Setting The Sc Hollywood production designer Rachel Kamerman builds the ultirnte dollhouse for "But I'm a Cheerleader." LINDA BACHRACK Special to the Jewish News achel Kamerman 11 describes her- self as "design obsessed." The Southfield native, now a Hollywood production designer, built her own dollhouse when she was in the sixth grade. "I designed and decorated the entire house, down to the stainless steel counter- tops fashioned from the top of a Nestle's Quik can- ister," she says. By the time she reached Southfield High School, Kamerman, 38, was "Miss Industrial Arts." She took advantage of all the school's offerings in art, architecture, film and photography. "When I got to Michigan State's interior design program, I had a mini-epiphany," she says. "I discovered I wanted a career com- bining architecture, design and film." After a stint as a senior designer for one of New York's top-ranked hotel and restaurant design firms, Kamerman returned home to Detroit, working as a project designer for Jon Greenberg & Associates, Peterhansrea and the Handleman Company, before start- ing her own design firm. But in April 1994, she headed to the West Coast with dreams of Hollywood and set design. The dream came true. Katnerman's most recent project was pro- duction designer for But IM a Cheerleader, the sexual disorientation comedy that opened last week at Royal Oak's Main Art Theater. "One of the things I love about designing for film is the pur- poseful imperfection," she says. "Whereas the goal of good interior design is a gorgeous room, on a movie set, ugly can be good Imperfections give the set character and depth. Quirky is cool.' i" Such was her experience with Cheerleader. The film, starring Natasha Lyonne and directed by Jamie Babbit, illustrates Babbit's interest in the hyper-real. It explores characters that are in some ways marginal, and places them in worlds that are brightly colored and rich. The result is a disarming sense of seeing "reality" while watching a story that verges on the absurd. The satire chronicles the life of a teenager whose straight-laced parents send her to a homosexual rehab center when they suspect lesbian tendencies. The center's five-step program is designed to deprogram gay kids and set them back on "the right path." Characters include Joel (Joel Michaely), who claims his trau- matic bris led to his homosexuality; the actor wears his own yarmulke throughout the film. (After the movie wrapped, , Top le-ft: On a break from the Hollywood fast lane, Rachel Kamerman relaxes at her mom's_ Southfield home. Top right: "But IM a Cheerleader" director Jamie Babbit surveys the hyper-real pink and blue set. Above right: Natasha Lyonne, right, learns the female art of vacuuming against Kamerman:s candy-coated set. Right: Kamerman ound the perfect Lucite desk for this "transparent" scene in the movie.