The Tempest--Scene Design

Prospero and the Ariels

The Tempest by William Shakespeare was produced winter semester, 2013 in the Snow Black Box Theatre at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

Synopsis
Prospero, who is the rightful Duke of Milan has been exiled to an island where he discovered magical tomes and equipment and mastered it.  He has also used his conjuring to bind the magical denizens of the island to him, namely Ariel and Caliban.  He has reared his daughter on the island for seventeen years.

With the aid of his magic and Ariel, he discovers his brother, Antonio who usurped his Dukedom and Alonso, the king of Naples are on a ship.  Through conjuring, he creates a storm that drives their ship to the island and then shipwrecks it.  The passengers and crew are stranded in different parts of the island and  Prospero commands Ariel to look after them.

Miranda, Prospero's daughter, runs into Ferdinand who is the son of the king.  He is the first man she has seen other than her father and the monster, Caliban.  They fall in love with one another, naturally.

The other crew and passengers of the ship provide comic relief in the play and there are great scenes involving some of them and Caliban.  Ultimately, though the plot spirals around until the confrontation with Prospero and his brother.  In the climax of the play,  Antonio begs Prospero for forgiveness which is granted.  There are great themes of repentance, redemption, forgiveness, and reconciliation in this play.

Concept
Justin Bates, the director of The Tempest was very interested in an anachronistic approach to this play.  The play was written in 1610 but we played it in modern times.  He was also very interested in shadow play for many of the magical moments.  He also wanted the part of Ariel to be played by five people who sometimes would all be on stage acting as one and other times act as individuals.  He also said that Ariel could exit from stage left and immediately enter from stage right etc...

At the time, I had been (and continue to this day to be) inspired by the work of Georges Mèliés, who was a pioneer in cinema special effects.  Mèliés' most well known film is an adaptation of Jules Verne's A Trip To The Moon.  Mèliés shot all of his movies on a stage on his property.  The stage had a hardwood floor and all the magical scenery was placed on top of it.  I was particularly inspired by an image from a Mèliés film called The Mysterious Island.

Design
I drew a thumbnail sketch, that measures roughly one and a half inches by about two inches of my idea for the stage setting.  Then I drew larger study drawing to present to the director.  The stage would be set in one corner of the Black Box Theatre and we would create a modified thrust seating package.

Thumbnail sketch of The Tempest

Study for the set design of The Tempest

I designed a hardwood floor on a rake for the main acting deck.  The director wanted to be able to have Ariel and Caliban enter from trap doors in the stage floor so I placed three traps arbitrarily throughout the space.

On the back of the deck, I designed a Georges Mèliés style stage set with a cave and a shop built, magical tree.  The idea for the tree was that Prospero may have taken a limb from that tree to create his magical staff.  At the end of the play, he would return the staff to the tree.

One of our Ariels was very athletic and a gymnast and so for her we bought hand and footholds from a climbing wall and I designed a climbing route with her on the cave front.  I thought Ariel would appear more organic if she were climbing around once in awhile.

Inside the cave opening, I designed a large sheet of muslin to be hung and create both a projection screen for our shadow plays and to act as a cyclorama when it wasn't being utilized as a rear projection screen.  The screen was actually double hung and had a trip catch on it because the director wanted the lovers to be revealed at the end.  The idea was to illuminate the lovers behind the screen, then trip both drops.  The front drop fell to the ground and the rear drop fell from the grid behind the lovers.  This was done because we didn't want backstage to be visible to the audience for the last five minutes of the show.  We had a team of students design and direct the shadowplays.

Finally, because the island was a mystical place, I thought there could be nothing more magical than a part of the set opening and revealing a giant, amethyst geode bookcase during the scenes inside of Prospero's cell.  I've always been a rockhound.  It made sense to me.

Execution
Our technical director, Ray Versluys, came to us from the movie industry.  He has techniques and connections from that industry that have made our production values better.  As a designer, I never worry about whether something is possible or not.  I know that if I can imagine it, Ray can build it.

The cave and the tree were created by building a superstructure out of sonotube, scrap lumber, cardboard, chicken wire and gauze.  Then he sprayed them with two part urethane foam.  Think Great Stuff on steroids.  Once the foam cured, we carved it and painted it.  The climbing wall was built before the urethane was sprayed so we could hide the handholds.

The carpenters build a large boulder that was hinged so it would swing out and expose the bookcase.  I created the amethyst crystals with my prop class and did the finish work on the geode bookcase.  A tutorial for how we did this can be found here.

Everything else was basic theatre set construction.  There had to be tunnels under the set for the players to enter and exit through the trap doors, and the trip drops were built on plans that are hundreds of years old.

