Development of a Scenic Design for \u3cem\u3eBus Stop\u3c/em\u3e by William Inge

A warm and cozy visual sensation and early 1900s architecture provided the basis for this design. It features an intimate space with a comfortable interior where all the characters gather to tell their stories. This approach was shaped by repeated references to bitter cold, blizzard-like weather outside the building in which the play Bus Stop takes place, with the interior providing a safe haven from the ferocious weather and the lonesomeness felt by the characters who find themselves at this bus stop. The visual approach was pursued through a warm color palette and use of William Inge\u27s description of Grace\u27s Diner as a “dingy, street-corner building in a small Kansas town” with a “few antique set dressings and a few modern improvements. Since the play takes place during the early 1950s, the modern improvements Inge references were based on that era. Warm and cozy spaces are usually ones that have been heavily lived in. Therefore, in Grace\u27s establishment the history of the building and its users is noticeable throughout the space with obvious modern improvements added only when absolutely necessary. This design was created for Linfield\u27s Scene Design course. At the 2016 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region VII Conference in Denver, Colorado, the design and associated poster presentation received a Meritorious Achievement Award in the Non-Realized Scenic Design division

A Scenic Design for \u3cem\u3eTalley\u27s Folly\u3c/em\u3e

This poster showcases a scenic design for Talley’s Folly by Lanford Wilson. The play takes place in a riverside boathouse located near a farm in Lebanon, Missouri, on July 4, 1944. In developing the design concept, I pursued the Victorian and Gothic revival gingerbread imagery and romantic aesthetic Wilson created within the script. During my early research, I found Thomas W. Schaller’s paintings Evening in Spring and Fishing in Central Park. Schaller’s blending of watercolors inspired the romantic aesthetic and unification of the landscape’s colors, textures, and inorganic and organic structures. The way in which Schaller conveys peace, seclusion, and nature very much influenced the design. Evening skies and earthy tones determined the color scheme. The gazebo’s hexagonal shape influenced the symmetrical, central, and simple layout of scenery, with the riverside open to the audience in thrust formation. The turntable provides a unique element in the design. Moving very slowly throughout Matt’s opening monologue, the physical change mirrors the movement of the text and facilitates the transition from the exterior of the boathouse to an interior view that focuses the fourth-wall staging of the rest of the play. Presented at the 2017 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region VII Conference in Denver, Colorado, the design model and associated poster received a Meritorious Achievement Award in the Non-Realized Scenic Design division

A Scenic Design for \u3cem\u3eAda and the Engine\u3c/em\u3e

This poster showcases a scenic design for Ada and the Engine by Lauren Gunderson, which was presented by Linfield Theatre in November 2017. Ada and the Engine tells the story of Ada Lovelace as the British Industrial Revolution dawns in England. Ada meets Charles Babbage, a noted mathematician, inventor, and mechanical engineer, and together they invent the Analytical Machine. This machine is the world’s first functional computer using punch cards for programming. Lauren Gunderson notes that the action takes place during the Victorian Era in the houses of intellectual elites. Keeping Gunderson’s notes in mind, the design took a modernist approach. In thinking about how the evolution of the machine mirrored the ebb of the characters’ relationships and served as both focus of and metaphor for the play, the design concept placed the action of the play within the analytical machine itself. At the end of the script, the machine comes to life, engulfing Ada and her reality in music and machinery. Ada begins to command the machine by singing. To visualize the operation of the Analytical Machine, mechanical pulleys and cranks were incorporated within the design. The large columns upstage rotated 360 degrees, the vertical stacks behind the columns moved up and down, the burgundy gear centered upstage turned on a motorized turntable, and the grey-toned crank placed downstage left was cranked manually. Black light and glow paint were used to add to the visual spectacle effect at the very end of the play. Ms. Hurst received a Meritorious Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for the scenic design for Ada and the Engine. The ½” scale model and associated poster conveying research images and concepts were presented at the 2018 Kennedy Center American Theatre Festival Region VII Conference in Spokane, Washington. The presentation received a Meritorious Achievement Award in the Realized Scenic Design competition