Whenever we go to a play, we know we are entering into a
world that created on a platform to help tell a story. Living rooms, street
corners and even magical places are built to compliment the character roles
that are acted out. They are also developed – more importantly, I think- to set
the stage literally for us, the audience.
Actors are trained to ‘be in character’ regardless of the
furniture and flora around them. It is the audience that depends most upon the consistency
of visual cues to tell the story. When it comes to telling stories of imagined times
and places the physical landscape matters. This is what quietly keeps us connected
enough to believe in these strange and exciting lands where tales of fantasy
unfold.
Can you imagine, for example, the Wizard of Oz without a
yellow brick road of some kind? Or the heather-covered highlands of the Scottish
hamlet Brigadoon which arises only one day every hundred years?
I recently asked Elizabeth Bazzano, set designer and lead
painter for Spreckels Theatre Company's upcoming production of
"Brigadoon" (directed by Gene Abravaya) about what it takes to make a
mythic placeslike Brigadoon feel real enough for the audience to believe it
exists.
Q/A:
Q: What
are the most important differences between fairytale/mythic stage settings and
those of plays set in factual times and places?
A: We can
get a lot more creative with shows set in mythical places. We aren’t
stuck in reality, trying to make everything as realistic and accurate as possible.
We can do a lot more with color, texture, and shapes. It allows us to
create our own world, our own reality.
Q:
What do you like most about mythic/fantasy set design work?
A:
I like the freedom of creativity that designing a mythical set allows.
It opens up a world of possibilities where we can push the limits of
imagination and turn magic into reality. There must still be
continuity within the world we create, of course, but we get
to decide what that means for our show.
Q: What
is the purpose of plays that take place in “once upon a time, in a land far
away”?
A:
These are the things that make us dream, either of a much better place or of
great memories from childhood where there is magic, fantasy, imagination, and
almost always a happy ending.
Q:
What do you like most about mythic/fantasy set design work?
A:
I like the freedom of creativity that designing a mythical set
allows. It opens up a world of possibilities where we can push the limits
of imagination and turn magic into reality. There must still
be continuity within the world we create, of course, but we get
to decide what that means for our show.
Bazzano who has been involved in Sonoma
County theater for almost 20 years
including Santa Rosa Players, Sonoma
State University,
and Cinnabar Theater is also a stage manager and props master at Spreckels.
She told me that musicals like Brigadoon – which was first
performed on Broadway in 1947 -offer audiences a chance to step away from everyday
life in order to experience the magic of true love, mystery and adventure. This
Rohnert Park
premiere runs October 11 through October 27.
Show details: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m.
Fridays/Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays/Sundays.
Tickets: $22- $26 ($22 Youth; $24 Seniors; $26 General).
No comments:
Post a Comment