Ray also designed lights for this show.  It was a beautiful lighting design, magical, mystical.  A set is only as good as it's lit.

Antonia Clifford created the sound design for this production of The Tempest.  Sound design is the youngest of the design disciplines in theatre.  Our production values have gone up considerably since she started not only designing our sound but also teaching students how to design sound for live theatre.  Her sound design for The Tempest was brilliant.

The set as it appeared when the audience arrived

The tree, lit magically

Ariel on the climbing wall

The versatility of a piece of fabric and colored lighting 

We also attached a clothesline in the opening

More versatility in light

And more

And more

The feast from below

The ship shadowplay

The tempest begins

Terror on the deck

scary beasts in shadowplay

The true form of Ariel

The lovers revealed in shadowplay.  Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the two trip drops

The amethyst bookcase

With Prospero for scale

This was a great opportunity for me as a set designer.  This felt like a complete production.  There was a great collaborative effort on the parts of everyone involved, the director, the design team, the technicians and the performers.  All in all a very good production of one of Shakespeare's greatest plays.  I was fortunate to have been a part of it.

Production Details
Directed by Justin Bates
Scene Design by Gary Benson
Costume Design by Kathy Schmid
Lighting Design by Ray Versluys
Sound Design by Antonia Clifford
Technical Director:  Ray Versluys
Costume Shop Director:  Patty Randall

It's a Wonderful Life, A Live Radio Play--Scene Design

Cast of "It's a Wonderful Life"

It's a Wonderful Life, A live Radio Play by Joe Landry was produced fall semester, 2013 in the Snow Drama Theatre at Brigham Young University-Idaho

Synopsis
A cast assembles on the set of a live radio stage and performs It's A Wonderful Life before a studio audience.

It's A Wonderful Life is the story of George Bailey, a young man with big dreams who gives up his dreams to to the right thing over and over again.  When he reaches his lowest point, he wishes he had never existed.  His guardian angel grants his request and he goes to his hometown to see what has become of it and everyone else if he had never been born.  It's then that he realizes he really did have a wonderful life.

Based on the classic film by the same name, made by Frank Capra and starring James Stewart.

Concept
The director, Roger Merrill suggested we recreate a live radio stage from the 1940's on our proscenium house.  For the radio play, he wished to create all the sound effects live on stage with the actors.  Additionally, he wished to broadcast it live on our university radio station for at least one night of the run.  Five actors play all the parts and so different costume pieces would be used to designate who was playing which character and when.

Execution
I did quite a bit of research on old radio stages.  I discovered that in the days before television, live radio plays were performed in theatre studios in front of live audiences.  Much like late night, live television is produced today.

The design of the set was quite simple.  I designed an Art Deco false proscenium and two portals in forced perspective.  I also designed a back wall with the same profile detail as the portals.  The back wall had acoustical tiles on it as a studio stage would have.  There was also a practical door in which the stage manager could enter and exit from.  On the stage right portion of the wall was a window into a phony booth.  My original intent was to have the light board and the stage manager in that booth and have the show called from there.  While it would have been cool, it became obvious during the rehearsal process that it would be impractical so we abandoned that aspect of it.

Thumbnail Sketch

Along the plaster line we had several old style microphones for the actors to perform at and behind them we had a complete Foley stage where all the live sound effects were produced by the actors.  The play takes place in December and so I dressed the studio with Christmas decorations.  Additionally, I dressed the stage with old photos and movie posters of film and stage stars from the period (1940's) and the two decades before.

Since this was a single set show, I decided to paint it a neutral grey so the lighting designer could change the space from past to present, indoor to outdoor, spring to fall to winter to summer and etc...

The set from the front

From the side

With different colored light

An old style wind machine we built for this show

Practical effect for horses hooves

Footsteps

Drugstore door slam

A costume change

This was a delightful show to be a part of.  It was a fun collaboration and it was an audience pleaser.  We did it as the last production in fall semester just before the Christmas break.  The set was simple and yet it was everything it needed to be.  The live radio broadcast was well received in the community.

Production Details
Director:  Roger Merrill
Scene Designer:  Gary Benson
Lighting Designer:  Richard Clifford
Costume Designer:  Kathy Schmid
Technical Director:  Ray Versluys
Costume Shop Director:  Patty Randall

She Stoops to Conquer--Costume Design and Actor, Mr. Hardcastle

Hastings, Marlow and Mr. Hardcastle

She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith was produced Spring Semester, 2013 in the Snow Drama Theatre at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

Synopsis of She Stoops to Conquer
Mr. Hardcastle, a country gentleman has arranged for his daughter to meet the son of his best friend, Sir Charles Marlow, a wealthy Londoner.  He hopes the two of them will marry and join the two households and fortunes.

