By VICTORIA TREIBER
With a dash of her brush and a swipe of her concealer, senior Daiva Peric has the ability to transform performers into other people completely.
Peric has been altering the appearance of theater students since her sophomore year. When she first started in the drama department, she found it hard to win leading roles and barely spent any time on stage.
She stumbled upon her ability to do makeup when she volunteered to do so during the Steel Magnolias show.
“I’ve always been really artistic, and when it came to drama, I could never find my niche. So one show, I just tried to do makeup, and Ms. Weagly loved what I did, so then she instantly assigned me as crew head,” Peric said.
As official crew head, she is entrusted to pick the makeup, buy it and ultimately come up with the pallets for each and every person on stage. Her talents, though, did not come easily.
“She’s an incredible artist with an innate natural talent for [working with] color and bone structure. She definitely has the ability to be a pro someday,” Drama director Tiffany Weagly said.
Before realizing that she was a talented makeup artist, she mainly labeled herself as a loner. But once she discovered her skills in cosmetology Peric finally felt accepted.
“It gave me something to look forward to doing and something to be proud of,” Peric said.
Peric taught herself how to do makeup. She continues to perfect her skill through online tutorials, books and hours of practice. She also experiments new looks on herself at home.
When coming up with new concepts, Peric repeats the latest design until she thinks it is right.
“I love redesigning someone’s makeup over and over again until I think it is perfect and exactly how I would want it,” Peric said.
Although she enjoys doing glamorous makeup, Peric prefers to work on the more extreme side of cosmetology. Some of her inspirations include tattoo artist Kat Von D and Amy Lee of the band Evanescence.
“I like a lot of punk rock style. I love when people use bright colors to express themselves and their individual appearance,” Peric said.
Peric has designed makeup for six shows, including: Steel Magnolias, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Dreadful, Willy Wonka, Proof and Scream.
The extreme makeup designs and fake prosthetics that were used during I Saw You Scream Last Friday the 13th on Elm Street fascinated Peric. She used makeup to create elegant women and ferocious zombies.
“I Saw You Scream Last Friday the 13 on Elm Street had every kind of makeup in it, from the most extreme to completely basic. Plus it was just a really fun show [to work on],” Peric said.
Peric hopes to continue doing makeup for professional productions all her life. She likes that cosmetology is not an ordinary occupation to pursue.
“A lot of the people in my industry are odd balls, so they are more open and accepting to different views,” Peric said.
Peric plans to attend Valencia Community College for two years to earn her license in cosmetology, and then she will attend The Joe Blasco School of Makeup Artistry located in Orlando, FL.
“I really want to get into movie makeup and more extreme theater makeup. I always want to be around the theater all my life because that’s what I have always loved,” Peric said.
Peric uses her talent and dedication to enhance the quality of recent Drama productions. She and the rest of the crew make the stories come to life right before the audience’s eyes.