University of Oklahoma School of Drama

Rupel Jones Theatre

November 22 – December 7, 2013

Directed by:  Rena Cook

Scenic Designer:  Ethan Hartman

Costume Designer:  Lloyd Cracknell

Sound Designer:  Matthew Barnard

 

 

The Play Coram Boy by Helen Edmundson (music by Adrian Sutton), is very nearly a movie in play form.  There are 60+ scenes in the piece, depicting many different locations.  The pace of the play is relentless, each moment folding into the next.  It featured a huge cast of both actors and singers, and included music adapted from Handel as well as original music.

 

The undertaking of the design for this play was very challenging.  Our first focus was how to create all these different locations within a single stage.  Ethan Hartman came up with the brilliant idea of a neutral multi-level set with numerous staircases and platforms, all organized in a way that allowed for quick actor movement and scenic flow.  Individual locations were created using slip stages, rolling platforms that could be loaded with scenic elements and pushed into the world.  When combined with a passerelle around our orchestra pit, the world of the play now had many levels and areas from which we could tell the story.  Actors would not only be characters in the play, but also trees and statues.

 

My research started with environmental research, looking at English countryside homes and forests, as well as cities and museums of the time period.  In particular, sculpture gardens gave me several interesting ideas to translate into the world of the play.  One of my big goals was to clearly define each world of the play, to be able to go from an intimate living room to a huge forest and back, all with clearly defined worlds.  My lighting rig featured many instruments that gave me lots of options, being able to change and reshape any given area of the set in quick fashion.

 

Ethan gave the set many levels, including hanging arches and a scrim.  Using color-changing side lights, I was able to give these arches different feelings for different locations, or make them disappear altogether.  The scrim allowed me to create a solid dark backdrop for interior moments, and then add color and texture behind the set to increase the size of the world.  We also used several environmental effects, including haze and multiple dry ice foggers.

 

This production was a tremendous challenge, and it was one of the most collaborative design teams I have been a part of.  We all fed off each others’ ideas, and in the end were able to create a strong and expressive world for this play.