Unfortunately, young Charles Marlow is painfully shy around young women of his own class, preferring instead the company of lower class wenches and serving girls.  On the road to Mr. Hardcastle's home he and his travelling companion, George Hastings become lost and seek directions to the Hardcastle estate at the Three Pigeons, an inn close by.  They meet Tony Lumpkin, Mr. Hardcastle's stepson and ne'er do well.  Tony is a prankster and when Charles and George unknowingly insult him, he decides to give them faulty directions.

He tells them Hardcastle's estate is too far to travel to that night and they will have to spend the night at an inn.  The innkeeper, who is in on the joke, tells the boys there is no room in the inn and they are directed to an inn down the road.  What they don't know is the 'inn' they are directed to is in fact Mr. Hardcastle's home.  They arrive and meet Mr. Hardcastle and believing him to be an innkeeper they treat him rudely.  Mr. Hardcastle is understandably unhappy with the treatment.

Meanwhile, Marlow and Hastings run into Miss Hardcastle and Constance Neville.  Constance is the ward of Mrs. Hardcastle and is also being wooed by Mr. Hastings.  Charles and George still believe they are at an inn.  Constance and George leave Marlow and Miss Hardcastle alone in the drawing room and they have a very uncomfortable conversation.  At the end, however, Miss Hardcastle thinks he's attractive enough to give a second chance and decides to pose as a serving girl.

At this point, Constance lets George in on the joke.  Everyone is in on the joke except Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle and Mr. Marlow.

Things go badly between Hardcastle and Marlow and the former catches the latter being very forward with his daughter.  Moreso than would be acceptable.  This goes on until the elder Marlow, Sir Charles arrives and the whole thing is put to rights.

As a subplot, Mrs. Hardcastle is trying to arrange a marriage between Contance and her son, Tony.  They despise one another but pretend for Mrs. Hardcastle's sake.  Constance stands to inherit her mother's jewels, but for some reason they are tied up in the supposed marriage contract between Tony and Constance.  If Tony refuses his cousin when he comes of age, she keeps her inheritance.  If Constance refuses, Mrs. Hardcastle gets to keep the jewels for herself.

When the romance between Hastings and Miss Neville is exposed, Mrs. Hardcastle attempts to take her to the spinster auntie's home far away from Hastings.  Tony drives them, and as he had prearranged with Hastings, takes them over logs, through sloughs, and finally ends up with the carriage overturned in the horse pond.  Mr. Hardcastle happens to be taking a walk when he sees them.  Mrs. Hardcastle believes him as a highwayman (because Tony told her so.)

That is all sorted out, finally but when Hastings and Miss Neville confront Mrs. Hardcastle about the inheritance, she claims the jewels for herself because Tony isn't of age to refuse.  At this  point, Mr. Hardcastle makes a confession that both he and Mrs. Hardcastle lied about Tony's age, thinking he could use another year or two to grow up and become responsible.  Tony enthusiastically refuses Constance's hand and everyone gets what they want in the end.  Well, everyone except Mrs. Hardcastle.

Concept and Design
Since this was a period piece and a light comedy, we decided to play it pretty straightforward.  I decided to put the country folk in earthier colors and the city folk in brighter colors.  All except Mrs. Hardcastle.  She fancied herself to be a city girl exiled to the country.  She is a character that can be played larger than life.  Early on in the design meetings I suggested to Hyrum Conrad, the director, that I wished Mrs. Hardcastle to change her clothes and wig for every act, each outfit more outlandish than the last.  In the script, she shows Mr. Marlow the fashion magazines she has sent in from France. She then proceeds to tell him that she has her own clothes made from her own designs based on the fashions from across the channel.  I decided she needed to have bad taste.

As I read the script, I found myself liking the character of Mr. Hardcastle.  He talks about a "great flaxen wig." and his bald head.  As we discussed this character, we agreed we should try age appropriate casting for him.  I also told Hyrum whoever played him would need to agree to shave the top of his head for a male pattern baldness look.  In addition, I wanted him to have a kind of Teddy Roosevelt belly on him.

In that meeting, we tossed around several different names of local men who might play the part.  We didn't agree on anyone and a half an hour after the meeting was over, Hyrum came to my office and asked me if I wished to play the part.  I immediately said, "Yes."  Then I asked if that meant I had to shave my head.  He just nodded.  Prior to that conversation, I hadn't even considered myself to play the part.  When I told my mother, she told me that was the same part my father had played in 1966 at the Playmill Theatre.  That made the whole thing much sweeter.

