Scenic Design for Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke

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Scenic Design for Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke

Thesis

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts in the

Graduate School of The Ohio State University

Victor E. Shonk

Graduate Program in Theatre

The Ohio State University

2010

Master’s Examination Committee:

Professor Dan Gray, M.F.A., Advisor

Professor Jimmy Bohr, M.F.A.

Professor Mark Shanda, M.F.A.

Victor E. Shonk

2010

Abstract

Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams is being produced by The Ohio State

University Theatre Department in the autumn quarter, 2009. The production will be in the

Thurber Theatre and directed by faculty member Jimmy Bohr. As the scenic designer, I will provide the atmosphere and environment of the play as well as the physical requirements determined by the action described in the script. This document records my involvement in the production process.

Briefly, Bohr’s concept for this production is focused on the love story that happens between the characters Alma and John. The story is set in a small fictitious town in Mississippi named Glorious Hill, just before World War I, a time when the last of Victorian social propriety was becoming extinct and the world was about to change forever. This love story is a bittersweet description of that loss of innocence. The director is focused on the “Poetic

Realism” of Williams’ writing.

Aesthetically, it is important to the director that the heat of the Deep South is represented on stage. I will accomplish this with a canopy of trees, Spanish moss, and other plant life indigenous to Mississippi. The lighting design will also enhance this effect. Another major concern of the director is to have seamless scene shifts. This will be accomplished through the use of three wagons that will move without any visible means of control. The ever- present

ii angel fountain, named Eternity, needs to be center stage for the entire show. Finally, the

American Gothic style needs to be represented in the architecture of the two houses on stage.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of the faculty and staff at The Ohio

State University, without your guidance I would never have been able to navigate the program.

I would like to thank the production team of Summer and Smoke for making my thesis project an enjoyable experience.

A special thanks to all of the friends and colleagues I have made in the past three years, who have all played a part in shaping me as an artist and educator. May we all excel in what fulfills us.

I thank my family, who has been very understanding of my absence for the past three years, especially my parents, two of the dearest people in my life.

My deepest love and appreciation goes to Lewis Frum, whom I could not have done without. His love, care, and guidance has been the constant throughout my graduate studies.

Thank you all.

Vita

1988……………………………………………………….Fisher Catholic High School

1996……………………………………………………….B.F.A. Theatre, Ohio University

1996 – 2007……………………………………………Freelance Scenic Designer

2007 – 2010……………………………………………Graduate Teaching Associate, OSU Department of

Theatre Scenic Studio

2007……………………………………………………….Labyrinth of Desire, Scenic Design

2008……………………………………………………….Pangea, Scenic Design

2008……………………………………………………….The Marriage of Figaro, Scenic Design

2009……………………………………………………….Summer and Smoke, Scenic Design

2010……………………………………………………….O Pioneers!, Scenic Design

Fields of Study:

Major Field: Theatre

Area of Emphasis: Design

Table of Contents

Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………ii

Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………iii

Vita…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……….iv

List of Figures………………………………………………………………………………....…………………………………………vi

List of Plates………………………………………………………...... ………………………………………………..…………….vii

Chapter 1: The Producing Situation…………………………………………………………..………………………………..1

Chapter 2: A Brief Analysis of Summer and Smoke………………………………………………………….….………5

Chapter 3: Director’s Concept and Design Approach………………………………………………………………..19

Chapter 4: The Production Process……………………………………………………………………………………………32

Chapter 5: Evaluation…………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………..39

