She did not want to be named because she works in the theater industry. "I'm proud as hell." ", Watson says that in July 2020, he did indeed complain to their union, United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829 IATSE, but that according to union rules at the time, no action could be taken because the alleged incidents occurred more than 60 days prior. "I'm a bachelor in the old sense of the word, meaning I flirt, I have very many close relationships, but then I come home and like to read my book. Watson published a personal essay about his allegations on Medium in March 2020. He reciprocated in kind. William Ivey Long's income source is mostly from being a successful Costume Designer. Lane shouted to Long when he saw me standing beside him, notebook in hand. While at Yale he studied under designer Ming Cho Lee, whom he has credited with being a major influence on his work. William Ivey Long, the famed costume designer, gave us an inside look at what inspired him and how he gave the cult classic a modern look. In an August 2018 BuzzFeed News report, Long was accused of having sexually harassed a props assistant while working on The Lost Colony in 1996. A year after Long became the awards' chairman in 2012, The Lost Colony won a Tony Honor for Excellence in Theatre. [7] Long was accused of assaulting a costumer designer during the summer of 2001, and assaulting another props assistant/actor over multiple summers. So, how much is William Ivey Long worth at the age of 74 years old? Long says the . ", Was his being gay difficult for them? After Watson had consumed several drinks, he says, Long invited him over to get a copy of Weber's book. "The Roxies we've had never even had a suntan. I relive all those, and I'm still designing several shows I already designed because I don't think I got them right. "She's just feeling, that's all," he said, as if it were akin to the flu. We were determined to do the right thing about these allegations.". I wanted to go someplace where they could be critical and I could say: 'Too bad, I belong here. "I think to a certain extent that the world is William's significant other," he said. Across the hall is another sanctum with his great-grandmother's Chippendale chairs and walls of books organized by topic: fashion, men and uniforms, oversize folios, interiors, decorative arts and his favorite, architecture. Long assumed he would become a professor like his father and graduated from the College of William and Mary before taking a teaching fellowship at his parents' alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Other recent credits include Young Frankenstein, The Ritz, Chicago, and Curtains. There are two houses in the Berkshires, a brownstone in Chelsea, a farm in Pennsylvania and the rest in North Carolina: five houses in Seaboard, the tiny town where the Long family settled in 1676 and where Long is undertaking an elaborate program of what Rudnick calls "rural renewal"; a historic house in coastal Rose Bay and another two in Manteo, on the Outer Banks, where Long is the production designer for "The Lost Colony," an annual summer pageant about the first American settlers. I, of course, was red in the face. Costume Designer: The Producers. Another Lost Colony worker, a production manager named Mary Elizabeth Stewart (later Beth Butler), filed a lawsuit against the producers of The Lost Colony, RIHA. hide caption. She added that Long had only learned of Stewart's accusations in 2020: "Having lost confidence in the RIHA, he resigned from The Lost Colony. The invitation bore a quote from the critic John Simon's review of "The Lady and the Clarinet," an Off Broadway play from 1983. Seeing Long again after our trip to Seaboard was unexpectedly reassuring. She also questioned the personal credibility of both Watson and Martin, pointing to provocative social media posts from both men. One was from a 98-year-old aunt, who said she wasn't up to seeing him during Christmas. "As he's spreading butter on his biscuits," Watson recounts, Long "starts going into graphic detail about what I had done I thought privately with the assistant the night before. In an attempt to protect Diana from undue (albeit false and defamatory) publicity, Long asked the producers to permit him to step away from the production, and the producers agreed." The race ends back home, any home, surrounded by his books, his projects, his things, safe! "When she wrote about me, I was the clown who cried, and you'll be the costumer who cried. . Moreover, they believe that Broadway (and theater overall) hasn't really grappled with how to ensure the safety of performers, artists and workers, despite some very public reckonings in the film and television world. (The show was suspended in 2020 because of the pandemic, but it returned in 2021.). I