Alumni
Theatre Alumnus Works on TV Show Viewed Around the World
By Amy Milgrub Marshall
As art director for the most-viewed daytime drama in the world, Fabrice Kenwood spends lots of time in some enviable locations: Beverly Hills mansions, luxurious hotel suites, five-star restaurants, sometimes even the secret hideaways of illicit lovers. And they’re all situated on one stage at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, where his show, The Bold and the Beautiful, shoots 255 episodes per year. “My primary responsibility is making sure everything is set up right and ready to go on camera,” explains Kenwood (’92 M.F.A. Theatre), who has been The Bold and the Beautiful’s art director since 2000. He works closely with production designer Jack Forrestel and two set decorators to create the environment where the characters on the popular program live, love, work and play. “Communication is a huge part of my job, because I work with so many different departments, such as props, special effects and lighting.”
Kenwood enjoys not only his job, but also the respect of his peers in the television industry. He and his colleagues have received two Emmy nominations for their set designs in the past four years. In addition to its critical success, The Bold and the Beautiful is consistently ranked among the top three most-watched daytime dramas in the United States. The show’s huge international audience is also important to Kenwood. “Because I have relatives in France, it’s very gratifying that they can see my show,” he notes.
Working on a television show in Los Angeles was never part of Kenwood’s game plan, but after graduating from Penn State, he took a chance and moved to California to try his hand at art direction. In early 1993, within a month of arriving in Los Angeles, he was hired as staff art director at CBS Television City. In that position, he provided art direction services for corporate events and national events aired on CBS, such as the New Year’s Rose Parade in Pasadena.
Kenwood also filled in for art directors on other shows, including The Bold and the Beautiful. When a retirement necessitated some staff changes, he was asked to consider the position of art director, and jumped at the opportunity. “There are only ten jobs like mine in the country [art director for a daytime drama]. I know I’m very lucky,” he says.
Working on a long-running daytime drama— The Bold and the Beautiful has been on for 18 years—offers job stability, but the schedule can be grueling. Seven episodes are taped over a five-day period. “Sometimes we wonder how we pull it off everyday, but we just do it,” Kenwood says. Fabrice’s career began when he was still an undergraduate at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Purchase, where he studied technical direction. Living in New Jersey, he had the opportunity to work on Broadway while still a student, and parlayed that into a brief but successful career as a set carpenter and project manager before enrolling at Penn State.
Kenwood originally wanted to attend graduate school so he would be qualified to teach, but later decided he was more interested in commercial work. While at Penn State, he took advantage of the opportunity to learn the architectural software AutoCAD, which was relatively new at the time. Kenwood credits his computer experience with getting him hired at CBS. After proving his computer skills and supervising a virtual scenery camera test for daytime television producers, he was soon offered the permanent staff art director position.
Kenwood is also grateful for the teaching and guidance he received from Rick Gray (’79 M.F.A. Theatre) and Ann Gibson. He had actually worked with Gibson while he was still an undergraduate, on the Pennsylvania Centre Stage production of Peter Pan in summer 1986. She later allowed him to defer his enrollment so he could finish work on what was then the new Siegfried and Roy show in Las Vegas, and helped him get a semester’s worth of credit for that experience.
Gray, Kenwood says, was “the best thing about
Penn State.” He had been one of Fabrice’s professors
at SUNY–Purchase, and they unknowingly
ended up at Penn State at the same time. “Rick
just knew the business,” says Kenwood. “He was
so disciplined and really taught you the skills you
needed to know. When I graduated, I had a great
portfolio and was prepared to enter the job market.”
Kenwood advises students interested in art direction
to focus on their portfolios. “I can look at a
portfolio and realize someone’s talent within minutes,”
he says, noting drawing skills are essential
in his field. “You also need to be specific about what
you want to do; you need to focus.”
Kenwood’s own drive has landed him a successful career. But the job alone is not his proudest accomplishment.“My family means everything to me,” says Kenwood. He and his wife, Serafina, have been together since 1984 and married since 1992. They are the parents of Austin, 10, and Arielle, 8. “Although my job is never predictable, there is some regularity and I can shuffle my hours,” Kenwood explains. “I’m very fortunate to not only have a job that I love, but one that allows me to be active in my family’s life.”
