reel pp

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poppea rough rendering

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thesIS done

“The melody begins, an undulant, endless melody.  [It] loses itself horizontally, escapes from our hands as we see it withdraw from us toward a point of common longing and perfect passion” –Federico Garcia Lorca

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raw thesis model image

Pre-storyboarding phase. Continue

TOMMY renderings

 

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hamlet

Production photos from Hamlet.  These were taken last night at the Hammer Museum.  The show then goes to UCLA, followed by LATC (Los Angeles Theatre Center).

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blast from the past

Project: Scenic design for Glass Menagerie

Less literal.  More emotional.

(Crappy) photo of my design from two years ago:

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architect/scenic designer/sculpture/genius

My favorite opera designer of the moment is George Tsypin. He was trained as an architect and now does opera design, sculpture, installations, etc etc. It's pretty obvious why I am attracted to his designs.

The designs are as follows (top to bottom): Theodora, The Flying Dutchman, and the Ring Cycle.

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elektra

Production photo from Elektra. More to come. My camera didn't take the best photos so I'm waiting on the good ones from the production manager.

For this production of Elektra, the design team's goal was to create a world inspired by the 1930s. Research of migrant worker's shacks in the 1930s guided me to this silhouette and choice of materials. The interior of the shack represents an emotional, psychologically disturbing space which is only revealed during the murder of Elektra's mother, Clytemnestra. Continue

what makes a "great" architect?

Awhile ago, Ted made an off-handed comment about architects. He said something like "Architects don't need to be really good at anything...just decent at a lot of things." I disagree. I feel that in order to be a "great" architect you need to be excellent at one thing...at least. But I do think that since architecture is really a combination of so many disciplines, one cannot possibly posses an "excellent" skill set. Is the ability to understand and utilize your strengths and weaknesses in order to create architecture a skill unto itself? I would like to think so.

And I don't think this applies only to architecture, but rather most design disciplines. I definitely see how it applies to film and stage design. Also thinking about Rosalyn, I'm sure the need to possess a certain combination of skill sets also applies to creating poetry. I'd be interested to hear about how your architecture education translated, or didn't, into what you are doing now.

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the book of longing: model

Taking Dylan's suggestion, I decided to play up the underlying structure and extrude these three "shells" from the backdrop. Photos with better lighting to come. My critique is tomorrow/in seven hours.

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the book of longing: collage

My current scenic design project is "The Book of Longing", a book of poetry and song by Leonard Cohen with music by Phillip Glass. Phillip Glass selected the works that were put to his music for the project. From Leonard Cohen's book, he chose a series of pieces that portrayed the range of human emotion and put the final songs in random order. In a sense, he deconstructed the work and emotional life of the poet.

Through research, I discovered that the book is a result of over 20 years of work. Leonard Cohen said in an interview "I can hold in a great deal." My concept is based on this statement, and I created a collage to communicate my initial ideas.

In the foreground is a flower made of translucent fibers overlaying a dandelion. This represents the fragility of revealing emotional experiences, whether tragic, humorous, passionate, etc. The umbrellas in the background are the result of a need for protection. Finally, the overlaying image is an egg exploding in a hand (some of you may recognize it as the cover of the new YYY album). This is the moment when the work is released.

In essence, my scenic piece will be a deconstructed “cocoon”. Zaha and Maya Lin are my main sources for inspiration. Also, I am reading “Architecture and Disjunction” by Bernard Tschumi. More to come.

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waiting for godot: storyboard

My final version of "Waiting for Godot". The tree is the central piece of the design as it morphs throughout the play. More documents to come.

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waiting for godot

My first scene design assignment is "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett. This is one of the most well known absurdist plays and it is a critique on how we spend our lives. Didi and Gogo arrive at the same place every day waiting for a character named Godot, and every day a young boy comes by to say Godot will be coming tomorrow.
I am playing with the idea of time lapse for my design. Their actions are in cycles, so I thought it would be interesting to show the growth and death of a tree. Each image would show what is behind and ahead in the cycle. Perhaps, layering them through multiple screens and using lighting as a key part of the design.

Also, those of you not familiar with the play; the scene in the script is described as "a tree. a country road." I played with other ideas but I feel like you cannot...should not...design this play replacing the tree.

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