where do you come up with this s***?

The scenic designer is, typically, the first member of the design team to be chosen and it's the first part of the overall design process to be established. There is a lot riding on the tone set by the scenic design. What style will the show be, how will the play move from scene to scene. Believe it or not, the scene designer is responsible for setting up all the blocking and staging for key moments in a play. Now, I'm not giving myself a huge ego, because, any good design will happen collaboratively with the director and other artists.

I have been chatting with Scott Miller about the overall design ideas for High Fidelity. One of the key elements that has inspired me from our conversation is the notion of "collection". Rob is a collector, but not only does he collect things, he collects "dead" things. He clings to a musical format (vinyl) which is no longer has mass appeal. He clings to the memories of his top 5 break ups. These are the things that, in a sense, haunt him. So, my general idea is that the play takes place within his record collection. This is a rock style show that happens within his music collection. I'm very inspired by these music formats and they will feature very prominently within the design of the show. The challenge now, is to find enough CDs, records, and cassette tapes to play with. Hello, craigslist, here I come!

I have already amassed like 300-400 records...but knowing me, I want more...I have a whole box of cassette tapes (of which, I will only be using the tape, and not the case). CDs shouldn't be a huge problem. I'm really excited how these different elements will be used to create the scenery itself! The installation will be time consuming, but significantly easier construction-wise. I also apologize in advance for strike....I am finishing some sketches, which I will be posting too.

There is still one design challenge that I'm working on right now. And that's movement. There are two scenes that need to feel like there are in a different place from where the rest of the play happens: the apartment and the funeral. When approaching a musical, it's important to understand one thing: what does the production need (not want) in order to function. For this play, these two locations need to feel somewhat different and unique. They don't need to be dramatic scene changes, but they do need to change...but how....that's the outlying question. I'll let you know what I come up with. I just need to remember to keep it simple.

Well, I think I need to get back to the drawing board to figure this s*** out.