Senior Project

We (the set designer) are now working on writing our senior project thesis so that we may graduate. We have already written an introductory paragraph, but it needs to be edited.


Below is my second section which deals with my first impresions of the play, which will be edited to go with hers. It is incomplete but it's a start.

I first met Lisa Wolpe in the movement class in spring of 2004. My first impression of her was one of amazement and intimidation. Her approach to teaching was one of Socratic Method, placing students in on-the-spot performance situations and answering in tones of skepticism and disbelief. She was not one to tout her own resume though, and I learned later from others of her very impressive list of qualifications.

During the winter quarter of 2005, the quarter when I took on Twelfth Night, I enrolled in Lisa’s directing class as part of my bachelor’s degree requirement. When I attended Fullerton College, I was able to design for a director while participating in their acting class. From that experience, I learned how to anticipate the director’s needs by seeing how they approach a script; I was hoping that would be the case again here, but it was not. Instead I was given a set of guidelines in Lisa’s class that plays should be directed with, but with Twelfth Night I witnessed the extreme disregard to those set rules.

My first meeting with the director, along with Bill Morse and Christina Russo, made me feel a bit unprepared. I had read the script, but was not given any information on the concept at this point, leaving me a bit in the dark when the set designer began pulling out photos of Caribbean architecture. I quickly had to begin rethinking my initial ideas due to the new information I received. My reading left me with a feeling of a romantic comedy that evolved into a television sitcom. Later miscommunications also had me confused on the final choice in time period; the director and costume designer both had about a century’s gap between ideal settings for the play.

After reading the play again, with more information to take into consideration, I began seeing the stage washed in pinks, oranges, and lavenders. I also had keywords straight from the director that I contemplated: “Life force.” Illyria is a mystical life force, lush with tropical foliage and femininity. Olivia and Viola take priority in the story, along with the gender change in casting for the role of Antonio, the Pirate King. The idea of life force immediately made me think green (a rather scary color for many light designers). Green is affiliated with many bad concepts (illness, envy, inexperience) and I had to try to position it in such a way that it would enhance the foliage and cover a wide area, but not affect the rest of the scenery or costumes and make-up for the actors.