The design is about wrapped up

Last Monday evening, Atomic rehearsals kicked off with a meeting of the production staff. So, I had to scramble to get the ideas all down on paper for the design.

In the last post, I described all of the components and showed some examples. I posted a floor plan of the set.

I even posted a few images of some things that I had already purchased.  So, I want to talk about each of the pieces and show a bit of detail for them.

THE "MAIN ROOM"

First off, I want to clarify that this show takes place in a LOT of locations and it would be nearly impossible on our budget, in our theater, with its resources, to create a full and detailed set for each location.  The story follows Leo Szilard as he make his first realizations about the nature of the atom, through the formation of and his joining the Manhattan Project, his being fired from the project, to it's ultimate "success".  The script jumps from the 1950's back to the 40's and back to the 50's again, several times.

Because of this, I decided that instead of trying to create a new space for each scene, that we needed to create an environment that was visually consistent with the 1940's when most of the story takes place.  It is within reason that when scenes are taking place in the 50's, the spaces have not changed all that much from the 40's.

Over the past several years, I have accumulated a good number of scenic components; windows, doors, furnishings, etc.  I have made these pieces in a fairly modular way and took a fair amount of care in fabricating them.  My thought was that they could be repainted, maybe a bit of trim changed out, and then reused in a new configuration to become another place.  None of the theaters that I work for have a budget to sustain making all new and custom pieces for every show. So, I share these components between theaters and they are generic-enough in character that no one feels that they are being short-changed or given something that was just on the other's stage.  For each show, I build a new something or another to add to the collection and that allows each subsequent show to be more varied than the last.  So far, no one has complained... 

For the "main room", I am pulling the door unit that I first built for "Night of the Living Dead" at New Line 3 years ago and coupling it with two large, fixed windows that I built for "God of Carnage" at Stray Dog Theatre a little over a year ago.

These components will form the wall that screens the band from the playing space.  The openness of the windows will allow the conductor to see the actors and yet create a room.  I will raise the head of the windows up to 9' off the floor and then add a transom window above the door (very period for the 1940's).

In the last post, I described the ceiling beams element that I created for "The Elephant Man" last fall. With that floated in front of the wall of windows and doors and the practicals suspended, we get a convincing room from the 1940's that is abstract enough that it can play as the many locations we move to and yet keep us firmly in the 1940's.

The idea is not to build every wall and every detail of the space, but instead introduce realistic elements that form the planes and define the edges of our "room".

THE BAR

There is one place that we return to a few times in the show that Scott and I decided we wanted it to have it's own physicality; the bar.  In a previous post, I talked about the concept that the bar was probably actually from the 1930's and so would look just a bit older and more weathered.  Yet, this element, too can help keep us firmly rooted in our period.  I had posted a pic early on of some 1930's style bars with their big, dark wood back bar, mirror, bottle and glasses, etc.  Our bar will have many of the same components.

As it is designed, it will be an 8-foot long back bar that is 9-feet high at the peak of the mirror.  The mirror is flanked by two pedestals for our decorative, Art Deco lamps.  Then a vertical shelf unit outside of that with glasses below.

These two shelf units get to be pretty tall and reaching glasses would be difficult that high.  So, on eBay, I found a couple reproductions of old tin liquor signs that will fit perfectly in the top shelf bay.

The base of the back bar is fashioned to look like cabinets with closed doors. These won't open and become downplayed.  It is necessary to have them however. Because of the seating plan, the audience has to walk past the bar to get to their seats.  So, the bar must be fully developed and detailed.

The front bar is 42" tall and detailed similarly to the lower portion of the back bar except I am introducing the details from the two pedestals in the face of it to tie the two components together visually.  The bar top will be painted to look like black granite and all of the wood painted like old, dark mahogany, not unlike the door in the pic above.  I will probably add a few gold accents here and there.

Finally, the three chrome stools with black leather seats in front.

With the mirror, lamps,  signs, glasses and bottles, it should be quite a beautiful anchor at the end of the stage, creating another "wall" to our "room.

This week, we will begin pulling the pieces out of the loft, repairing and cleaning them up, then make the structure for the wall.

As we start building, I'll make a few progress posts with lots of pictures.  This is a fun one, probably my favorite of the year...
I cannot wait to get into it!!!!
R