Thursday, June 20, 2013

Aida Priestess Costume Design


Spent 10 days in NYC buying fabric—mostly for a new 1950s Merchant of Venice I'm working on designing sets and costumes for. But also getting some fabric for a Cyrano costume and finishing up with Aida, the current monster project.

Here's one of my sketches for a priestess and then the garment mid-construction. I'm loving the pleating.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

No Stone

Heard Brian Dennehy in a Livestream broadcast today. (He's currently in Waiting for Godot at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada. My wife and I saw him in Death of a Salesman on Broadway in 1999.) Loved one quotation in particular: "I have an enormous appetite for seriously working the material." I think he was actually talking about that's being the attitude of his director, Jennifer Tarver. Tarver also talked about Dennehy's "leaving no stone unturned" when it came to experimentation in rehearsal. Would that all actors felt that way. Rehearsing the play is the best part of theatre for me.

Here on the farm in Greenville, SC, I'm conducting a table reading for a play about Hudson Taylor with the teens from church and continuing rehearsals for the July 5 opening of Comedy of Errors: The Amazing One-Joke Play. We're leaving no stone unturned.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Merchant Building

Saw this side of a building in Lancaster, PA, a couple of weeks ago. What great set potential for Merchant of Venice. Stairs, windows, doors to nowhere, piping, gutters, stone, brick, lines, curves, angles—it's got it all.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Fencing and Rivets!

Passed by this combo chain-link/iron-pipe fence in Manhattan yesterday. Loved the industrial look (next to grommets, rivets are my favorite!) as a possibility in my Merchant set research. Look for this in my set design.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Merchant Lettering


In the midst of Merchant research I came across these letters at an abandoned show in downtown Lancaster, PA. It was a menswear shop. I love the look of these. Perhaps one is a perfect look for a 1950s Merchant of Venice.