My concept for Women and Wallace revolves around love, and loss.
Preliminary Ideas:
Set Design:
Overall, I will be working with a very simple set and the show will be more prop heavy than anything. The simplicity of the set will be important as to keep the world set in the 1970s and 1980s. Without any distinguishing markers of the present day and a 70s and 80s style for the actors costumes, I think that this will help keep the world of the play within the time period that Sherman stipulates. I also think that the simplicity of the set will counter the disorder that Wallace is feeling. His mind might be cluttered but the set will not be (especially for Wallace’s monologues) to have the audience really focus on what is going on. I also want to make sure there is a set transition for before and after the mother’s death. That way the set will hint at the disruption that Wallace feels, while also keeps it in a realistic setting.
Props Design:
The most important prop for me are the knife that the mother uses to kill herself. I want the staging for that is center to make sure that the impact of the knife is seen by the audience. I want it to have its own moment before the mother kills herself so that it acts as its own character in a way.
Costume Design:
The costumes will be the best indicator of the time period of the show. So it is important for them to be recognizable 70s and 80sesque clothes.
Lighting:
For the scene 2, I want there to be red lighting that floods the stage when the mother kills herself. I do not want to have any actual blood or gore because that just seems like to much. The red lighting will be able to convey the meaning of the scene without being so literal.
Ideas During the Process:
Music:
I want to have the transitions done with James Taylor (since he is an important artist to Wallace). There will be music for all of the transitions except for the mother’s death. I want it to be quiet so that there is an emptiness after that the audience can feel.
I also want to have cartoonesque sounds during scene 14 to help to show that the scene is a dream and is not based in reality.
Props Design:
I want to make sure there is always a present of notebooks when Wallace is onstage (minus his monologues for the most part). I think that it’s important because it shows how important writing is to Wallace and how he uses it as a way to cope with his mother’s death.
Ideas for Scenes:
To make sure that the transition between scene 9 and 10 make sense, I am going to have Abby in the back of scene 9. This way the audience will know that the writing she is reading at the beginning of scene 10 is the monologue we just heard from Wallace. So, Abby will be reading the piece while Jon is speaking the monologue. The lights will then come up and Jon will act nervous and instantly jump into the scene. Abby will finish “reading” the Wallace essay and they will go into the scene.
I also gave Jon specific people he is talking to during his monologues so that they translate well and also put him in the different head spaces of each monologue. For his six year old monologue, he will be talking to his class and reading his show and tell project. For his thirteen year old monologue, he will be speaking to his class as a kind of writing assignment that his teacher gave him. His teacher thought his was the best so she had him read it in front of the class. His 16 year old monologue will be Abby reading the essay. His final eighteen year old monologue will be his own self reflection. Like a piece he is just writing down for the first time.
Prologue/Epilogue:
I will put the prologue and epilogue in different places to signify a change in Wallace. The prologue will be placed in downstage right and the epilogue will be placed in upstage left.
Set Design:
I will be putting the counter downstage left with the mom moving center to signify danger. That way the knife is a dangerous object. The suicide will then happen center for the full effect of the moment. The bench for the playground scene will be downstage left to signal Wallace hasn’t completely lost his innocence yet, however, when we see him again with Victoria the bench will move stage right to show that there has been a change in his thoughts with women.
Lighting:
I want to have normal lighting except for scene 2 and 14. For scene 14, I want there to be stark and uncomfortable lighting to make the audience nervous about the scene to convey that Wallace is in the middle of a mental breakdown.