Embedded Files
Doctor Gray and June Muldoon performing surgery on Pastor Phineas Wingfield
All photos taken by Micah Marie Photography
Set design based off of the Kansas Flint Hills, designed to have levels. Hand painted by students
The script calls for a very simplistic show - adding one bench to the existing set made for a bar room.
Anatomy of Gray Blocking Key.pdfFor each show I do, I maintain a blocking key. This ensures that if anyone else needs to read the blocking from my script, they will be able to interpret the symbols inside for different actors, props, and set pieces. I typically use one letter for major named characters, and initials for ensemble members. Set pieces and props are usually drawn into a small symbol.
Gray and Rebecca sit on a boat, which can be 'paddled' and move around the stage as though the two are really on water.
June and Homer sit on the boat, rowing away from the town at the end of the show. Water is a very central theme to the show, and having a moving boat with a dock was a major part of the set design for this show.
Another simplistic call for the show, characters Homer and Tiny held up a clothesline and watched June and Rebecca in one scene
Homer holds the clothesline and observes the scene, pretending to be standing in for an oak tree. He breaks the fourth wall to tell the audience how he feels about what he has seen
Anatomy of Gray Blocking Page Script.pdfBlocking was kept track of in a separate blocking script on the right side of my prompt book. Here, I use symbols I keep track of in my blocking key to track where in the script actors are moving and interacting with set pieces and props.
Christmas lights were draped from a lighting grid above the stage to give a starry look to the stage
Christmas lights over Rebecca's monologue
A better look at the Christmas lights on the grid
Unique aspects:
- called the show from backstage - limited sight of the stage
- of fourteen cast members, ten were acting for their first time
- don't typically use a cyclorama on our thrust stage
- Student designed and built set, props, lights, and sound
- Student designed costumes, and one entirely student built costume
Crutch (left) wears yellow in parallel with his wife, Belva (center), and has on a worn leather blacksmith's apron. Homer (right) is dressed in a simple plaid with overalls that allow him to hold several soda pop bottles, referenced frequently in the show.
Other members of the cast are dressed in modest prairie dresses and aprons, reflective of their ages and roles in the town.
In Act I, June is dressed in darker blues with a full length apron, chosen to make her look younger and less mature.
In Act II, June changes into a pale blue dress with a half length apron which makes her appear older and more grown up than in the previous act. Blues were chosen for both costumes to reflect the theme of water throughout the show, which is paralleled in the costumes of Doctor Gray.
Another fun costuming challenge for this show was a scene that required both Pastor Phineas (left) and Doctor Gray (right) to pull down their pants and reveal time period appropriate underwear. Phineas's underwear also had to be able to stay up while he was turned upside down, as pictured in the rightmost photo above.
Anatomy of Gray Blocking Page Ground Plan.pdfA ground plan was printed on the back of every page in my blocking script on the left side so that blocking could be drawn in and more easily seen in my script.
Left: The 14 person cast was accompanied by a number of technicians and directors. The ladder seen in the back allows two running crew techs to climb into the catwalk and throw a boot down onstage during a thunderstorm scene where Galen Gray appears.
June, Homer, and Crutch watch Gray begin surgery on Phineas towards the end of the show
The surgery was concealed from the audience by having Homer hold up a blanket
Anatomy of Gray Rehearsal Report 92617.pdfRehearsal reports were sent out twice a week to maintain communication between the directorial team, actors, and technicians throughout the rehearsal process. These were sent out daily during tech and dress rehearsal week.
Doctor Gray and June talk on a corner of the set
Doctor Gray, holding his bag, talks to June about the illness sweeping through the town of Gray, Indiana
Doctor Gray and Rebecca tell June and Homer farewell before they leave town to escape the illness with Rebecca's new baby
June delivers her final monologue to the audience on the boat with Homer and the baby
Google Sites
Report abuse