Works Consulted……………………………………………………………………….………………………….…………..……..44

Appendix A: Director’s Concept………………………………………………………………..…………….………..………47

Appendix B: Preliminary Visual Research………………………………………………………..……...………..………53

Appendix C: Renderings, Model, Paint Elevations…………………………….………….…………………..………57

Appendix D: Final Drafting…………………………………………………………………………………………………………65

Appendix E: Production Photos…………………………………………………………….…………….…………………….76

List of Figures

Figure 1. Mielziner Design (1947)……………………………………………………………………………………………….8

Figure 2. Rectory Research……………………………………………………………………………………….………………25

Figure 3. Doctor’s House Research………………………………………………………………….……………………….25

Figure 4. Spanish Moss Canopy Research………………………………………………………………………………..27

Figure 5. Angel Fountain Research……….……………………………………………………….…………………………28

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List of Plates

Plate 1. Research: Trees and Spanish Moss……………………………………………….………..……………….54

Plate 2. Research: Palmetto Plant………………………………………………………………..…………….…………54

Plate 3. Research: Rectory Interior……………………………………………………………….…….……….……….55

Plate 4. Research: Doctor’s House Interior……………….……………………………….……………….…………55

Plate 5. Research: Anatomy Chart ………………………………………………………………..………….…………..56

Plate 6. Research: Anatomy Chart ……………………….……………………….…………………………..………….56

Plate 7. Sketch of Park …………………………………………………………………..….………………………………….58

Plate 8. Sketch of Houses …………………………………………………………….……………………………………….58

Plate 9. Sketch of Arbor at Moon Lake………………………..………………………….…………………..………..59

Plate 10. ¼” Scale White Model of Park ……………………………………………….……………………………….59

Plate 11. ¼” Scale White Model of Houses ………………………………………….………….…………………...60

Plate 12. ¼” Scale White Model of Arbor ………………………………………….……….………………………...60

Plate 13. Tree #1 Paint Elevation ……………………………………………………….………………………………….61

Plate 14. Tree #2 and #3 Paint Elevations ……………………………………….……………………….…………...61

Plate 15. Tree #4 Paint Elevation …………………………………………………….…………………………..………..62

Plate 16. Tree #5 Paint Elevation ………………………………………………….………………………..……………..62

Plate 17. Rectory Paint Elevation ………………………………………………….………………………..……………..63

Plate 18. Doctor’s Office Paint Elevation …………………………………….………………………………….……..63

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Plate 19. Palmetto Paint Elevation ……………………………………………………………………………………….64

Plate 20. Brick Paint Elevation ……………………………………………………………………….….………………….64

Plate 21. Park Ground Plan ……………………………………………………………………………..…….……………..66

Plate 22. Houses Ground Plan …………………………………………………………………….….….………………...67

Plate 23. Arbor Ground Plan ……………………………………………………………………...………………………..68

Plate 24. Park Section ……………………………………………………………………….……….….……………………...69

Plate 25. Houses Section …………………………………………………………………………..…….…………………...70

Plate 26. Arbor Section …………………………………………………………………………..………..…………………..71

Plate 27. Angel Wagon Elevation ……………………………………………………………..…….…….……………...72

Plate 28. Center Platform Elevation ………………………………………………………..…….……………………...72

Plate 29. Apron Extension Elevation …………………………………………………….…….……..………………….73

Plate 30. Rectory Wagon and 15 ½” Platform Elevation ………………………..……………………………...73

Plate 31. +7 ½” Platform and Stoop Elevation ………………………………………..………………………………74

Plate 32. Doctor’s Window Detail …………………………………………………………….……..……………………..74

Plate 33. Doctor’s Paneling and Upper Window Detail …………………………….……..…………………….75

Plate 34. Rectory Window Detail ………………………………………………………………..………………………….75

Plate 35. Rectory Roof and Flats Detail ……………………………………………………….………..……………….76

Plate 36. Tree #1 and #2 Elevation …………………………………………………………….…………………………..76

Plate 37. Tree #3 and #4 Elevation ………………………………………………………….………………….………….77

Plate 38. Tree #5 and Palmetto Elevation ……………………………………………………………………………...77

Plate 39. Ground Row and Arbor Elevation …………………………………………..….……………………………78

Plate 40. Angel Fountain and Lamp Post Detail …………………………………………..………………………...78

Plate 41. Production Photo: 4th of July in the Park ……………………….……………..………………………...77