was really proud of myself for having snagged a theater job early on, when I was just 20 years old. "I was an actor technician, which basically meant I played extras and appeared in the crowd scenes, and then we would move set pieces around and help out with the production elements. In a series of potentially explosive allegations, Stewart's suit claimed that between 1999 and 2001, multiple people working at The Lost Colony reported to her that Long had sexually assaulted or harassed them. He was squeezing my ass while he was pointing out some texture that I had painted. Read More. I guess I've lost some along the way, but since they're not here, I don't notice. His flow of ideas is continuous -- when he speaks, someone always takes notes -- and his attention to detail is both meticulous and obsessive, whether it is finding the right trim for a dress or insisting that Seaboard fund-raising thank-you notes be postmarked only in Seaboard. "It was great," he remembers. The show is having a splashy rebirth as Broadway tries to emerge from the pandemic: A filmed production began streaming on Netflix on Oct. 1, and the play will have its opening night in New York this Wednesday. Whatever I do, I want it to be serious.". "It was such a contrast to his usual boisterous, comedic self. The 14 houses are 12 houses; Long restores houses the way other people knit. After presenting a list of demands on equity and safety to the producers, many of their concerns were addressed. hide caption, From then on, Martin remembers, Long made a point of singling him out. It was here that he met Sigourney Weaver (his roommate at the time), Wendy Wasserstein, Meryl Streep, Christopher Durang, and Paul Rudnick, who were all also students at the university. ", He made Vanity Fair's "International Best Dressed" list in 2015. ", Forget about avoiding intimacy -- he won't even share plumbing. . He really made me feel like he was my mentor. For reasons that Watson says he still doesn't fully understand, his Medium essay didn't attract much attention until that July when, he says, it went viral within the theater world. Most recently, a re-creation of iconic outfits worn by the Princess of Wales: a meringue-like wedding dress, floppy bow ties and power shoulder pads for Diana: The Musical. How lucky was he, Watson thought, as just a college student, to have the chance to learn from the very best in the business a true legend in Broadway costume design. ", "They died in 1998, six weeks apart after being married for 52 years," Long said. Costume Design. Anyone can read what you share. [4][5] He was the first working theatre artist to hold this position since Helen Hayes. You could say there's something lost about William Ivey Long. In 1975, Long moved into a $400-a-month apartment at the seedy Chelsea Hotel, two floors below his idol, the eccentric . Long, on his knees, reached up and pushed her breasts closer together before starting to pin. Over the decades, it became a hub for theater kids to spend their summers, often on breaks between college semesters, working alongside seasoned professionals. Here was a man who created the indelible looks for a generation of theater shows: The sultry, sexy look of Chicago, with all those fishnets and silky black garments cut up to there. He was elected in 2012. According to Watson, Long gathered his team together, and shouted at them: "There is no such thing as sexual harassment in the American theater. It was a system of constant pressure that was fostered by the people who worked with him. It turns out that for 10 years, Mary Long played Queen Elizabeth there in "The Lost Colony," and that is where she preferred to spend eternity. Born in Seattle, William Ivey (1919-1992) originally planned to become a lawyer, but an interest in drawing led him to take classes at Cornish School in Seattle. Bruce Glikas/WireImage According to this cast member, the Diana performers did not know about Watson's allegations or the 2002 lawsuit they went to the producers only knowing about the BuzzFeed News article containing Michael Martin's accusations. He hasn't stopped since. Long shook his head. North Carolina native William Ivey Long is one of the most renowned theatrical costume designers working today. The notion of inviting me to stay at his house never seemed to occur to Long, nor did he volunteer to stay with me. ", Fournier also told Martin in that same email exchange that "although we have been retained by the American Theatre Wing to investigate certain matters concerning William Ivey Long, you have been misinformed about the scope of that investigation.". The school will make costumes for the new theaters and the Carolina Ballet in Raleigh. It must have been 20 degrees outside. