THE LOOK OF THE PLAY
WHAT ARE THE DESIGN ELEMENTS OF A PRODUCTION?
 Costumes
 Scenery
 Makeup
 Lighting
Almost, Maine
 Sound
FIRST STEP IN DESIGN PROCESS
READ THE SCRIPT
RESEARCH THE SCRIPT for its context
IMAGINE its potential on the expected audience
THE DESIGN PROCESS
THROUGH repeated readings and design conferences with Director and other
collaborators, a comprehensive design emerges....
West Side Story
COSTUME REQUIREMENTS
Comedy of Errors
LIGHTING
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
THE DESIGN PROCESS
Everything begins with the script...
“The home of MARTIN VANDERHOF—just around the corner from Columbia University,
but don’t go looking for it. The room we see is what is customarily described as a
living room, but in this house the term is something of an understatement. The
every-man-for-himself room would be more like it. For here, meals are eaten, plays
are written, snakes collected, ballet steps practiced, xylophones played, printing
presses operated—if the room were big enough there would probably be ice
skating. In short, the brood presided over by MARTIN VANDERHOF goes about the
business of living in the fullest sense of the world...”
DESIGN BY RICHARD FINKELSTEIN
DESIGN BY DAVID ROCKWELL (BROADWAY 2014)
DESIGN BY NANCY PONTIUS
A DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTER
LEAF CONEYBEAR is a second alternate, he never expected to compete at the
spelling bee. Home-schooled with his many siblings, everything about this public
bee is an adventure for him, from meeting the other kids to showing off his
homemade clothing...He may have severe ADD but delights in his own wandering
focus. He doesn’t expect to win—or even to spell one word correctly—but he finds
absolutely everything incredibly amusing...
LEAF CONEYBEAR – The 25th Annual
Putnam County Spelling Bee
LEAF CONEYBEAR – The 25th Annual
Putnam County Spelling Bee
ESU THEATRE PRODUCTION
Kangwon Song as Leaf Coneybear
WHAT DESIGN DOES
It makes the general real...Beckett’s WAITING FOR GODOT begins with this
description:
“A country road. A tree. Evening”
SCENERY IS WHAT WE SEE FIRST
Design for a production
of Waiting for Godot
in Rome, 1998
OTHER DESIGNS
EVOLUTION OF SCENIC DESIGN
Costumes, makeup and masks are more ancient than settings
There was little spectacle in CLASSICAL or MEDIEVAL stages
IN MANY ASIAN THEATRES, SCENERY IS MINIMAL OR
ABSENT
A Kabuki Stage, Japan
XIQU stage, Chinese Opera
DESIGN ADVANCED IN 19TH CENTURY EUROPE
AS REALISM EMERGED
WING AND DROP SET FOR PETER PAN
THE PIRATE SHIP – DESIGN FOR PETER PAN
DESIGN FOR “FINDING NEVERLAND” ON BROADWAY
NURSERY SET FOR PETER PAN
METAPHORIC DESIGN
“Eurydice” by Sarah Ruhl
Roundabout Theatre
AIDA, BOB CROWLEY (2000)
DAS RHEINGOLD
SF Opera-2008
INFLUENCES ON MODERN DESIGN INCLUDE
E. GORDON CRAIG
ADOLPHE APPIA
APPIA’S DESIGN FOR PARSIFAL
LIGHT AS SCENERY
SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE
Mernier Chocolate Factory, London - 2006
THE TEMPEST
ROCK CONCERT DESIGN
DEATH OF A
SALESMAN
Original design by Jo Mielziner
BROADWAY REVIVAL 2012
ALL IN THE TIMING
ALL IN THE TIMING – ESU THEATRE
MARY POPPINS ON BROADWAY
MARY POPPINS AT RED MOUNTAIN THEATRE CO.
RABBIT HOLE
RABBIT HOLE
Visibility. Can we see?
Focus. Where are we suppose to look?
Verisimilitude. What practicals are in use?
(Lifelikeness)
Atmosphere. What moods are being created? Is
the lighting like life? Is it stylized? By color? By
shadow?
FUNCTIONS OF LIGHTING
The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show
The Tempest
The Diviners
The Monster Under the Bed
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Leaving Iowa
All Shook Up
All Shook Up
WORKING
AS YOU LIKE IT
SOUTH PACIFIC
LIGHT PLOT
LIGHTING INSTRUMENTS
Source four
FRESNEL AND PAR CAN
FIRE AND ICE (LED)
About Intelligent lighting
CHAUVET LED MOVING LIGHT
FLOODLIGHTS
FRESNEL LENS
OTHER LENSES
Step Lens
REALIZING THE PLOT
Hanging
Focusing
Coloring
COSTUMES DETERMINE THE PRODUCTION’S STYLE
Most productions are built, pulled or bought
Fabrics for built pieces are selected,
swatched and, if necessary dyed or
textured
Many designers are also in charge of hair
and makeup design
MAKEUP
COSTUME SHOP
Shop Manager
Dyers
Drapers
Cutters
First hands
Stitchers
Craft specialists
Hairstylists
Wigmakers
Wardrobe supervisor
Dressers
LIGHTING
Master electrician
Electrician
Lightboard operator
Follow-spot operator
SOUND
Sound engineer
Soundboard operator
TECHNICAL DIRECTION
Changeover at the Metropolitan Opera
KANSAS CITY STAGEHANDS UNION
UNIONS
THE
END