CURRENTLY STALKING: JOE ENTENMAN
Joe Entenman is no stranger to drama. The School of Communication senior has made a name for himself in the Northwestern theater community by dominating the stage, all without saying a word. How? Entenman is a scenic designer—conceptualizing, designing, and creating dramatic sets for some of the largest shows of the year, including the past two iterations of the Dolphin Show.
A self-described “hands-on building kind of guy”, Entenman is never content to sit still. Instead, he dedicates himself fully to everything he encounters. His somewhat obsessive and perfectionistic temperament is evident both in his work on the stage and in this very conversation. He refuses to pick only one favorite project, only one most challenging set, only one style of theater. Entenman is a frenetic ball of energy inside of a composed and thoughtful young man. A person that refuses to be only one thing.
That internal and external dichotomy is evident in many aspects of Entenman’s life, from his work in the theater to his personal style. Entenman is a modern and dynamic personality in a classic wardrobe. He is a born performer who clearly enjoys the spotlight, but who is content to shine from behind the scenes. If nothing else, he is hard to pin down.
Most recently, Entenman’s love of place and space has manifested itself in Art Box: the miniscule exhibition space that appeared on the Lakefill earlier this month wrapped in gold, a not-so-subtle gift to the Northwestern arts community. Since then, Entenman has been his devoted and tenacious self, spending hours promoting and perfecting his passion project. STITCH met up with Entenman outside of Art Box to learn more about his design passions, his fashion faux pas, and his plans for the future.
Tell me about Art Box.
Art Box is a brainchild of mine. It’s meant to be a micro arts venue. A challenge we face as artists on this campus is that our audiences tend to be full of other artists. While it’s great to have your peers see your work and it’s great to have the informed few engage in dialogue with you and your work, what we’re really striving for as a community is to expand our reach and our impact to members of the community who might not know what art goes on, on this campus. We have a vibrant arts scene, but sometimes it passes under the radar to people who aren’t already in the know. The hope with Art Box is that by taking the art and putting it out in a high traffic place like the lakefill and having it constantly filled with people’s projects and showcasing different student artists, that we could reach more people. It’s a collaboration and a co-production from a number of different groups on this campus, and I sort of sit in the middle.
Why the Lakefill?
At the outset, we knew that we wanted to put it in a high traffic area, an area that’s frequented by all sorts of members of the Northwestern community. The lakefill was an obvious choice because it’s a thing that everyone has ownership of. There isn’t one demographic on campus that can stake a claim to the lakefill. It’s a place for everyone. We were excited about the diversity in the audience that’s out here. It’s also gorgeous out here. It’s an area of high visibility and high traffic.
What is there to see at Art Box?
This week, starting on Monday, we had a sound designer do an interactive sound installation where you would play with microphones and it would change the music that was being generated by the computer. Right now we’re showcasing a supercut of Disney weddings. All of Disney’s animated weddings back to back, with an informational packet that gives you background and dramaturgical information about the time period and the culture in which the wedding is theoretically taking place. We have performances interspersed, tonight we have an open mic night. We’re working with about 20-25 student artists, presenting their work throughout the quarter. We’re working right now to get more people involved and aware.
Tell me about set design. Why is it so important to you?
As a set designer, I’m responsible for everything from working with directors and collaborating to generate a physical world that feels appropriate for the story they’re trying to tell to working with a technical team to bring that idea to life. Construction is always a thing that has been fun to me, but it’s the imagining of the world and the developing of the design that really holds my passion. The space a story is told in can really do a lot to elevate the story and deepen its impact on an audience, or do the opposite and put up a barrier in between the work and a group of people who are trying to participate and experience and engage with it. For me, it’s a wonderful opportunity to be able to start in a black empty room and construct an environment that tells a story and connects with people.
What is one of the hardest shows you’ve worked on in terms of set design?
Titanic was the Dolphin show last year. It’s a musical which is tied together by this mechanical feat of impossibility, the ship of dreams. It’s referred to in the script as the pinnacle of modern human achievement. Rendering a space onstage that lives up to that, but also lends focus and gives the characters a point of connection to each other was daunting. So that was fun to sink my teeth into and to bring a team together to solve. That was challenging.
Tell me about your personal style.
I’m not really going for anything. I pay a lot of attention to the cut of a garment. I spend a lot of time moving around. The cut of a garment has to be such that it can move but that there isn’t a lot of extra fabric so that it stays the same shape even after I’ve done calisthenics.
I’ve been leaning towards the classic looks lately, the collared shirts in the classic styles. It’s easier. You can put on a collared shirt and there’s your outfit; it’s fine. As a guy, you put on a pair of jeans and it looks like you tried in the morning. They always match. I try to keep it playful. We had to wear collars in high school, so I’ve been comfortable in collared shirts for a while. They’re my go-to. It’s a security blanket in a lot of ways. It’s the thing I find myself going back to.
I think it strikes a contrast with my personality. The button ups and the belts and the vests and the jackets are more formal than I carry myself in casual company. I like to think I’m more fun than someone who would classically wear dress shirts every day.
Do you have a go-to outfit?
Skinny jeans, probably a blue or a purple button up, a brown leather belt, and brown leather shoes. Oxfords. You can’t go wrong.
How does being a set designer affect the way you dress?
It keeps me aware of the message I’m sending visually. Being a set designer, your currency is the visual world. People are always experiencing you in that context. It’s important to dress with an eye towards that. I enjoy the architecture of a stiff collared shirt. It has line, it has shape. That is fun to me.
Your style is quite subdued, but your personality is so energetic. Do you think that contrast mirrors your set design aesthetic, that you never want a set to outshine the play itself?
You never want the set to be the star of the show. The goal is for the human story that the actors are telling on stage to be the focus. The main point of connection that your audience is going to have is the people that they’re watching inhabit the space together and build relationships and interact with each other. When I’m designing sets and creating worlds and spaces, it’s about elevating that and focusing that and lending form to that. I’d never thought about it in terms of the relationship my personality has to the way I dress myself, but it’s a good comparison.
