COMMANDING THE STAGE

From humble beginnings on the beaches of Bohol, to a glittering career on Broadway, Clint Ramos brings worlds together with his multi-award winning set and costume designs. This year, the Filipino designer has been nominated for two Tony Awards for his work on the highlyacclaimed ‘Slave Play' and ‘The Rose Tattoo'.

From humble beginnings on the beaches of Bohol, to a glittering career on Broadway, Clint Ramos brings worlds together with his multi-award winning set and costume designs. This year, the Filipino designer has been nominated for two Tony Awards.

New York-based set and costume designer Clint Ramos made history in 2016, becoming the first Filipino – in fact, the first person of colour – to receive a Tony Award for Best Costume Design in a Play. “I don't take that honour and responsibility lightly. I feel a lot of weight on my shoulders to use that prize to inspire young artists of colour to enter the world of theatre design,” said Ramos in an interview with The Peninsula magazine that year. “I am also very tired.”

Tired he might have been, but Ramos continued to go from strength to strength which has resulted in two Tony Award nominations this year for his work on two highly acclaimed Broadway shows - ‘Slave Play' and ‘The Rose Tattoo' - quite a feat for the Filipino designer.

Jeremy O. Harris's ‘Slave Play' directed by Robert O'Hara became the most Instagrammed and talked about set design of the season with its use of multiple dissected mirrors which captured both the performers and the audience in front of them.

Ramos has also been nominated in the ‘Best Costume Designer' category for his work on ‘The Rose Tattoo' starring Marisa Tomei, for whom he created a wardrobe that allowed her character's immigrant status to be highlighted in a way that it never had been before.

When it comes to his work, Ramos does not only exert himself physically – he is also spiritually and mentally invested in each of his projects, approaching them with an empathy and compassion that brings a subtle yet significant personal touch to the stage.

His intricate designs have been described by critics as “meticulously detailed” by Variety, “evocative” by the Hollywood Reporter, and as “taking much research, labour, and talent to pull off” by Vanity Fair.

“When it comes to theatre, I've always been fascinated about where these world dramas were set and the human beings that inhabit them. The physicality of these worlds really intrigues me,” Ramos explains, adding that he had originally wanted to be a director. He even majored in it in college, but decided to pursue design because he felt that it was something he could control better.

“Directing is very unwieldy. Also, with design, one really has more opportunity to immerse oneself in a physical realm, whether it is current or historical or fantastical, and I love that,” he says. “The set and costume design frames and dictates how you watch and figure out the piece. It is your roadmap to the story; it is invaluable. And when it is good, it should do what is required of it – sometimes to recede and sometimes to punctuate.”

Take the sets and costumes that Ramos designed for ‘Eclipsed', the play for which he received his first Tony Award, for example. Starring Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o, ‘Eclipsed' is about a group of women in the midst of the Liberian Civil War. “Having grown up in a developing country with periods of political unrest, I was emotionally familiar with the milieu. What I was not so familiar with was the physical world, so I immersed myself in research and designed both the sets and the costumes from there,” says Ramos of his concept for the play. “I wanted it to be in documentary style with a theatrical flair. I like to place the realism in a frame, and present it in a theatrical box."

Ramos' upbringing in the Philippines is a constant source of inspiration for the designer. Growing up surrounded by the tropical beauty of Cebu and Bohol, it's easy to see where he gets his affinity for bright colours and his talent for juxtaposing different forms, shapes and textures. “Growing up in the Philippines also gave me the visual education on the how difficult the human condition can be, and I am keenly aware of how unjust the world can be and how the human spirit can rise above adversity,” he muses. “I think it's fair to say that if there is anything we are as people, it is resilient - we smile at life's curve balls!”

And smile at such he has. Growing up, there were many situations where Ramos had the odds stacked against him, but rather than allow it to affect him negatively, he chose to embrace what made him different. “I've always felt like I was on the outside looking in. Growing up gay in the Philippines made me feel like I was different. Although there was so much love in my family, I always knew that I wasn't like my siblings. I was also overweight when I was a kid, and that contributed to me feeling excluded. Then I was sent away to school in Manila and being from Cebu, and finally immigrating to the United States, and being an ethnic minority here, I decided long ago that this was just my fate and I should harness this viewpoint to my advantage. I am a keen observer; I notice things that are invisible to people who belong.”

Ramos is currently working on the costumes for ‘Respect', the Aretha Franklin biopic starring Jennifer Hudson, scheduled to open in the fall of this year, as well as the set design for ‘The Outsiders'. “I love collaborating and being a part of a team that thinks in a community way. I work with people who don't believe in silos. We give each other notes,” said Ramos in a recent interview with Town & Country magazine.

With all this in the pipeline, it seems indeed that this talented designer can truly call the world stage his oyster…