Today we’d like to introduce you to Suwatana (Pla) Rockland
Hi Suwatana, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Before I became a costume designer, I was a professional dancer, actor, choreographer, and director of stage and television productions. I worked in commercial dance/theatre in Thailand and another East Asian country with various jobs such as music-videos, movies, television, fashion shows and other commercial events. These experiences allowed me to understand how design is impacted by the perspective of the venue, the objective of the director and the lens of the viewer.
After I married and came to America, I started everything all over again. While I had an established reputation in Thailand, I was not known in the United States. I had difficulty with this cultural and language shift, and it was rough at times, but I never gave up. In Thailand, my career was at a peek. Here, I felt like I was starting over.
Recalling my early interest in teaching in Thailand, where I started by teaching children in my home after school. I found myself teaching jazz dance at the Loveland Dance Academy in Loveland, Colorado. I taught there until my pregnancy with my first child was near term. After, my child was about 7 months old, I wanted to return to work. I missed the sense of purpose and value I had experienced.
One day, my husband took me to see Fort Collins, Colorado where there were various street vendors and stores selling international goods. There, I noticed that many of the goods they were selling were from Thailand! This gave me an idea! If there was a market for products from Thailand, certainly, I would be able to navigate the logistics of meeting this demand! That day, my husband and I went home with our seven-month-old daughter, and I collected clothes, fabrics, and hand craft products that I had brought from Thailand, and we headed back to Fort Collins. I put these items in a box under the baby stroller and we started paying visits to the vendors we had noticed that morning. At each shop, I asked the owner if there might be interest in seeing some unique items that I import from Thailand. I told them I had some products from Thailand and that I am Thai. To my surprise, our impromptu experiment resulted in selling out the items I had brought and my first batch of wholesale clients!
I felt energized and wanted to investigate this new possibility further. My husband was impressed with my salesmanship and ability to think and respond quickly to an entrepreneurial opportunity unfolding before our eyes. In the main tourist area, we noticed a large Asian imports store named Nepal Tibet Imports. “Why not check it out,” we said to each other. Entering the store, I met and spoke with the owners who were experienced importers from Nepal. Not only did the owners show interest in my products, but being impressed with my personality and business approach, they also offered me a unique business opportunity. They told me that if I was opening my own store or booth that they would allow me to take any of their items and to pay them 50% as sales occurred monthly. Being able to start selling imported items without an upfront inventory purchase meant I could start as soon as I could establish a location from which to sell. I started small with a booth location and eventually opened a store in Colorado and later one in Arizona. Today, the owner of the Nepal import store in Colorado is my good friend.
As an importer I had both wholesale and retail business for 10 years, but this came to an end in 2009 with the economic crash and the decreased value of the US dollar. In order to eliminate the overhead cost of the store, I closed my retail business and did wholesale from home, while teaching jazz and musical theatre dance at the Tucson Academy of Music and Dance and Flor de Liz Dance studio. One day, I want to learn more about men’s clothing, I remembered that the manager at Men’s Wearhouse had often come shopping in my import store, so I went there and told him I wanted to apply to work in his store. He told me that as a salesperson it will be difficult to sell Men’s suits during summer because it is hot in Tucson, Arizona, so he suggested I consider working as a Tailor and told me someone would teach me. I accepted his offer with excitement because the woman assigned to teach me, who was head seamstress, was also Thai and had studied at a well know institution for clothing design and fabrication in Thailand. When I went to the store, I learned that the seamstresses or tailors were paid at a higher hourly rate and salespeople were rewarded with commission. While I had owned my own store and had designed clothing and jewelry that others would in turn make for me to sell in my store, my skill level with alterations was missing. Fortunately, my Thai friend at Men’s Wearhouse patiently guided me and gave me skills that were later a huge draw for me to be accepted into the MFA in Costume Design when my husband was hired by Kent State as Coordinator of their Dance Division in Ohio.
