Scarred Inside and Out

Designers

How amazing prosthetics reflect a soldier’s internal anguish

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Some shows featuring disfigured characters eschew complicated makeup in favor of asking viewers to imagine how they look (see The Elephant Man and Violet). But for the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Ugly Lies the Bone — Lindsey Ferrentino’s heartrending play about a severely burned vet (Mamie Gummer) trying to resume her life in her small Florida hometown — the creative team wanted audiences to get a stark picture of what she’s grappling with. So they turned to Vincent T. Schicchi and Thomas Denier, Jr., a pair of prosthetics masters with extensive experience in film, TV, and theatre, who recently teamed up to form a collaborative studio. Their shockingly realistic scars complement Gummer’s searing performance as we watch her struggle with intense physical and emotional pain. The red, scaly burns blistering across her face, neck, and body mirror her inner turmoil as she tries to repair her broken body and relationships.

That said, unlike many movie shoots when Schicchi and Denier only have a few days to prepare, the duo had four weeks to develop the pieces for Ugly Lies the Bone, which allowed them to create impressive and easy-to-apply prosthetics. “We used encapsulated silicone pieces, creating a vinyl skin with dewy silicone sandwiched in between,” says Schicchi. “Instead of standard greasepaint, we went with these alcohol colors that don’t rub off. These pieces are thinner than deli-sliced turkey because we didn’t want to restrict Mamie’s movement, or give her issues with turning her head or opening her eyes. We thought it would take about 90 minutes to apply but I give makeup artist Kelly Budd credit for this, within a week she was able to whittle it down to an hour with a 10-minute removal process. If this was a film, we would anchor it for a 14-hour day. But Mamie needs to get in and out of it quickly, especially on two-show days.”

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Photos by Joan Marcus

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