Plate 42. Production Photo: Interior of Doctor’s Office …………………………..…………………………..77

Plate 43. Production Photo: Interior of Rectory ………………………..………………………………………...78

Plate 44. Production Photo: Arbor ……………………………………….……………………………………………...78

Plate 45. Production Photo: Doctor’s Office at End of Play ………………………………….……………….79

Plate 46. Production Photo: Park at End of Show ………………………………………………………………...79

Plate 47. Production Photo: Final Moment of the Show ……………………………………………………….80

Chapter 1: The Producing Situation

On November 12, 2009 The Ohio State University Department of Theatre opened its production of Tennessee William’s play, Summer and Smoke. The play took place on the

Thurber Theatre stage in the Drake Performance and Event Center. The members of the

Production Team were: chair of the theatre department and producer Mark Shanda, faculty director Jimmy Bohr, undergraduate assistant director Megan Corbin, production stage manager

Eric Mayer, undergraduate stage manager Kiley Morgan, undergraduate assistant stage managers Margaret Glasser and Kyler Moore, staff production coordinator and sound supervisor

Jim Knapp, graduate lighting designer Alex Kyle-DiPietropaolo, graduate costume designer

Catherine Schmeal-Swope, undergraduate sound designer Mike Lillie, undergraduate assistant sound designer Lowrie Sion, staff technical director Chris Zinkon, and scenic studio supervisor

Chad Mahan. The scenery was constructed by the students of the theatre department in the scenic studio attached to the Thurber Theatre. Scenery that moved during the production was run by the actors performing in the show as well as a few dedicated undergraduate students fulfilling their practicum requirements for course credit as the running crew for Summer and

Smoke.

The total budget allotted for the production was $10,000.00. The scenery budget was

$4,500.00. The Costume budget was $2,000.00. The Lighting budget was $1,500.00. The properties budget was $2,000.00.

The Thurber stage is a proscenium theatre that seats 600 audience members. The proscenium is 21’ tall and 35’ wide. The plaster line is located 38’ from the back wall of the stage. The usable wing space stage right is just over 18’ wide and runs the full depth of the stage house. The usable wing space stage left is about 35’ wide, to the door of the scenic studio; it also runs the full depth of the stage house. The downstage areas of both the stage right and stage left wing spaces are obstructed with stage equipment that is not able to be moved. This became important in the Summer and Smoke design because two wagons that tracked on and off stage just upstage of the plaster line. The sizes and shapes of the wagons were altered because of the placement of this stage equipment. This will be discussed further in chapters 3 and 4.

The Thurber Theatre has a relatively new fly system which makes flying scenery very easy to manipulate. The fly system has 35 line-sets as well as 4 designated motorized electrics.

The first six line-sets are single purchase and the remainder of the line-sets are double purchase.

The grid is 54’ above the stage floor, allowing plenty of room to fly all of the units required for the production.

The theatre has a rather large acting area downstage of the proscenium which was greatly utilized in the production. The orchestra lift is just over 34’ at its widest. The upstage edge of the orchestra lift is 3’-1” down stage of the plaster line. Because the front edge of the stage is curved, the orchestra lift is deepest at the centerline measuring nearly 8’. The offstage ends taper down to just over 6’-3” deep. The orchestra lift lowers 13’ below the stage floor on hydraulic lifts. The hydraulic system provides a number of depths at which the lift can play.

The soft goods available for the space are as follows:

- 10 pairs of velour legs – 25’ high, 12’ wide (no fullness).

- 5 velour borders (no fullness), 8’ high.

- 1 white cyclorama.

- 1 black scrim.

- 1 rear projection screen, 30’ high by 48’ wide.

The faculty director of Summer and Smoke was Jimmy Bohr. At the first production meeting, held on July 2, the design team discussed the director’s concept statement for the play. After initial design meetings, the preliminary design was presented on July 31 as scheduled. The final design was then presented on August 28 as scheduled. After discussion with technical director, Chris Zinkon, it was decided that the design drafting was not needed until September 8th because Zinkon was not going to begin his working drawings until then. The final design drafting was submitted to him on that day.