Because of my seamstress and dance skills and knowledge of Thai culture, many new opportunities opened for me at Kent State. There, I taught costume construction, make-up and wig design, Introduction to Thai Culture and I created a new organization with my husband called East Meets West. Through this organization, I designed costumes and choreographed works performed with the Kent State Thai Music ensemble and on stages at Kent and in Thailand. While at Kent, I also began being hired as a costume designer for professional theatres in Ohio. The year after graduating from Kent, I continued my freelance design work while being an Adjunct Professor within Kent’s School of Theatre and Dance. After one year, I was hired as a full-time costume designer, costume shop supervisor and costume professor at The College of Wooster. All this while continuing to build my freelance portfolio of work which today includes work with the Cleveland Playhouse, Cleveland Public Theatre, Dobama Theatre, Karamu House, Beck Center for the Arts, The Ohio Light Opera, Porthouse Theatre, Case Western Reserve University MFA Acting Program, Player Guilds Theatre, Guest designer at Baldwin Wallace University and the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe in Florida.
Looking back at all my experiences in theatre and dance, I feel fortunate that I was able to adapt and stay positive. Sometimes it was difficult, and I felt like I was beginning over again. However, with the love and support of my family I persevered as I realized that the expansion of my knowledge would always add value and opportunities. This enabled me to embrace change and become a Costume Designer and Educator.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It depends on what you want to look at. Life is like a road, sometimes smooth and sometimes you hit a bump or even a pothole. Costume Design is my new career, and it is the career that I love! However, it is not a stress-free job. Last minute costume changes for a show that opens within days, lead actors getting sick before the show opens and the sudden need to costume an understudy, are a couple of the challenges that might result in late night alterations and trouble shooting. I always try to stay calm and smile and focus on making the best choices for every situation. Another challenge is that most of the plays I design are period plays that include new and old scripts. Some of the plays may be well-known in America, but my undergraduate theatre and dance degree and professional work in Thailand focused on East Asian works. Fortunately, the education I received with my MFA at Kent State, especially in courses such as Script Analysis and Costume History gave me the skills and approach to research each design assignment and feel confident in the collaborative process with directors. In fact, I love doing research and learning history at the same time. This helps me to understand the play and the director’s interpretation and vision. Sometimes, language in a play is unique to a particular setting or character. This requires an additional level of research.
With a supportive family and colleagues that span the decades of my career, I generally am confident as I maintain a positive, flexible, and collaborative attitude. Not every show is a great success. I have learned from both failure and success. Each lesson makes me stronger and a better designer and educator.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As a Designer and teacher, I never stop learning. I love to learn new things to improve my skills. I love to give people opportunities as I have been given by my teacher, Patravadi Mejudhon. I always tell my students, “If you give up, please look at me. I came to American at age 30 and did not speak English well and now, I am your professor. If I can do it, you can do it too. Keep practicing, be humble and have no ego, be honest and be nice to everyone because theatre work requires collaboration. Keep doing research and practice. I tell my students to “learn by doing,” as “I am still learning every day. I am here for you and believe in you”
One area I specialize in is using repurposed materials. I love to teach students how to use old clothing and trash that people are not using anymore to create costumes, jewelry, and accessories. I wanted my students to think out of the box, repurpose and do not waste.
As a Designer, I always think about how the performers will feel in their costumes. Will they be restricted or feel complete and fully engaged in their character? If I was performing their role, would the costume support and reflect my character? I use that thought process again when the actors try on their costumes. I ask them how they feel and to try some of their lines and movement.
My learning does not end with the finished design. I always ask friends and audience members their thoughts on the play and how the costumes contributed. I take all the feedback to continue to improve my work. I create the characters from the play integrating the visions of the director and playwriter, but the learning process continues even after the show opens. The costumes should tell the audience, who the character is, what the time period is and where the scene takes place.
Today, I teach Costume Design, Costume Construction, and Makeup for Performance while designing both Theatre and Dance productions at the College of Wooster. My upcoming shows are Purlie Victorious, a 1950s period play at Karamu House in Cleveland opening now through October 20, and the 1960’s play Boeing Boeing at the College of Wooster that opens October 24, 2024.
As a Designer and Educator, I am devoted to ongoing learning and skill enhancement. I take pleasure in imparting knowledge to my students and providing them with opportunities, just as my mentor, Patravadi Mejudhon, did for me. I encourage my students to persevere, hoping that my journey, as a non-English speaker who came to America at age 30 and is now their professor, inspires their own confidence. Feeling fortunate and thankful for all the help I have received during my career, I encourage my students to embrace humility and maintain a growth mindset. Never take relationships or opportunities for granted. Always do your best and seek collaboration. Seeing my students realize their objectives and expand their creative work is immensely satisfying.
www.plarocklanddesign.com
Instagram – plarocklanddesign
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.plarocklanddesign.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plarocklanddesign/