Study of some of the male characters

Hardcastle

The rabble

The young gentlemen

The girls

Mrs. Hardcastle after the carriage ride

Mrs. Hardcastle wig designs

Execution
Over the years we have had a good relationship with BYU's theatre department in Provo, Utah.  Most of the members of our department have at least one degree from there.  From time to time we have borrowed costumes from them.  For some reason, they didn't have many male costumes from the Georgian period.  At least not then.  I believe they must have had them rented out.  I was able to use several costumes for the young ladies in the cast which meant we did not have to construct all of the gowns.  We ended up building the two young men and Mr. Hardcastle and several dresses.  The rest of the men and chorus folk we outfitted from our inventory.

We have a fabric store here in southeast Idaho called Home Fabrics.  When I design a period play, I always start there.  Mostly upholstery and drapery fabrics, but the weight and pattern work very well for period work.

We moved the design into the shop and between building costumes, memorizing lines, pulling and fitting chorus members and nightly rehearsal we got the job done.

I'd like to give a shoutout to my colleagues, Richard Clifford for his wonderful set and lighting design and to Kathy Schmid who constructed all the wigs for the show.  Thank you my friends.

The Players

Tony Lumpkin

The idea behind Tony's clothes was that he would rather be hunting, so I designed a hunting shirt based on historical research.  Add breeches, boots and a vest and Tony is off to poach a brace of coneys.  In his first entrance, actually he was carrying a pair of rabbits.  Later, when he goes to the tavern, he changed his shirt and put on a coat just a little too small for him.  Tony was not supposed to care much how he looked.  A prankster, but a fun person to hang with.

Tony in his hunting garb

Tony at the Three Pigeons

Tony in the yard

Miss Hardcastle

Miss Hardcastle had two basic looks.  First she was dressed as a country girl, but when she met Marlow for the first time she dressed in her best city clothes.  When she decided to stoop to conquer, she went back to her country clothes and affected a country accent which he of course found charming.  Her country clothes were pretty but in earthy colors.  Her city look was more in pastel blues with red and maroon accents.  Both of her costumes were borrowed from BYU.

Miss Hardcastle in her city look

Hat and wig by Kathy Schmid

Miss Hardcastle in her country look and her maid

Miss Neville

We decided that Miss Neville was probably older and more worldly than Miss Hardcastle so her dresses would be more refined.  We borrowed her first dress from BYU but I designed and we built her travelling clothes.  The clothes she planned to sneak off with Hastings in.

Miss Neville

Miss Neville in the gown I designed

Marlow and Hastings

The two young gentlemen each had one basic outfit which they had supposedly traveled in.  They deigned to change their clothes, instead hoping to keep their best outfits for when they reached their destination, Mr. Hardcastle's home.  There were small changes, hats, gloves, cloaks and boots that were worn at different times.  Marlow got very comfortable at the 'inn' and took off his coat and vest sometimes.  Very casual.  Mr. Hardcastle did not like that.

Hastings and Marlow in their outfits made of sofa material.  Marlow is in Mr. Hardcastle's chair.  They had quite a battle over that chair.

Sir Charles

Mr. Hardcastle's best friend.  Sir Charles shows up at the house in the evening and everything gets set to rights.  We decided he should be the most richly dressed person in the play.  His subtext was that he was a government official.

Sir Charles Marlow

Mrs. Hardcastle

Mrs. Hardcastle began the show as a country wife, but when she found out they would be hosting her husband's best friend's son, she decided to try to impress him.

In the script, Mrs. Hardcastle said she bought all the latest fashion magazines from Paris and she designs all of her own clothes based on what she sees.  I decided Mrs. Hardcastle did not have particularly good taste and that her clothes would be a mishmash of the style.  In addition she really liked lime green bows.

Whenever a few hours of time had passed in the narrative, Mrs. Hardcastle would show up in a different outfit and a different wig.  At the top of the show, she wore a fairly conservatively styled blond wig.  Her dress was borrowed from BYU.

Mrs. Hardcastle

This urn contained the ashes of her beloved first husband, Mr. Lumpkin

Her second costume was the heaviest costume in the show.  It was made of yards of heavy upholstery fabric.  All told, it was probably twenty-five pounds of fabric.  It was heavy and it was hot.  Luckily, she only wore it for a short time.  This was the first of her outfits she tried to impress the company with.  She also changed her wig for this scene to a black one.