Due to a large number of conflicts in the space due to rentals and departmental events, it was the general consensus of producer, Mark Shanda, technical director Chris Zinkon, and shop supervisor Chad Mahan that the more preliminary work that could be done on the production before the Fall quarter began, the better. The set was scheduled to load into the space on October 26. The cast rehearsed on stage October 27 and crew watch was held on

November 1. Technical rehearsals began Monday November 2. The first dress rehearsal was held November 5. The production opened November 12 and ran for seven performances. The set was struck the three days before Thanksgiving, November 23, 24, and 25.

Chapter 2: A Brief Analysis of Summer and Smoke

Tennessee Williams was born on March 26, 1911 and given the name Thomas Lanier

Williams. He changed his name to Tennessee, after the state of his mother’s birth. He was born in the home of his maternal grandfather in Columbus, Mississippi. At the age of seven, he and his family moved to St. Louis, Missouri. After changing colleges a few times, Williams earned a degree from the University of Iowa in 1938. He lived in a number of places in his lifetime, including New Orleans, Louisiana, Key West, Florida and Manhattan, New York. Williams wrote over 70 plays, two novels, and a screenplay in his lifetime. He is probably best known for two of his plays, A Streetcar Named Desire (Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 1948) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

(Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 1955). He also received the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for

The Glass Menagerie (1945) as well as The Night of the Iguana (1961). In 1952 his play The Rose

Tattoo won the Tony Award for best play. In 1980 he was presented the Presidential Medal of

Freedom by President Jimmy Carter. (Answers.com)

Tennessee Williams died on February 25, 1983, after choking on the cap of a

bottle of eye drops that became lodged in his throat. (Williams was plagued by

eye problems much of his adult life.) He was 71 years old. That his plays

continue to be revived successfully on Broadway and on stages all over the

world more than a half-century after their debuts is testament to his greatness

as a dramatist. (The Internet Movie Data Base)

The parallels between William’s life and the life of his characters in Summer and Smoke are undeniable. His grandfather was an Episcopal minister. In his early years, Williams lived in a rectory with his family as Alma does with her family. His grandfather was also a doctor much like John Buchanan. His father, Cornelius, was a traveling salesman who was very hard on his family due to his growing discontent as a parent.

Cornelius had always exhibited a strangely distant attitude toward Tom

[Williams], until at length there was only the most perfunctory communication

between them. He struck back at Edwina’s domination by calling his son ‘Miss

Nancy.’ The boy surely wanted his father’s love and needed it, but instead the

fear he felt toward him surfaced as hate. Years later, when it was too late for

his father to know, Tom would write with compassion and pity that Cornelius

had been trapped like a jungle animal in a cage. (Leverich, 53)

Williams had a special affinity toward his sister Rose. Rose was a diagnosed schizophrenic. She was admitted into several sanitariums until she was finally lobotomized in either 1937 or 1942; the actual date of the operation is debatable.(Leverich, 225) Rose had an enormous influence on Williams. He clearly wrote parallels between Rose’s gentle personality, her periods of great excitement, and her delusions of sexual immorality. Several of his female characters such as Laura in The Glass Menagerie (1945), Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named

Desire (1947), and Alma in Summer and Smoke (1948) were written with strong similarities to his sister Rose.

Williams began writing Summer and Smoke in 1945, at the age of 34. It was initially called The Anatomy Chart. Shortly after the success of A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) he finished the script and changed the name to Summer and Smoke. The original Broadway

5 production of Summer and Smoke opened October 6, 1948 and the Music Box Theatre, it ran for

102 performances. In 1965 he rewrote the script and entitled it The Eccentricities of a

Nightingale. The original scenic designer for the Broadway production was Jo Mielziner.

