava, dead to him.

*sigh*

This morning, the tunes from Fiddler on the Roof are still running through my head.  For me, there’s not much more inspiring and beautiful than a staged musical.

One my family’s resolutions this year is to see more theatre.  And we’ve made good on that promise already.  In January, we saw Arsenic and Old Lace and a community college production of Greater Tuna. I’m not sure what’s next.

Like many folks, I believe art (of all kinds) provides the gorgeous background to a sometimes drab world.  Art makes me think, while invoking emotions that can be otherwise hard to access.  I’ve found myself moved by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Martha Graham, Edgar Degas, Mary OliverAmy Ray and Oscar Wilde. Art has become a centerpiece of my daily life.

But if you grew up thinking that art and mathematics were mutually exclusive entities, I hope you’ve been disabused of that notion.  If not, stay tuned.

Here at Math for Grownups, February is all about art.  I’ll introduce you to some amazing artists — like Elizabeth Perkins, one of my former math students, who is now a highly conceptual glass artist.  These creative souls will help make the connections between art and math.

And we’ll delve into some of the more esoteric aspects of mathematics that form the underpinnings of natural beauty, classic art and modern music–like symmetry, the golden ratioand Fibonacci’s Sequence.

If art provides the beauty of the world, math describes it.  From poetry to glass sculptures to song, math is at the heart of all artistic endeavors.  I hope you’ll join me this month as we uncover the beauty of the world around us–with math.

What is your favorite artistic form?  Music, paintings, theatre, writing? Share your thoughts about math and art in the comments section below. And if you’ve always had a question about the connections between art and math, ask.  I’d love to explore the answer in a post this month.Save

Katie Curry

Two things you should know: First off, I once worked in the marketing and public relations department at Virginia Stage Company, an Equity theatre.  Second, I love to sew (and don’t have enough time these days to delve into my stash of fabric).  So, I am absolutely thrilled to welcome Katie Curry to Math for Grownups today.  As a costume designer and technician, she’s worked for the Berry College Theatre Company and the Atlanta Shakespeare Festival. She recently started her own venture called Nancy Raygun Costuming that caters to folks who are into cosplayand conventions or just want a fun costume.

What do you do for a living?

I design and build costumes for theatre productions as well as make custom clothing for individuals. I sketch my ideas and then make them into real pieces for people to wear.

When do you use basic math in your job?

I use basic math every time I sit down to work. Sewing is full of fractions — the standard seam allowance is 5/8 of an inch — and drafting costume pieces is all about angles where different pieces meet. It would slow me down a whole lot if I couldn’t add and subtract fractions as I go.

Do you use any technology to help with this math?

Most of the time I just end up using the calculator on my phone or just old school pencil and paper when I’m figuring out how much I need to take in a garment or that kind of thing. There are a number of computer-assisted drafting programs that can come in handy when it comes to design, but since I’m just getting started I don’t have all the fun toys that a lot of designers do. So for now, just a calculator and some brain power.

How do you think math helps you do your job better?

From Eurydice, a play by Sarah Ruhl, at the Berry College Theatre Company in 2010.

With just the actor’s measurements, you can draft costume pieces just using a little math. That means, you don’t have to go through the tons of fittings to drape a pair of pants.  Just put the measurements into a series of equations, and you get the exact lengths and angles that you need to draw in order to start construction.

How comfortable with math do you feel?

I am in no way comfortable with math. I have never been the type who could make sense out of a lot of numbers, so I was pretty bummed when I walked into my first costuming classes and was immediately handed a ruler. It took me a while to warm up to the idea that I would be doing math regularly, when all I wanted to do was make costume pieces. But once you see the end results of a long drafting session, everything starts to make a lot more sense. I don’t feel incredibly comfortable with a lot of other math outside of my profession, though. I can do basic things like balance my checkbook, but don’t ask me complicated things about statistics unless you just want a blank stare.

What kind of math did you take in high school?

In high school I took the simplest math I could get away with. I’ve taken algebra I and II, geometry and statistics and I’ve disliked every one of them.  If I brought home a B in an English class it was a travesty, but if I brought home a C+ in a math class the sentiment was, “All you have to do is try your best and somehow manage to pass.” I am in no way a math-minded individual, so I’ve always tried to avoid doing it as much as I can.

From The Beaux’ Stratagem, by George Farquhar, at the Berry College Theatre Company in 2010.

Did you have to learn new skills in order to do this math for your job?

I definitely had to learn new skills for building costumes. Costume drafting isn’t exactly something that gets covered in high school math classes, so there were a lot of equations and fractions that I was unfamiliar with that I needed to get very comfortable around. Despite the fact that I’d taken classes that were fraction heavy, I’d never actually had to use them on a daily basis until I started sewing every day.

Do you have questions for Katie?  (Do you need a costume?) Ask them in the comments section, and she’ll come by sometime to respond.