Mrs. Hardcastle trying to impress Mr. Hastings.  Her servant is in the back.
Notice the lime green bows

Her third outfit was more outrageous still.  It was also borrowed.  The dress was an evergreen taffeta with plaid trim.  Of course I had to wig her in pink.  Had to.  In this scene she discovers the betrayal of Miss Neville and Mr. Hastings and decides to take her ward to the spinster aunt to be kept away from her beau.

Mrs. Hardcastle, betrayed

Her second to the last dress was her traveling dress which we decided would be her most fancy one since she was traveling to see her rich auntie.  When I showed the actress the design, I found a clip of Carol Burnett in her famous parody of Gone With the Wind on Youtube and showed it to her.  I told her that the only way this costume would work is if she played it like Carol Burnett on her descent down the stairs wearing the curtains.

I designed this dress.  It was red with a stomacher and large panniers.  The underskirt was gold and magenta.  Of course we had some lime green bows on this outfit as well.  For Mrs. Hardcastle, no outfit was finished without a wig.  This one had to have a ship, of course.

The infamous ship wig as built by Kathy Schmid

With an outfit this outrageous, there was only one way to top it.  Shipwreck.  Tony takes Mrs. Hardcastle and Miss Neville in the carriage to the spinster auntie's house, or so they think.  Instead, he drives the carriage over every rock and fallen tree he can find.  He crosses creeks and rivers, all the while going round and round the house and finally ends up with the carriage tipped over in the horsepond.

We made the red dress twice.  Our costume shop director was in New York when I distressed the second dress.  I took a picture with my phone and sent it to her as a text message.  I said, "This is what we do when you aren't here."  She sent me back a text that said, "You are the DEVIL!"  That delighted me.

Of course the wig had to be distressed as well.  I purchased two scale model ships and cut one in half on the band saw and gave the pieces to Kathy Schmid who then proceeded to scuttle the ship in the ruined wig.

I knew I could get away with all the wig changes and finally the scuttled ship wig on Mrs. Hardcastle because the actress we had playing her was strong enough to project her character through all of it.  When she came on stage there was no question who she was no matter what color her hair was.  It was great fun.

The shipwreck

Mr. Hardcastle.

Which brings us to me.  When I was designing the show, before I was asked to play the part, I kept coming back to Mr. Hardcastle.  By the time I was asked to play the part, I already had a connection to the character.

As I said earlier, I insisted that Mr. Hardcastle shave the top of his head because he says, speaking of Tony, "Why it 'twas just last week he fastened me wig to the back of me chair and when I went to make a bow I pop't me bald head in Mrs. Frizzle's face!"  When the part was offered to me, it was assumed I would do what I had expected someone else to do.  I did so happily.  The only tough part was shaving off my mustache.  I have worn a mustache for most of my adult life.  On a different blog, I posted a step by step progression of how I became Mr. Hardcastle.

My father wore a hairpiece later in his life.  He never went out in public without either his toupee or a hat.  When he was at home, however the hairpiece came off and would show up all over the house.  I incorporated that into my character.  The servants and his daughter may see him without his hair but no one else including the missus was allowed to.  Mrs. Hardcastle references his "...great flaxen wig."  Obviously it had to be a blond periwig.

Mr. Hardcastle, I decided was a practical man who did not care to keep up with the fashions.  Therefore, his suit was a little dated and so was his periwig.  The lapels and cuffs were wider and the back of the coat was fuller than the other men in the show.  The cut of their clothes was more modern and up to date.  To me, that is who Mr. Hardcastle was.  He valued the old ways and wasn't going to be forced to change just to keep up with appearances.

Mr. Hardcastle

Sans wig in a tender scene with his daughter.

Mr. Hardcastle selfie, because I can.  It's my blog.

Scene Design

My friend and colleague, Richard Clifford designed a beautiful set and produced a striking lighting design for this play.  The set was placed on the turntable and had three major locations.  The great hall, the drawing room and the Three Pigeons Inn.  In addition there was a French scene which was done on the front of the stage with a couple of foliage drops set in behind.  I'll show a couple of those images here.

French scene with Hardcastle dressed as a 'Highwayman'

The drawing room.  Notice Hardcastle's wig on Mr. Lumpkin's urn

The great hall was inspired by the Governor's Mansion in Historic Williamsburg, Virginia.

The Three Pigeons

This play was a joy for me to work on, both as a costume designer and as an actor.  It was made even sweeter when I discovered it was the same part my father played forty-seven years earlier.

Production Details
Director:  Hyrum Conrad
Costume Designer:  Gary Benson
Set and Lighting Designer:  Richard Clifford
Costume Shop Director:  Patty Randall
Technical Director:  Ray Versluys
Milliner:  Kathy Schmid
Assistant Scene Designer:  Patrick Ulrich