Location: Caldwell Theatre Company
The perfect location
for my production of Clybourne Park is the Caldwell Theatre Company located in
Boca Raton, Florida. Its location is directly in between West Palm Beach and
Fort Lauderdale. As South Florida is a large retirement area, as well as a “pricey”
place to be, it not only hits my target audience of an older class of people
but as well promises to bring in return profit from presenting the show in this
area. I am aiming toward an older audience with this production because of the
era in which Clybourne Park opens with. The older audience will have a unique aesthetic
view with this play compared to any other audience, by way in which this target
group has lived in the past time that Act 1 takes place in, and as well this
target audience has moved along to the more present time as in Act 2. This is
what gives this audience such a unique approach to the performance. Not only
will they relate to the racial discrepancies within the show, but they have
also lived first hand through the war of which the character Russ’ so, Kenneth,
had come back from. These particular feelings that the characters Russ and
Kenneth demonstrate should have a much more connected effect on the emotions of
this audience.
Covering some of the ideas to the stage design, let me start
with saying that I intend to be as tangible and life like as possible. There
are no needs for abstracts within this production. The furniture for Act 1 must
reflect that of a house within the northern states in the 50’s and 60’s. I
focus on the fact that it needs to be a northern house not only because of the
state in which this play takes place but because there are subtle differences
to the mind and eyes when someone sees a house in the say, Florida, compared to
a house in Michigan. Some houses in Florida back in the 50’s had hurricane shutters,
which also, Florida does not typically have many fireplaces, cellars and/or basements.
While in Michigan, the inside design of a house could feature a large
fireplace, an open basement door, and so on. Aside from just the structure base
of a set design, the furnishings should also reflect not only time period, but
subtle moods. Color affects mood on a subconscious level. To convince the
audience that the furniture in the house is of the 1950’s, we need to adjust
the colors and tones found in the rooms. Textures as well can provide a sense
of where and when the scenes take place. So to wrap up and simply state what is
needed for all of my designs:
Costumes:
The costumes are relatively simple. There should not be any elaborate detail to any of them in particular. Realism over extravagance. I expect the actors and the dialogue to pull the audience in more so than anything else. Simply, with Act 1, clothes typical to 1959. And that is not to mean they have to be noticeably in 1959. What I mean by this is, Russ for example should just be in a white T-shirt and a simple pair of relaxed jeans. He doesn't need to be in a whole 1959 get up that shouts the year he is portraying. As for Act 2, the same applies here. The actors should simply be non-elaborate with their clothing and dress as we casual do in this day in age.
Lighting:
The
lighting will be the main factor of dividing the two Acts from one another.
With Act 1 there needs to be a subtle tone of sepia being used in the lighting
quality. This gives me the feeling of a film grain, or a past time of sense. For
Act 2 I would like to use a very small tint of blue. No yellow light at all,
but a hint blue within a bright white. This blue and brightness reminds me of
newness and crispness. Which this would be perfect to represent 2009.
 |
| ACT 1 - This is an image of the inside of a house using a sepia filter. |
 |
| ACT 2 - This is an image of the inside of a house using blue cooling filter. |
Sound:
I don’t
want music to be in this production. The only time there will be music is when
Russ has the radio. Other than that, I want to focus on natural sounds, like
passing cars, voices in the neighborhood, wind chimes, dogs barking, and possibly
birds and other wildlife.
(This is what will be on the radio as the play comes to a start)
