DESIGNER STATEMENTS


RACHEL HAUCK—SET DESIGN Amy and the Orphans is full of design challenges. For starters, it is a road trip play. Lindsey Ferrentino has written a play that has 18 scenes in 13 locations and in which there is no home base. Every location she describes is transient and impersonal, and most of the scenes take place in public locations. As a designer, the question becomes why? Before Scott Ellis, the director, and I could answer that, the technical needs of the play had to be addressed. We needed to find a way to bring the audience into multiple locations quickly and efficiently and, I hope, wittily. Lindsey’s writing has a generous, comic, open heart, which would be easy to squash with cumbersome moving scenery. Finding a visual vocabulary that allows for speedy and efficient changes of location is essential. Ken Posner and John Gromada, who are designing the lights and sound, respectively, are remarkable partners in this endeavor. How best can we keep the action moving forward while still embracing the emotional needs of the play? With this play, the design had to start with the car. As with almost any play that involves a car, the aesthetic of the car defines the aesthetic of the production. This car has enormous and


complex needs. We considered every version of a car we could think of, from using four chairs and a steering wheel to putting a full car on a turntable. Ultimately, what is essential is the accessibility of the actors’ physicality. If the audience can’t see the actors’ body language as well as being able to hear their dialogue, we wouldn’t get the full emotional impact of these scenes. That was step one. Beyond that, with a play that is constantly moving, what became important was discovering where and why the characters find stillness. No spoilers, but… the answer turns out to be in response to the unasked question of why Amy loves the color red.


ALEJO VIETTI—COSTUME DESIGN Amy and the Orphans is a great challenge for me as a costume designer. With a contemporary, naturalistic play– when both the performers and the audience members are very familiar with contemporary dressing–it is important not to resort to clichés. The focus is on conveying, in a truthful and realistic way, the intentions of the playwright as well as the spirit of each character. My job is to reflect their true essence through the way they look and dress. Before any of the actors speak, the audience should have a great deal of


18 ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY


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