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. In response, RIHA's Bradley told NPR: "That statement is not accurate.". For more information, go to www.mintmueum.org The exhibition includes a hard cover catalogue, on sale not only at the Mint Museum, but also at other museum gift shops around the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Because they remind you.". His most notable work includes the Broadway shows The Producers, Hairspray, Nine, Crazy for You, Grey Gardens, Young Frankenstein, Cinderella, Bullets Over Broadway and On the Twentieth Century. The town was incorporated in 1877 and renamed Seaboard after the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. ", "Long's creations have had a tendency to become as much of a celebrity as the people who wear them," wrote Encore Magazine's art columnist, Lauren Hodges. "But getting rid of a cancer can only help theater thrive," he says firmly. The next year, a feature in the same magazine approvingly noted the North Carolina native's nine houses and the fact that Long's family were "direct descendants of one of the Virginia Colony's 17th-century royal land grantees. William Ivey Long II (born August 30, 1947) is an American costume designer for stage and film. "It was like a circus family," he said. Suffice to say that if you've seen . Currently Randall lives at the address 240 Antioch Rd, Goldsboro NC 27534.Randall has lived at this Goldsboro, NC address for about 4 years, after moving in around August of 2018. Courtesy of Court Watson . "You're not wearing any underwear.". Michael Martin heard about RIHA's investigation in July 2020 when Bradley sent him a lengthy text, which NPR has viewed, informing him of the investigation and apologizing for "the pain" that Martin had endured. It's why I try to be so thorough, why I work so hard. " Martin says he always shrugged off the invitations. Additionally, NPR has unearthed a 2002 lawsuit and related materials against the Roanoke Island Historical Association, the producing company of The Lost Colony. At that point, Martin says, one of Long's assistants entered the room. I just was like, 'I guess this is the world you're walking into, buddy. Long may be creating his own personal sequel to "The Last Picture Show," but to me, this setup was "In Cold Blood." He works on and off Broadway, in film, television, dance, and opera. The ground floor is a long rectangular loft that has been divided by curtains, half-walls, and boards covered with research photos (of weddings for It Shoulda Been You, a musical directed by David Hyde Pierce that's getting its world premiere at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, N.J., and for . "But later," he continues, "someone else would say to you, 'You have to go, you're not going to miss this opportunity, are you?' "The smallest waist in three counties!" You would expect no less from a designer whose wit and inventiveness have consistently bolstered the standards of musical-theater glitz. In addition, the story said William Ivey Long was elected chairman of the American Theatre Wing in 2013. If these men were so traumatized by Long, Zuchlewski argued, why did they stay in touch with him? Long was also feted in the style pages back in New York. He returned to Florida State University for his senior year, but he says he became so depressed that he dropped out before graduation. Smith had studied playwriting at the Yale School of Drama and encouraged Long to apply as a designer. But Watson and another man named Michael Martin say that while they were under Long's tutelage working as college students at a summer production in North Carolina called The Lost Colony, a show with an outsize influence within the American theater community Long sexually abused them both. He made this incredible leap from farm boy to playwright, though he was never able to make the leap to professional theater. Long supported himself by designing dolls that Wasserstein and Rudnick sold for him. "When I'm excited about a project, I'll take it even if I shouldn't. "I grew up in the stage left dressing room," Long says as he gestures around a tiny, WPA-built stone structure that still stands at Raleigh Little Theatre's outdoor . His mother played one of the lead characters, Queen Elizabeth I, for years. "My abuser was exposed," Watson began, "yet he's still one of the most powerful men on Broadway." In nearby Roanoke Rapids, Randy Parton, brother of Dolly, is among the partners planning to open Carolina Crossroads, an entertainment district, in April 2007. William Ivey Long. Alone in a five-bedroom house in the middle of nowhere? You know how you relive things? (2007), This page was last edited on 17 February 2023, at 15:18. William Ivey Long is a famous American costume designer. hide caption. Another factor, he says, was perhaps a concern especially back in the 1990s and early 