Scenic Design
Client
Eckerd College Theatre
St Petersburg, Florida
St Petersburg, Florida
Collaborators
Directed by: Cindy Totten
Technical Direction: Rick Tetrault
Lighting Design: Kevin Greene
Costume Design: Jessica Thonen
Philip Dawkins’ Failure: A Love Story tells a sweet, sentimental story of love and loss.
Philip Dawkins’ Failure: A Love Story tells a sweet, sentimental story of love and loss. Early conversations with the director, Cindy, focused on the intentional theatricality within the script. There was also the logistical issues of representing both the clock shop and pet store.
Initial Sketch
We decided on a space that included theatrical portals and footlights. Again, I knew this set would be fabricated and painted by students new to stagecraft. We settled on a simple warm palette and simple fan burst motif that would be fairly easy to pain, but also be impactful. We wanted the space to feel like a early 20th century, vaudeville theatre.
Establishing Design
Utilizing scrim, we were able to create a flexible space. When not lit, the back wall would read Fail Clock Works, and then backlit the wall would appear as a window.
The design used swagged lights and found objects to establish a world that allowed the performers to grab objects to create props. The Chicago River was created with large bolts of fabric. This all played into the vaudevillian feel we wanted to create.
Students worked hard to fabricate the design, while I worked remotely. Eventually, once I was onsite, I helped with some of the details, like the wooden floor. Overall, I was quite pleased with the result.
Production Photos