Mielziner created a skeletal view of the American Gothic roof lines over the rectory and the doctor’s office. Below the roof pieces were fractional pieces of realistic scenery and furniture creating the interior of each residence. The angel fountain was elevated center stage with a park bench down center. The show starred Todd Andrews, as John, and Katherine Valfour, as

Alma.

The play was met with a mixed reception, with reviews the next day ranging

from describing the play as a pretentious and amateurish bore’ (New York

Herald Tribune), ‘a juvenile and sadly delinquent effort; (New York Daily News),

to being described by Brooks Atkinson (New York Times) as; tremulous with

beauty…the gift of a poetic and creative writer.’ It closed three months later on

I January 1949. (Thornton, 485)

William’s expressed his reaction to the critics in a letter to Brooks Atkinson dated October 10,

1948.

Summer has painful deficiencies: it often seems to me like a graceful cripple, but

in a way I love it best of all my plays. It is, in a way, the most affirmative: that is,

spiritually affirmative, and although some reviews call it juvenile, it strikes me as

the most grown-up in its thinking and feeling. The juvenile quality may be an

awkwardness that I am afraid always goes with the handling of romantic

material in such an unromantic age. (Devlin, Tischler, 208)

Figure 1. Mielziner Design (1947)

Though Summer and Smoke was not one of Tennessee Williams’ most popular plays when it was first produced, it is arguably amongst his best theatrical achievements. The play was sometimes criticized for being too similar to other of his better known plays. To be compared to such esteemed works as A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie is a testament to Summer and Smoke. The play is a highly romanticized view of a changing world, through which Williams expresses his anxiety over what he saw as the loss of humanity and social justice. Summer and Smoke is an attempt for Williams to reach an understanding with the ultimate powers of the universe.

The story of Summer and Smoke takes place in a small fictitious town called Glorious

Hill, Mississippi, in 1916. The play opens by a fountain of an angel in the park during the town’s

4th of July celebration. Mrs. Winemiller has escaped from the watch of her husband, Reverend

Winemiller. She has suffered from a mental breakdown for many years and now she causes her husband and daughter Alma a lot of embarrassment because of her childish behavior. They refer to her as their “cross” to bear. The Reverend finds his wife by the fountain and calls to

Alma, who has just finished singing at the towns’ Fourth of July celebration, to let her know her

7 mother has been found. Alma enters and notices John Buchannan standing a short way off.

John is the son of Doctor John Buchannan, Sr. He has been away studying to be a doctor himself. John and Alma grew up next door to one another. Mr. Winemiller has also seen John and does not want to be seen associating with him. In an effort to avoid John, he and his wife leave. Alma chooses to stay as she has made arrangements to meet Roger Doremus by the fountain. Roger is an exceptionally boring individual who is courting Alma.

After the Winemillers leave, Alma sits on a bench waiting for Roger and ignoring John.

John starts a conversation with Alma by startling her with a firecracker he found. During their conversation Alma is obviously nervous and disconcerted by being near John. She is in love with him and he takes full advantage of her discomfort by teasing her. She secretly enjoys his antics until the conversation turns to more serious topics. During their conversation we learn that

John is back in town and has been engaging in behavior of a questionable nature. John is earning a reputation for running with the wrong crowd and Alma thinks that he is wasting his opportunities and talents on alcohol, gambling, and women. John does not seem to be affected by her criticism. In fact, he almost seems to revel in it.

As John and Alma are getting reacquainted, John notices Rosa Gonzales crossing the park and is immediately attracted to her. Rosa’s father is the owner of the Moon Lake Casino, an unsavory saloon and gambling hall. She is obviously a loose woman. John is compelled to follow Rosa’s flirtations, leaving Alma alone by the fountain. As he leaves he promises Alma a ride in his automobile someday. Roger finds Alma and walks her home.

In the next scene we find Alma in Dr. Buchanan’s office. She expresses her concern about making it through the summer and how scared she is that she may be changed by its passing. We learn that Alma is really there to ask the doctor’s advice about the marriage

8 proposal she has received from Roger. She asks the doctor if he knows Roger and what he thinks of him. He replies that he knows of Roger and that he seems like a nice, ordinary guy.

