Anoush Froundjian - Costume Design

 

I was in fourth grade. When you were a fourth grader at Holy Martyrs Armenian Day School, your life changes in a profound way. And not just because you're now an upperclassman, but because from now until the day you graduate, you are at the mercy of one Armenian schoolteacher, a teacher named Nadia Ishgazar. Nadia Ishgazar taught the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders at Holy Martyrs, and she took the essence of the Armenian teacher to a brand-new level. Sure, she had the usual excessive high heel collection, had the Bijan poodle dog named Bijou and also wore what appeared to be all her jewelry. [audience laughter] 

 

But she was also into drama. She wrote and directed all of the plays that we would put on in the school and would be the one who decided what parts you would be assigned to and would possibly identify with for the rest of your life. She was moody and brassy and did not know how to deal with sensitive children. I was different from a lot of the kids in my class growing up. A lot of that had to do with having a mom who was born in the United States. 

 

My parents are both Armenian, but they come from different worlds. My mom was born in the Bronx and works in advertising, and my dad was born in Lebanon and works in suffering for your art. [audience laughter] So, my mom was the Rolling Stones and my dad is the Beatles. So, I knew from a very young age that blending in anywhere would probably not be in the cards for me. 

 

So word on the street was that the next big play that we would be putting on would be a word-for-word translation of Disney's Beauty and the Beast in Armenian. I had to be in it. I mean, this was not your average Sassoon Tavit musical or the one where all the Armenian cheerleaders go, "Hey, hey, hey." [audience laughter] This was something you could invite someone normal to. [audience laughter] So, the day came when Mrs. Ishgazar announced what parts we would be playing. She did it in our Armenian class.

 

So, we are sitting there in our desks connected to chairs. And right off the bat, the part of Belle goes to Diana Cholakyan, and then the part of the sexy duster goes to Ani Zarabian and then the part of one of the girls who fawns over Gaston goes to Louisa Chichian. And then part after part is being given away, even Mrs. Potts. And Mrs. Ishgazar comes over to me and she says, "Anoush, I have a very funny part for you." And I said, "Okay." And she goes, "You are going to play--" and she is at a loss for words. This happens sometimes. 

 

She does not know the English word for the thing she is trying to say, but she is opening and closing her arms like this. And someone says, "Closet," and then someone else says, "Bureau," and then someone else says, "Wardrobe." She says yes to all of those words. I am thinking, is there a closet-bureau-wardrobe in Beauty and the Beast? And there is, because Belle, the beautiful main character, needs something to accidentally bump into the first night when she is in the Beast's castle. And so, I was going to be that. I realized that I was cast as a piece of furniture. [audience laughter] I was thinking, what am I going to do? What am I going to wear? 

 

I am going to be walking around trying to explain what I am to everyone. I thought, how dare this woman cast me in a role that I have been playing my whole life. [audience laughter] Do not get me wrong. The closet-bureau-wardrobe is a very strong character, and she is bubbly. But I did not want to be strong. I just wanted to be pretty and understood and easily understood.

 

I go home and I tell my mom, and I am in tears. I said, "Mom, I am going to be the closet-bureau-wardrobe." She reacts in a way that is like a Geena Davis in Beetlejuice kind of way. Like, “Mom is going to get her.” I do not know what she is going to do, but I know that I am in good hands. [audience laughter] So, I cut to rehearsal. "Ahagu ka hatza corza heru enamen aru IR hatseiro." [audience laughter] Cut to my dining room table, where my mom has this huge box, and she is painting the box white. And cut back to rehearsal. "Gaston me kaji GE vochme gaan horbese ye vochme ga anor be sal he rosse." Cut to our dining room table, where she cuts a hole on either side of the box, and illustrates flowers and vines and with doors that open. 

 

[sings in Armenian]

 

And then, [audience laughter] cut to my dining room table and a matching headpiece that she made with her bare hands. I realized that my mom had made this beautiful, elaborate costume for me and had been fighting for me with the most dangerous weapon any advertiser can have on any single individual, package design. [audience laughter] 

 

So, the play starts and it is fine. I go and I say my one line and I stand, because that is all I can do. But what I liked the most was carrying the costume there, and putting it on and then taking it off after the play, being all hot because I knew that I worked hard and then meeting my mom and my dad. My mom's perplexed American friends afterwards [audience chuckle] and saying, "Thank you so much for coming. Let’s get out of here."

 

And now, when I watch the movie, that closet-bureau-wardrobe, she is a fighter. [chuckles] My mom is a fighter, and I am my mother’s daughter. So, if anyone ever puts me in a box, I am going to make sure that I fill it with as much love and as much defiance as my mother put into that costume. So, be our guest. Thank you. [audience laughter]