The Miracle Play: Scenic Design
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CREATIVE DIRECTION, SCENIC DESIGN, SCENIC CONSTRUCTION
The Miracle Play provided me the opportunity
to craft the creative direction of a new
postmodern work with a very conceptual director.
The play raised many questions while answering few,
and much of the meaning and imagery we discovered
in production meetings and rehearsals,
so I needed to make strong, evocative design decisions
that could be fluid and interpretive.
The story was in our time,
however somewhat dystopian
and possibly set in the near future.
New York City went through a
massive storm and flooding,
where water came to destroy and cleanse,
and a residue was left behind.
It had strong questions of faith and religion
as the city went on living in the aftermath
and attempts to rebuild were sketchy.
An invisible cathedral became my centerpiece,
known only by a wall of scaffolding that served
as the apse, altar, and chapels. Sand and water
had an inverse relationship, and were always
transported and poured from all kinds of bottles
that you may find wash up in a city.
These bottles also hung from the scaffolding,
fracturing light as it streamed onto the stage,
much as stained glass would,
and with the same symbolic properties.
The scaffolding was draped in special
semiopaque plastic that could soften
the environment and even be used as blankets,
but also feel cold and industrial.
Everything was whitewashed for its color symbolism
as well as to convey a deteriorating homogeny.
The band played from behind the scaffolding,
as well as moments of a Fate chorus, aptly coming
from where the chapels would be.
