Results tagged “designers” from Inkblog!
Here's Anne once again, to share with you the opinions and thoughts of another important group of people engaged in the new play development process: designers. Last Monday, January 14th, costume designer and Inkwellian Deb Sevigny brought together a panel of noted designers in Washington, DC to talk about their experience of working with new texts. Lighting designer Dan Covey, costume designer Kathleen Geldard, and lighting designer Colin Bills all welcomed the challenge of imagining the world of a new play, but also spoke at length about the challenges and pitfalls.
There was a lengthy discussion about the ideal team of collaborators that comes together to produce a world premiere production. While all recognized the director as the "benevolent monarch," the one who ultimately makes decisions about the visual elements of the play, these designers are all eager to be in the room with the playwright, to work together to "find the poetical response" to the text, as stated by Colin.
They all mentioned instances where such collaborations broke down. Kathleen Geldard described a production where she and the director made a very bold choice in costuming one of the characters. The playwright saw a dress rehearsal and lost his mind. But in that moment of crisis, everyone discovered more about the character — the director, the designers, the playwright, and the actress.
These folks also put in their two cents about stage directions, the critical information that the playwright provides in the script about the visual world of the play. All agreed that stage directions that are too detailed, that spell out every piece of furniture or every object in the room, aren't all that helpful. They want to get a sense or feeling of the world that they as visual people can respond to. Adjectives that evoke an emotional or physical response are the most helpful.
And these designers welcome the impossible. In fact, they don't think anything is impossible to put on stage. As Kathleen put it, "I get mad at myself when I can't solve" what the playwright demands in the play.
This was the last of the panels that The Inkwell sponsored for this festival. We're all now in production mode, working with the designers to to light and dress the actors and put them in the world of the two plays we are producing - OK and Underground. Come see what our designers have cooked up next week at H Street Playhouse!
In the photo above, Deb Sevigny (left), throws out some questions to lighting designer Dan Covey (next to Deb), costume designer Kathleen Geldard (middle), and lighting designer Colin Bills (far right). Photo by Anne M. McCaw, who is clearly an amateur photographer
There was a lengthy discussion about the ideal team of collaborators that comes together to produce a world premiere production. While all recognized the director as the "benevolent monarch," the one who ultimately makes decisions about the visual elements of the play, these designers are all eager to be in the room with the playwright, to work together to "find the poetical response" to the text, as stated by Colin.They all mentioned instances where such collaborations broke down. Kathleen Geldard described a production where she and the director made a very bold choice in costuming one of the characters. The playwright saw a dress rehearsal and lost his mind. But in that moment of crisis, everyone discovered more about the character — the director, the designers, the playwright, and the actress.
These folks also put in their two cents about stage directions, the critical information that the playwright provides in the script about the visual world of the play. All agreed that stage directions that are too detailed, that spell out every piece of furniture or every object in the room, aren't all that helpful. They want to get a sense or feeling of the world that they as visual people can respond to. Adjectives that evoke an emotional or physical response are the most helpful.
And these designers welcome the impossible. In fact, they don't think anything is impossible to put on stage. As Kathleen put it, "I get mad at myself when I can't solve" what the playwright demands in the play.
This was the last of the panels that The Inkwell sponsored for this festival. We're all now in production mode, working with the designers to to light and dress the actors and put them in the world of the two plays we are producing - OK and Underground. Come see what our designers have cooked up next week at H Street Playhouse!
In the photo above, Deb Sevigny (left), throws out some questions to lighting designer Dan Covey (next to Deb), costume designer Kathleen Geldard (middle), and lighting designer Colin Bills (far right). Photo by Anne M. McCaw, who is clearly an amateur photographer
