ARTicles vol. 2 i.2: Designers’ Challenge

The stage glistening with snowflakes, illuminated broomsticks sweeping across the floor, figures adorned in shimmery, iridescent plaids. Director Chen Shi-Zheng and designers Yi Li Ming and Anita Yavich have presented the A.R.T.’s set, costume and prop shops with a formidable challenge: how to translate these difficult conceptual images into stage reality. The shops, determined to meet the challenges, are pushing the limits of their technical and creative resources to find solutions to the most demanding aspects of the production.

As the title suggests, snow is essential to the production, and technical director Steve Setterlun is finding a way to create a full-scale blizzard on the stage. Chen has specified very precise instructions about both the kinds of snow and its distribution. Three different types of shredded plastic snow will be used at different moments, each falling and accumulating differently. Never before faced with the challenge of staging a nightly snowstorm, the scene shop has been trying to figure out how to accumulate 1,500 pounds of artificial snow across the length and width of the stage. Typically a theater will drop snow using a snow bag, a piece of fabric that runs the full length of the stage with diamond-shaped holes, each edge supported by a pipe that shifts the bag and flutters the snow down. But because this method distributes the snow unevenly, the crew has come up with a new concept for dropping the snow equally over the whole stage. By building large, rotating drums with custom made holes and motorized controls, Setterlun hopes to cover the stage evenly with a dazzling cascade of glittering snow.

In accord with the snow’s translucent effect, the designer has asked the prop shop to make every object transparent, from the Judge’s lawnmower to the chorus’ brooms. The props are designed to look like plastic – the material of the modern world. A conceptually thrilling idea, but the practical application has been arduous for Cindy Lee, prop shop manager, and her staff. In addition to the lawnmower and brooms, the prop list includes a rotating soup bowl, axe, umbrella, rope, and bicycle. Because of the dimensions that Yi Li Ming and Chen Shi-Zheng requested, some items will be cast in plexiglass, a costly and time-consuming procedure that requires a technical vacuuming process to remove air bubbles. Other items will be sprayed with silver paint and covered with saran wrap to create the illusion of transparency. The staff has also found innovative ways to construct other props. For example, Lee has obtained 400 feet of clear tubing that will be carefully braided by hand into thirty feet of strong, transparent rope.

One of the most difficult tasks for the prop shop was finding a transparent lawnmower. Unable to find one ready-made, Lee began to look at golf carts, but they were too big. Finally she purchased a mechanized scooter and is now undertaking the task of transforming it into a transparent lawnmower. The scooter will be totally dissembled so that each part can be altered to look clear; the back fender needs to be cast in plexiglass and a clear bucket chair will be added to complete the effect.

Constructing fiber optic brooms for the chorus has been another big challenge. Although the design is stunning, the practical application poses a number of problems. Given the delicate nature of the wire, how can the brooms withstand the rigorous sweeping of snow without breaking? Traditionally brooms are woven, but in this case the crisscross design would crimp the strands and prevent the desired illumination at the tips. In addition, the cost of theoptical fiber, flashlights, and tubing, may be cost prohibitive. Lee and her staff are brainstorming a way to solve these problems and bring the designers’ ideas to life.

In keeping with the shiny, plastic theme of the production, Anita Yavich designed costumes that emphasize textural subtlety. Using a multitude of plaid fabrics, she has created Western-inspired costumes that suggest both individuality and a factory, mass-produced motif. The most interesting aspect of the costumes is the use of plastic laminate on certain pieces of fabric. According to Jeannette Hawley, costume shop manager, the shop has been experimenting with the laminate while keeping practical matters in mind, particularly the comfort of the actors wearing the costumes and the ability of laminated fabric to remain flexible and washable.

Faced with the job of translating a difficult idea into theatrical reality, the A.R.T. shops struggle each day to find solutions to the constantly emerging obstacles. Discovering the best way to realize the ethereal concept of the show is an ongoing challenge, and each department continues to find innovative solutions to the toughest tasks.

Stella Gorlin is a first-year dramaturgy student at the A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theater Training.