Scenic Design I

Auburn University | Spring 2022

Professor Fereshteh Rostampour

Project 1: Hedda Gabbler

Because this piece is set in period, the design will rely heavily on reference and historical artifact to create a believable house for the Tesmans to reside in. However, despite the realism, the house won’t be quite perfect. Instead of a well-lived in house or a pristine showroom, the set will have the feel of a well-lived house masqueraded as a showroom. Everything will be perfectly clean and tidied, but the furniture will have some dings. The upholstery will be smooth but the base chairs aren’t quite identical. The house will be piecemealed together in the most convincing way possible, but it still won’t be perfect. The colour scheme will be very desaturate blues and reds to demonstrate the idolization of royalty without achieving it. The architecture will not be fully neoclassical, especially in the bones of the house. The shell will be baroque in nature, whereas the furniture and decor will be neoclassical. This acknowledges the modernity of the neoclassical movement but limits the display of wealth and success to an older home that can only be modified. Floors will be treated with a woodgrain elevation, but covered with rugs to hide their imperfections. Books on the shelf will be aligned and ordered, but the spines will be worn. Dishes will be spotless and unused, but the china pattern on the teapot isn’t the same as the one on the plates. The piano will be one of the key elements that takes away from the perfect neoclassical house by being backdated and worn. This is why Hedda so desperately wants a new piano at the start of the play. She doesn’t want to get rid of the one she’s grown up with, but the old and worn piano is a sign that the couple is not as well to do as they try to appear, so it has to go. 

Project 2: Arms and the Man

Because this piece is set in period, the design will rely heavily on reference and historical artifact to create a believable house for the Pettkoffs to reside in. The show is set in a blackbox theatre with seating for the audience on two sides, so that they may feel included in the story as if they are visitors in Pettkoff's home as well. The shape of the set is representative of the ebb and flow of relationships and is designed to pull the focus into the confined space as opposed to creating a more open atmosphere. The furniture is all period, but it is a mixture of nice and cheap, matching and mangled, new and hand-me-down. The wealth of the family is evident, but they’re not as wealthy as they may seem, especially to the outside observer. The library is nothing more than a few books and trophies, but in comparison to their neighbors, the family’s wealth still prevails. The rugs on the walls are ornate and expensive, but the furniture itself doesn’t match in stature. In between each act, the set dressing is replaced to move our locations and a revolving platform switches us from the outside to the inside of the house.

Project 3: Into the Woods

The show opens with three storybooks on stage, one for each of the three main character families. The walls are covered in stone and behind them, a storybook backdrop and a false proscenium covered in text paint the scene. The books open up to reveal the three characters' homes, and eventually, the drop reveals the woods behind them. The stone platforms create levels for the characters to explore and the painted tree drop in the back shows the neverending-ness of their predicament. Rapunzel’s tower lies in the back, separated from the rest of the tale. All of the stone is covered with the words of the stories, both happy and sad, for the audience to observe but not comprehend. The words are in different languages, different translations, different fonts, so that it is not the specific story that matters, but rather what the story means.