Clybourne Park

A Marotte Production:

Directed by Margaret Marotte
Scene design by Margaret Marotte
Costume design by Margaret Marotte
Lighting and sound design by Margaret Marotte

My vision for the set of Act I would be furniture from the fifties, but upscale. I grew up in this house, so I would know exactly what I wanted. Bev would make sure everything had a place. It would not have a homey feel, rather neat and uninviting. 

This picture depicts the starkness I would want to create. Rearranging would be needed for audience focus. Although the set would be neat and tidy, with a show of some money spent; it would not depict wealth as most would envision. Russ seems like a no nonsense type of guy and usefulness and durability would be his objective. It would be up to Bev to give it a softer side and her heart isn't there. The main pieces of furniture would still be in place. A few packed boxes off to the side of the room, there is not a lot of accessories from this room that would need packing.

I would locate this production at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. This was were I was first exposed to live theatre. The theatre is located on Tremont St. which is considered the theater district. This theater is old and worn like the house in Act II, but the area itself is undergoing gentrification. It is very similar to Clybourne Park. The theatre now is a comedy club, hopefully like the theatres around it, someone will renovate it. I have added a picture and facts about the Wilbur at the end of the blog.

My target audience would be the baby boomers. They know first hand of the struggles of racism. Boston like Chicago is perfect as it has a wide variety of ethnicity and classes. The citizens of Boston like to go out. Housing is expensive, therefore space is limited. People go out a lot. They seek food and entertainment.

The costumes for Act I would be styles of the fifties. The movie Pleasantville comes to mind. The parents in that movie are what I would want my Bev and Russ to look like.

     Also Francine would be in uniform. The hired help of this time period looked like help. The men (Jim, Karl, and Albert) would be wearing suits and hats (not indoors of course). Jim would be wearing a white collar to show the audience of his religious affiliation.

I would light the set brightly, although there is a somber mood in this house, the lighting would show the order and cleanliness of the house. Also the emptiness, even with furniture the house is as empty as it is in Act II.

I don't think I would have music in my production as I think it is not called for. Maybe I would take Michael's idea to play "A House is not a Home" while the audience enters. The glee version with Chris Colfer and Cory Moncrief.

                                                          Play     

My set for Act II would be the same house of course, but bare of furniture. Packing crates and boxes here and there. The house would now be worn out. In need of a fresh coat of paint. Out of style of the time. Faded wallpaper where you can see the outline, where something once hung. The boxes would be used as impromptu seating.

The lighting would be dimmer as there is only the overhead fixture, everything else is gone. This gives the room more of a feeling of the dinginess that has enveloped it.

Kathy and Dan would be dressed professional. Kathy would want to have a look of authority. She would want the group to know she is on top of things. Dan although professional would be a little unkempt. Loosened tie, his suit could use a little pressing.

The couples Lindsey and Steve and Lena and Kevin would be dressed modern casual of the day. Lindsey and Steve casual dress would be clothes that would show that they had some money. I am thinking Urban Outfitters as a store they would frequent. Lena and Kevin also would dress with a look from the Express, although casual they would be a little less casual than Steve and Lindsey.

When we return to the fifties, Kenneth would be dressed in his dress uniform. The lighting would be dim. It is early morning and it has started to rain.

I would want my audience to walk away realizing the differences in the times of Act I and Act II. I would want them to experience the emptiness of the home in both scenes.

This is the Wilbur.
Wilbur Theatre is a historic theater at 244-250 Tremont Street in Boston, Massachusetts. It is located in Boston's theatre district.
Clarence Blackall built the theatre in 1913. The National Historic Register added the Wilbur in 1980.
In 2007 the theatre was put on the market.^[2] Bill Blumenreich, owner of the Comedy Connection,^[3] put the building on lease in 2008. It now serves as the new home of the Comedy Connection in Boston (formerly located in Quincy Market), hosting both comedy and musical talent.^[4]
Clarence Howard Blackall (1857–1942) was an American architect who is estimated to have designed 300 theatres^[1].
He was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1857. He attended college at the University of Illinois School of Architecture, graduating with a B.S. in 1877, and received training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He arrived in Boston, Massachusetts in 1882, where he was recognized for both his architectural innovations and his designs of significant Boston landmarks including the Colonial Theatre, Wilbur Theatre, Modern and Metropolitan (now the Wang Center for Performing Arts) theatres.^[2]
Blackall was a senior member of the Boston architectural firm Blackall, Clapp and Whittemore, and in 1889 he helped establish the Boston Architectural College as a club for local architects and as a training program for draftsman.^[3]
He designed the 1894 Carter Winthrop Building, which was the first steel frame structure in the city of Boston.^[4] In addition to its innovative technology, the structure also used terra cotta trim and featured a dramatic, deep, and overhanging cornice. Blackall is also credited with designing the Copley Plaza Hotel, the Foellinger Auditorium (1907) on the University of Illinois campus, as well as the Little Building (1917)^[5] at Emerson College on the site of the Pelham Hotel (1857), the "first apartment house in any city along the Atlantic seaboard of the United States" according to noted architectural historian Walter Muir Whitehill.
Opened in 1908 and designed by Blackall, the Gaiety Theatre was one of the only theatres in New England that would allow African Americans to perform vaudeville^[6]. It was also the first of Blackall’s theatres to use a large steel girder to support the balcony, eliminating the need for architectural columns. Blackall was also responsible for Nathan H. Gordon's Olympia Theatre design, which opened as a film and vaudeville theatre on May 6, 1912.^[7]
Blackall died in Concord, Massachusetts on March 5, 1942

                                                          

  

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