Clybourne Park Set Design

Directed by: Jessica Havenner 

Clybourne Park is a play written by Bruce Norris as a sequel and follow up to the play Raisin in the Sun. At the end of the first play the Youngers; an African American family are about to move into the neighborhood Clybourne Park; which is a mostly white neighborhood. Clybourne Park begins with the current owners of the house Bev & Rus getting ready to move and  Karl Lindner who is with the Clybourne Park Association trying to convince the Younger family not to move into Clybourne Park for fear that the value of the property might go down. We later find out that the value of the property might go down because of Kenneth; a Korean war veteran that passed away. And his spirit and memories are buried in a trunk out back.


For the main set of Clybourne Park I want to have a theatre space that could be easily transformed to show the main scenes of the play. I would use the Village Theatre- Everett Location. I think it might be beneficial to the audience to show a recap of what happened at the end of Raisin in the Sun. 

Everett Performing Arts Center

2710 Wetmore Avenue

Everett, WA 98201

I also think that it would be beneficial to the audience to show a recap of what happened at the end of Raisin in the Sun, just enough to refresh them on what was about to happen as far as the Youngers and Clybourne Park.  

It's a very easily transformable theatre and stage. In my vision; I would like the stage to spin in order to change the scenes. The house where the play takes place would be different because of the time that has passed, the style, condition, and of course the people in the house.  The seating in my rendition of the play would be stadium seating with very comfortable chairs. 

The audience that has come to view my play has paid good money and deserves to be comfortable and able to relax; there will be plenty of leg room for them also. Being too close to the person in front of you or too close to the person behind you will be a problem of the past. 

In my vision of the play Clybourne Park; I would want the audience to be able to relate to the characters and understand the hurt and grief that Bev and her husband Rus go through when they lose their son Kenneth. And also to know the joy and happiness of the play. My target audience age range would be ranging from teenagers to the elderly. I would say probably  at least 13 years of age and older because of the language used in the script might be too much for younger children.


 I would want everything to come together and work together. I'd want the play to flow nicely and make sense. I would have my intermission between Act I and Act II; as we travel 50 years into the future: from 1959 to 2009. 


Because the play takes place in 2 different time periods it would require different costume styles. For the 1959 characters I would choose costumes that were more bland in design and didn't have a lot of bright colors or patterns. 

 For the costume designs for the characters in 2009 I would use brighter colors and fun patterns, and more modern ideas. 

Because the play takes place in Chicago, Illinois I would require all of the actors to try and use accents that would be associated with Chicago. There are websites that have information about different dialects and accents from all over; I would provide this blog as an aid for the actors http://positiveanymore.blogspot.com/2006/04/chicago-dialect.html.


For the set of the house in 1959 I would choose a newer looking house for that time period I would have the tree that Kenneth's trunk is buried under in the side yard more than the backyard though. Only because I think it would be easier to view it and understand what the tree represents. For the processes in which the trunk is buried and dug back up I would use some sort of hydraulic system or perhaps a trap door. 

Whichever method is chosen it would have to be something believable and something that can be done easily and quickly.

Lighting

As for the lighting in the show I would probably choose duller, lower lights. Not a lot of  fluorescence; except when the characters were in an outdoor scene. For the sun I would have a bright light up in the corner of the stage.  

For my music selection- I would choose to have low, soft jazz playing in the background of the plays. I would not want it to be too loud; just enough to know it's there. At the sadder or lower parts in the play the music would be softer and deeper and at joyous times it would be more upbeat and happy.
Some examples of my selections would be..

Final Response

On December 9, 2011 I attended a Christmas Play put on by the Volusia County Baptist Church in Orange City, Florida. I heard about the performance at the DeLand Christmas Parade on December 3rd and thought it would be an interesting and fun thing to do. 

  


The play was put on very well, there were many different actors, scenes, and animals used. It told the classic Christmas story to my liking and involved all that it should. From the wise men, to the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. The story was told to a broad audience and was for people of all ages. 


With this blog post, I will discuss viewing a live play versus seeing a film, with a live play no two performances are ever exactly the same. There will always be differences; whether they are small mistakes the actors make or the weather when the plays are outside, or even when the actors pick up for the others who mess up. When you're in the theatre to see a play; you are sometimes involved with the play, the actors are live; you see what they see, you hear what they hear(as far as what the audience is saying or says), you smell what they smell, in many ways you are involved in the performance. 


When you go to see a film in the movie theater, you see a finished product that has been edited, and re-edited, and touched up and fixed with computers. Films can be altered by computers and green screens, and other forms of technology. So when we see a film we don't see where the actors have messed up and made little mistakes in the process of filming. We see the same thing over and over again, every time we watch the movie it will be the same things said the same way, by the same people. 


Seeing a film and a live play have many differences and can be very different experiences; however they can also have some similarities; such as they both involve actors. You are still there to view a performance whether live or recorded. Actors may still make mistakes; not everything is caught in the revising stage of film making. In many movies you can find many mistakes and bloopers. There are websites such as http://www.moviemistakes.com/ which finds those mistakes and mishaps. So even though many mistakes are electronically fixed; some still slip through. One mistake that was very popular was in the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl"...

-If you look to the left on Johnny Depp you can actually see one of the crew members looking off into the distance. It's a mistake that was missed in editing and has become famous. 

In plays and other theatrical performances you sometimes see the crew with changing out of props and equipment. In movies you are not supposed to see the crew and workers behind the scenes.