Ming-Yen Ho, winner of the 2009 USITT (United
States Institute for Theatre Technology) Makeup
Design Ward, conducted a one-week wig-making workshop
at TNUA in May, at the invitation of the Department
of Theatrical Design and Technology.
Ho revealed that she worked at Cloud Gate Dance Theatre
managing costumes for three years after graduating
from the department in 1996. The experience at Cloud
Gate was immensely helpful.
She explained that she had had many theatrical experiences
while still at school. It was easier working in school
productions where every tool and material would be
readily available. But it is much different working with a
professional grop on tour, Ho said. They have to deal with
such contingencies as insufficient props or delayed arrival
of baggage.
These are tests of the capabilities of the workers that
may not be seen at school, she said. But with each difficulty
one grows and matures.
To realize her dream of becoming a makeup designer
in the film industry, Ho furthered her studies at the University
of North Carolina School of Arts, specializing in
makeup and wig designs.
She subsequently won the USITT’s Young Designer
and Technician Award in 2009 and the first prize at the
2010 International Make-Up Artist Trade Show (IMATS)
in Los Angeles.
In the US and Europe, special makeup designs are important
for achieving visual effects in theatrical productions,
Ho said. But in Taiwan, there is still much room for
improvement in this area.
Now a wig designer of the House of Dancing Water at
Macau’s Grand Hyatt Hotel, Ho brought along various
kinds of wig to the workshop to help explain the use of
different materials, the skills of combing, preserving and
making, as well as the steps of putting them on.