Kimberly Sta. Maria Dalton

Professor Karjala

Theatre 100-02

25 February, 1999

A Design Analysis for VUT's Production of Three Tall Women

One of the most important factors in creating a worthwhile theatrical production is to start with a good script, but equally important as a good script is skillful creative design to underscore and enhance the dramatic action. To create the design for the production, specialized scenic, costume, and lighting designers must collaborate. These designers utilize specific techniques to make the message of the play more effective and to more clearly emphasize the production concept that the director has chosen. Several such techniques were utilized by the designers for the VU production of Three Tall Women that affected the meaning and emotional impact of the production.

The action of Three Tall Women takes place in the bedroom of A, a 92-year old main character. In order to better define the acting area of the play, the scene designer chose to construct a modified proscenium stage with an elevated acting area about a foot higher than the floor. This made the acting area well defined through it's additional height and the use of the sharp lines on the edge of the stage area.

The floor space was characterized as an opulent bedroom, with two upholstered chairs, a small end table, a small desk, two windows, to lamps, a chandelier, and a large bed (the main prop on stage). By equally spacing the bed and the two chairs and automans, coordinating all the colors, consistently using soft textures (which are evident in the drapes, the bed and the carpet), the scenic designer was able to create a feeling of harmony and balance on the set. The scenic designer attempted to draw the most attention to the main character's bed, perhaps because of its significance to her. She started each day in the bed, slept in the bed at night, and, in the second act after her stroke, was confined to her bed. The bed's prominence was accomplished by it's placement in the middle of the stage, and it's enormous size.

To create a kind of pleasant, restful backdrop for the dramatic action, the color cream was used more than any other in the scene design. Texture was utilized when picking the heavy fabric of the drapes behind the bed and above each window, the bed's comforter, the cushions for the chairs, and the carpet. The absence of cold or harsh surfaces like wood or stone created a very comforting ambiance. The rich fabrics coupled with the design of the chairs and tables created an opulent look.

Perhaps the most interesting scene design choice which made the largest interpretational statement and which was the hardest to fully comprehend was the large cascading waterfall of blue fabric that flowed behind and around the entire acting platform. This served to create the illusion that the action of the play was happening in a sort of dream. It successfully achieved a sense of a dreamlike, fantastical or imaginary series of events, which fit particularly well with the plot of the second act. The cloth seemed to add to the first act in that it blended with all the fabric onstage (drapes, carpet, cushions, bed, etc.), however, the cloth was not as noticeable in the first act as in the second, because it was emphasized with extra blue lighting in the second act.

This second act, involves the main character (A) as she appears now and at two younger stages in her life. A is still 92, B is A at 52 and C is A at 26 years of age. All three different versions of A interact as they discuss her life and memories and how she became B and ultimately A. This scene could never realistically take place and so it might actually be a peek into the wanderings of a senile mind or the thoughts of the main character after her quick but serious stroke. Accordingly, the setting for this surreal meeting is surrounded by the waves of blue fabric that suggest a dreamlike setting not quite within the boundaries of reality.

The costume designs of the first act of this production were very distinct from those of the second act because the costume designer was attempting to express different things. In the first act, the costume designer emphasized that the action took place in reality. This was accomplished by the use of varied colors, accessories, and modern cuts of clothing. Character A was dressed in a nightgown, robe and sling for her arm, character B, A's caretaker, was outfitted in a tan skirt, blouse, and reading glasses, and C, a lawyer's assistant, wore a brown business dress suit with brown dress shoes.

In the second act; however, the costume designer endeavored to stress that the characters in the second act were actually character A at three different stages of her life. These character relationships were conveyed to the audience through unification of color, ornament, and styles of clothing which were in accordance with the clothing styles of the era of in which each separate character had lived.

In this act, A, B, and C all wore dresses of a different shade of blue. Their shoes were all the same style, but in colors that matched their individual dresses. C, the youngest character, wore a light blue dress of a 1920's design with layers of increasingly dark fabric underneath. To emphasize her youth, the elements of texture and ornament were used in ruffles of her dress making it the flashiest of the three costumes. The 52-year old B was dressed in a deeper blue dress, perhaps to show her stronger character or increasing bitterness. Her dress had less ornament than the youngest and was of a 1950's design with a fitted waistline, wide skirts, and a V-shaped collar which drew attention to her face. The oldest character was dressed as most rich older women of taste are today. She wore a solid blue collarless shirt of lace with a that buttoned in the back and a blue layered skirt of a less severe hue than the second character, and more grayed color than the youngest. The straight and simple lines of her outfit emphasized her age, and her lack of a sling or limp stressed the dreamlikeness of the second act.

These blue colors were used to show that the three entities on stage were the same person, but may also have symbolized how A had changed through her lifetime. The lighter color in the youngest costume portrayed innocence or youth, the darker color in the middle may have represented strength or experience or a coming of age. The grayer older costume may have symbolized a kind of return to innocence or peace as the older character seemed to have lost much of the bitterness of the second. An example of this is the ending of the play when the son returns. B reacts violently to his return because the pain of his estrangement is still fresh in her mind; however, A reacts with less hatred toward him though as she says, she never forgave him for leaving.

The last unifying element, ornament, was used in the form of a pearl necklace around each of the character's necks in a style that complimented their respective ages and time periods. This also made a statement about the character's love for expensive jewelry.

A final aspect of theatrical design is lighting. The lighting designer for this production attempted to create visibility while reinforcing the realistic style of A's bedroom. White frontal, side and toplights achieved visibility while the light from 2 desk lamps and the chandelier reinforced the style of the production and the opulence of the character's bedroom. Also, realism was attempted and successfully achieved by the use of backlights to create the illusion of sunlight shining into the room through two large windows on either side of the bed. At certain moments in act 1 and all of act 2, the lighting designer successfully utilized a flood of blue color to show a difference between moments of "realism" and more "dream-like" points in the dramatic action.

Another responsibility of a lighting designer is to create emphasis and subordination. This was achieved by lighting different areas of the stage with different intensities of light depending on what the focus on stage should have been at that moment. In the last scene of act II when A, B, and C are taking turns saying that their time of life is the best, the lights became more intense around whoever was talking and dimmer on the other parts of the stage. Also, when A was speaking from her bed in the last scene of act I, the lights dimmed in every other part of the stage except the bed as the other characters gathered around her. This focused all attention on the bed so that when A had her stroke, there would be nothing visible to compete for the audience's attention. The lighting designer, like the scene designer and the costume designer before her, attempted to create a mood and atmosphere of a dream. This was achieved by the use of blue lights which seemed to come on every time death was mentioned in either of the two acts.

This production was worthwhile for the actors in it because it gave them experience playing very psychologically demanding roles, which they may be able to use when or if they go on to pursue professional careers in theatre. Because the play's setting was not always quite within the bounds of reality, conveying this idea to the audience strictly through lights, costume, and sound offered a unique and worthwhile challenge for designers. More noticeably, this production was worthwhile because it inspired the audience and all those involved in the production to learn from the exploration of one woman's life from the prime of her youth to her death. Through her experiences with love, pleasure, and wealth, the audience and actors are able to taste some of life's joys. The intrigue, jealousy, and infidelity, that she had to confront as well as the estrangement of her son give us a taste of life's hardships. Finally, her memories of her husband's passing and her own sickness force us to face life's ultimate grievance: death.