RETURNING HOME

SENSE AND SENSIILITY August 28, 2011

THE STORY

Based on the novel by Jane Austen, SENSE is the story of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. Their father has recently died, which makes their situation dire, as his estate must pass to their elder half-brother, John, leaving them virtually penniless. Before they leave Norland Park, Elinor meets Edward Ferrars, brother to her sister-in law, and they take a fancy to each other. A “situation” is found for the Dashwood family far away at Barton Park, the estate of a distant relation, the Middletons. Here, Marianne finds two suitors, the more reserved Col. Brandon and the impulsive Mr. Willoughby, to whom she’s particularly attracted due to his energy and evident passion for life. A friend, Mrs. Jennings, take the sisters to London for a visit, where it becomes known in a confidence to Elinor, that Edward is already secretly engaged. Meanwhile, at a society ball, Marianne discovers the inconstancy of her love, Mr. Willoughby. From Col. Brandon, Elinor learns that Willoughby is even more of a cad than was previously known. The downtrodden Marianne takes the news hard, and begins to become sick. News comes that Edward is being pressured by his family to forego his secret engagement in favor of a far wealthier woman, he refuses and is cut off from his family.  Col. Braondon knowing this offers him a position at a parsonage, which he accepts. Their visit ended, they begin the journey from London back to Barton, where Marianne falls dangerously ill and takes to bed. Col. Brandon aids at her bedside, and Marianne slowly recovers. Being somewhat humbled by the news of her Willoughby, and touched by the care he gave her during her illness, a new love begins to blossom between Marianne and Brandon. Finally, Edward reappears to meet Elinor. His engagement broken he is free to offer his hand to Elinor, who rapturously accepts. Thus Elinor’s SENSE prevails, and Marianne’s SENSIBILITY finds a sturdier base, with two couples about to be wed.

THE TEAM

Jane Austen’s SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

Produced by Actors Theatre of Louisville, Louisville, KY

Adapted and directed by Jon Jory

Scenic Design: yours truly

Costume Design: Rachel Laritz

Lighting Design: Brian Lillienthal

Composer/Sound Design: Joe Cerqua

I originally designed this show at Northlight Theatre in Chicago back in March of this year. It was picked-up by Actors Theatre of Louisville to begin their new season. It’s been interesting and exciting for a number of reasons… First, to get another stab at a show is somewhat of a rarity… It allowed me the chance to fix a few things that I wasn’t happy with about the Northlight production… small things, actually, things probably completely unseen by other people, but things I’m glad to correct, nonetheless. Secondly, it gave me a chance to “go home” to Louisville, where I worked for 4 years in the late 90s as the Resident Assistant Scenic Designer under Paul Owen, who was a major influence on the designer I’ve become. There’s something just downright EXCITING about coming back here and designing a show on the mainstage, with Jon Jory directing, of all people. Makes me feel like a grown-up!

The design of the show is somewhat abstract, and I would even call it a “colorist” approach. Colorism being a phase of stage design history particularly popular in the 70s and 80s, which began in Europe, in which a limited color palette was utilized for a large space, allowing lighting and usage of the stage space to delineate location and time.

Jon and I went through nearly 30 (ad I’m not hyperbolizing here) different initial sketches for the Northlight production. Playing with different themes, ideas and spatial usage.  Here are some of the rejected VERY rough sketches…

We kept coming back to some elements (like the benches and the door) and those ended up in the final design, but in different locations/perspectives than in these. We also had to deal with the very REAL limitations of the Northlight space and budget, which also weeded out some ideas. The design contains a large, tall wall with an off-center hole, an “inner circle” which contains a doorway and two small ottomans and an “outer ring” which contains three long benches.  

Within the abstraction though, there is meaning. The circle motif runs throughout… the hole in the wall, the inner circle on the floor, the curved crown molding overhead… for me they represent the movement of the piece… there are over 50 scenes, some of which are no longer than a handful of lines, and while we couldn’t possibly REALISTICALLY represent each one, each is made individual by how the space is used, how the lighting bring the scope of the scene IN or OUT, and what parts of the PERMANENT set are used… furniture glides in and out by actors carrying things on and off, and it gives the whole performance a feeling of being a circular dance, or gavotte.  More later!

but first, here's a quick pic of the LOUISVILLE production in tech...