2000s that speaking up about abusive behaviors may have meant outing LGBTQ people against their will. "Maybe I don't want to give in and have a family. Martin says that he isn't sure why his accusations went for the most part unheard back in 2018, but he suspects that it was partly due to a deep desire among the theater community not just to shield a particular man, but the whole art form, from criticism. But Andr Bishop, the artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater, which produced "The Frogs" and a number of other Long-designed shows, said: "Most great designers I know are expensive. On Broadway, those worlds took shape in Roxie Hart's lace minidress, Little Edie's headscarves and furs and Tracy Turnblad's feathers. He was born on August 30, 1947 and his birthplace is North Carolina. ", Certainly in the last decade or so, Long's singular flair for color and good-natured glamour has jibed with the increased amount of spectacle on Broadway. But ever the gentleman, Long made a final go at trying to identify what makes him run. The Long family treehouse at work. Costume designer William Ivey Long, then chairman of the American Theatre Wing, speaks at the Tony Awards nominations ceremony in 2014. So, if not a boyfriend, what does he want? "Mother was buried at Manteo, where she was the queen," Long said. Watson adds that what he wrote six years ago is still true: he learned a ton from Long teachings that he still incorporates into his own work but that didn't mean that Long hadn't also taken sexual advantage of him. I'll sign that in blood. "I'd be working on something and then suddenly, someone's behind you, scratching your back, and you turn and see it's William. In a response filed with the court, RIHA denied most of Stewart's allegations but did admit that employees had complained about Long's "abusive behavior.". From 1994 until 2019, Long oversaw its design. I guess this is what a job is, that the boss gets to be a total creep. Spouse. Until the director shows me what way we're going, I don't need to start thinking, which is one of the hardest things, because how can you not start seeing the production as you're reading it? But when he was accepted, he was the only one who celebrated; his parents regarded his career change as quitting. ", Maybe that's why he likes being with his family's furniture more than he liked being with his family. The next morning, Watson says, he and other Lost Colony workers, including several of his colleagues from the show's costume shop, gathered for what Long dubbed "a big plantation-style" group breakfast buffet. He has also won the Drama Desk Award for outstanding costume design for Hairspray, The Producers, Guys and Dolls, Lend Me a Tenor, and Nine. And in between guessing the correct answer and the morphine pump, she would say, 'Oh, I still hope you find some nice girl and settle down and have children, because children are the greatest happiness in anyone's life.' Marriage: 14 November 1883. Self-doubt is literally the twin of self-confidence. He seemed to hesitate as he brought it back to the shelf, as if he might stay. Additionally, Stewart said, her own husband at the time was sexually propositioned by one of Long's assistants, with the intention of having Long watch. After they left, a train whistled mournfully in the deadly silent night, and Mear or no Mear, I hardly slept a wink. But then, he recounts, "William slid his hand down the back of my pants. Along with her written statement to NPR, Zuchlewski provided copies of an undated letter that Martin sent to Long that Long believes was written in 1997, and another one from Martin seeking Long's professional advice, written a few years later. His costume designs will continue to be used . They hugged as he congratulated her before leaving separately for the party at the Metropolitan Club. "He started doing it in front of other people, saying things like, 'I liked your work better yesterday, but then again yesterday you weren't wearing a shirt.' Court Watson joined The Lost Colony at age 19 in the summer of 2000. Harvey Fierstein and Marissa Jaret Winokur onstage in the musical Hairspray in 2008, with costumes by William Ivey Long. I felt like he had already put me through a nightmare experience, and I was hoping for a silver lining to the whole situation.". Stewart claimed sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation, among other complaints. Contact. Instead, he reached out himself to Curley, Hurtgen & Johnsrud LLP, the law firm that ATW had hired to conduct the investigation, to ask why he had not been interviewed. Join Facebook to connect with William Ivey and others you may know. Back home, surrounded by his books, his things, safe Line Railroad designing several I! 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