A Memory of Lizzie Borden: Evaluation

*Evaluation*

The role of a designer in theater production. 

The play that we worked on in class throughout this unit was called A Memory of Lizzie Borden. The play was set during the Victorian era and it is horror/mystery play, based on a true story. The basic plot of the play is that the main character Lizzie Borden, murders her parents with an axe. In this play we had an option to be a costume designer or a set designer. I chose to be a set designer since I thought it would me more enjoyable. Before starting this unit, I knew a little about set designing. I thought it was basically the designers going to the store and picking out materials for the set. I never new in dept what the designers actually do in order to make the set the way it should be. After this unit I learned the importance of a set designer and here are some reasons why:
The role of a designer in a theatrical production is crucial for the play to even go on. People might think the actors and the script writer is the most important segment of the entire play; they are wrong. Without the designers, the play would be terrible because it would not be set the way it should the actors and actresses would not look in context. Think about it this way, what if you entered a modern film such as Star Wars which was based in the future and the set and the costumes of the play were from the 17th century. It would be terribly weird. Or even a Shakespeare play where modern teenagers are wearing skirts and tops with the background music of Justin Bieber. Again, it would not be right. The designers are the base of a whole production and they are essential and vitally important in every theatrical production.

Design process theatrical designers use when designing a production:

To help us creating our product and our final designs we followed the design cycle as reference. The design cycle composes of a few parts. There’s investigating, planning, creating and evaluating. Following the design cycle is essential since each part helps in building the next segment of the product and at the end it brings the product together as a whole.

The design cycle. This picture is taken from Google. "https://joinerd.wikispaces.com/file/view/design_cycle_picture.jpg/181797395/design_cycle_picture.jpg"

The first step of making our set was to investigate about what the play was about. I read the script a few times and looked for information that would give me a better idea of what the era was. I looked for hints of the type of homes they used to live in, their social status, different scenes where they talk and interact etc.
This is a table, which includes the page numbers of where I found information about the set from the script.

Scenic reference from script	Page #	Research task
“small American schoolyard – Massachusetts in about 1871/2.”	9	Find pictures and descriptions of small American schoolyards of period.
"The other's disperse around the playground area"	10	Find pictures of playgrounds from 1860s
"Lizzie Borden finally excused herself and went down stairs taking the cat with her"	14	Find pictures of Lizzie's Basement
"Lizzie was in her room with her friends"	14	Find pictures of 1860's houses.
" City Hall bell ringing eleven o' clock"	19	Pictures of churches from 1800's
" I went to the sitting room"	21	Sitting rooms from the 1800's
"In the ground, at the churchyard"	25	Find pictures of churchyards where the kids play funerals.
"In the ground, at the churchyard"	10	Find pictures of Fall river.

Lizzie Borden play took place in the late 1800s thus I searched for furniture and home decor around that time. Also, since the play was not short, there would not be enough time to change the set every time a scene changed thus I decided to do it on a unit set. A unit set is basically a stage where they are different segments of the stage where different scenes take place. I divided my stage into 3 different parts, the basement, Lizzie Borden's home as well as the playground. The set was going to take place on a proscenium stage. 

This is a picture of a proscenium stage. The picture is taken from Google: "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KrCBXJJRYcs/UTBApT9DAvI/AAAAAAAAABI/wm2yv2dtrT0/s1600/proscenium+stage.jpg"

This is an example outline of a proscenium stage. This image is taken from Google : "http://blogs.swa-jkt.com/swa/10474/files/2012/11/proscenium.jpeg"

 

Afterwards I searched for the color combination that I would want the play to be based on. Neutral colors such as brown and yellow ochers would be perfect for the scenes since it shows alight mystery and horror. Bright colors symbolizes happiness and positiveness in a sense and for this play I wanted to stay away from that. Even though I would use the color red to show horror and gore symbolically.

These are the type of colors that I will be using. Picture taken from Pinterest "http://www.pinterest.com/pin/505529126894349747/"

After figuring the scenes out I searched for them in the context of 1860s.Since the play did mention any seasonal references, I decided that the play would take place around fall since that would give the scene and much creepier feel. The leaves of the trees would fall giving the branches shadows on the sets. Plus a tree without leaves looks scarier in general to me.

This is an example of the fencing around her house.This picture is taken from Pinterest. "http://www.pinterest.com/pin/505529126894348831/" 

This is an example of the trees without leaves. It looks very creepy. This picture is taken from Pinterest. "http://www.pinterest.com/pin/505529126894349080/"

This is an example of a playground.This picture is taken from www.pinterest.com

I searched playgrounds and basements too since the children in the play spend most of their time there.. I decided that the playground would have only one slide so that it would give more room for the characters to spread out and talk. One slide also symbolizes a playground but with less equipment, intern cutting the cost

Birds eye view of my set. Author's own image.

Front elevation of my set ( Basement, playground and Lizzies house). Author's own image.

After making the first rough draft we went on the second and draft, which was colored. This draft shows the front elevation view of the view that the audience will be seeing from the stage. As I mentioned in my investigation, I used all neutral colors, even for the slide. This makes the set look much creepier and has a mysterious vibe to it.

Author's own image.

The last segment that we worked on was making a white model of the sketches we made to show a 3D model. This would give my director a better understanding of what exactly I was trying to show.I made the white model using Styrofoam and bobby pins to hold the props in place.

Author's own image

Evaluation of my work

The design unit for this year was quite enjoyable. I learned a lot of new things and I can honestly say that I have gained more respect for costume and set designers. I understood and realized that it takes a lot of hard work creating even once piece of costume or even finding out and making one segment of a set design. Since I did a unit set, my job was easier that a set with different scenes which would interchange.
During my investigation stage, I didn't slack off and I had a great time in researching on these different props from the Victorian era.  This increased my general knowledge of the furniture, materials and the living conditions around that time which intern helping me in making my product. I would say that my investigation stage was quite strong. This made a good base in starting my product and deciding what to do later on. The investigation was extremely helpful since I could refer back to it while coloring anything when making my sketches or the placements and the props I would use. It also helped me in designing what each part would look like and it made the other segments of the design cycle much easier for me. 
Creating the first draft which included my birds eye and top view of my stage was quite simple for me since I had my investigation as reference. I knew straight away where I would place everything since I researched it beforehand. This helped me in making my second draft.
Making the second draft was quite challenging because I had trouble drawing from the perspective of the audience. I had to draw it twice since my primary second draft had terrible perspective. The next second draft was not perfect but it was better than the last one. even thought I knew what to draw and where to place everything, perspective and making the director understand what the set was going to look like is quite difficult. This was one of the challenges that I faced in this design segment.
The most challenging segment for me was making the 3D model. I had a hard time finding our resources to make the product. Later on I used white Styrofoam. I realized halfway though making the model that the glue that I used does to stick to Styrofoam thus I used bobby pins to hold the set equipment’s in place. There were many trial and error moments in this segment and it was also quite time consuming. I realized that I had not thought out what I was going to make it with which made it a hassle afterwards. Even thought I knew where everything would go, it was still quite difficult.
All in all, I enjoyed this unit. I learned tons of new information about the hands on work that takes place while making a play. It’s not just about the actors and the script, it’s about the whole production, design and directors work which builds it to perfection. I must say that after doing this unit, I have gained a lot of respect for the designers behind the stage. I would say that their job is the hardest and the most important after the director themselves.