I was the Scenic Designer for this production of In The Next Room (or the vibrator play) (by Sarah Ruhl) with Central Theatre Ensemble in March of 2018. Below are some production photos from the show.
Photo Credit: David Dick, Directed By: Emily Rollie, Costume Designer: Claire Cosby, Lighting Design: Haley Mepham
My experience designing In The Next Room is one of my proudest achievements, despite the speed bumps I encountered along the way. I was able to draft all of the paperwork for the show, but more was expected of me this time around and the show was more detailed than what I had drafted previously, so it took a few more renditions of drafting for it to be in working order. As my first large scale exposure to being a designer, I navigated the channels of collaboration in a manner that I deem healthy, but also found myself to be a tinge passive at times. The designs I drafted also had a number of difficult hurdles for the scene shop to work with, which led to some concessions and solutions that I wish I had taken the time to address pre-build. I have since realized that communicating somewhat early and often with a scene shop is not a crime, so I will be in more constant talks with scene shops from now on. All these struggles considered though, my design was quite successful in supporting the narrative needs of the show. I created this slightly disjointed and incomplete world that these characters lived in whilst they sought completion of self, and it struck the chord of abstract reality that they show portrays effectively. The final moments of the show, when the structure breaks away and the characters finally leave the house, was supported by a wonderful solution that I stumbled upon during the production process. We painted shark-toothed scrims to look like wall paper, and when the front lighting disappeared you could peer behind the set (pictured twice above) and it looked like a completely open and different location.