Alma tells him that she is concerned because she is not physically attracted to Roger but she is getting along in years and does not want to be left with no one. The only real advice the doctor offers her is that she needs to decide how important the sexual side of marriage is to her. At the end of the scene John returns home from a night of debauchery. Knowing that John and his father are going to have words, Alma goes home.

Next we see Mrs. Winemiller rushing into the rectory carrying a hat with a big white plume. The phone rings and she hides the hat as Alma enters to answer. The call is from the local hat shop. Alma is informed that her Mother has stolen a hat with a big white plume. Alma offers to pay for the hat, apologizes and hangs up the phone to confront her Mother. After chastising her Mother she sends her to her puzzle table to work quietly on her puzzle while she makes a phone call. Alma calls John and playfully reprimands him for not following up on the promise he made to take her for a ride in his automobile and to invite him to her book club meeting that evening. He answers the phone hung-over from the night before and agrees to come to the meeting.

As she is hanging up the phone Alma’s young vocal student, Nellie Ewell enters excited and giggly. Nellie is the daughter of a woman who owns a boardinghouse in town. Nellie shares that her mother picks-up men from the train station and offers them more than boarding. She also confesses to Alma that she met the most wonderful man at her house last night. He was playing poker and drinking. He also had a girl named Rosa Gonzoles with him. He spoke with

Nellie for a long time that evening, after which he chastised her mother for raising a daughter in

9 such a bad situation. After Alma learns that the wonderful man was John she becomes very angry with John and tells Nellie that he is wasting his gifts on his senses.

John’s name is called off stage. Nellie runs to the window to get a look at him. Mrs.

Winemiller tells Alma to show Nellie how she spies on him out that same window. Alma is mortified, sends Nellie home then angrily turns on her Mother. She speaks very threateningly to her Mother and tries to take the stolen hat from her to return it as punishment. In the struggle the two of them tear the plume off of the hat, ruining it.

The next scene takes place the same evening at the rectory. The book club meeting is about to come to order. After some deliberation about the minutes of their last meeting, the doorbell rings. Alma nervously rushes to the door to receive John. After John is introduced to the members and takes his seat, the group decides to read one of William Blake’s lyric poems before reading a paper on the author. Alma reads Blake’s poem Love’s Secret. The poem touches on a painful truth about John and Alma’s relationship. John abruptly leaves the house claiming he has to see a patient as Alma chases after him. When she returns, Mrs. Bassett the town gossip makes a snide remark that the patient he was going to see was probably Rosa

Gonzales. Alma becomes irate with the entire club and leaves the room.

At two o’clock that morning Rosa wraps a bandage around John’s arm in the doctor’s office. They have both been drinking and John has been cut in a bar brawl. As John is getting fixed up Alma comes over for a late night consultation with the doctor. We understand that she does this frequently. She is surprised by the presence of Rosa so John sends Rosa out into the hallway to wait. During their conversation, John has Alma take some pills to calm her nerves and help her sleep. Listening to her heartbeat with his stethoscope involves the two of them in a very tender and passionate moment which is broken by the sound of Rosa calling John’s name.

Before Alma leaves, he gives her a small box of pills that will help calm her when she needs. He also tells her that he will come by that Saturday night to pick her up in his automobile and take her out.

Saturday night comes and Alma is dressed and waiting for him to pick her up. After Mr.

Winemiller expresses his displeasure about her going out with John, Alma hears him outside and runs out to him. John takes her to the Moon Lake Casino but she will not go in because she is the daughter of a minister and must not be seen in such places. So they sit out back of the casino in an arbor by the lake. John tries to understand why Alma is so adamant in her concern about what people think of her and Alma tries to convince John that it is the best way to be.

John suggests that they go up to one of the rooms above the casino. She gets very upset with him and ends the first act of the play by storming off to get a taxi home.

The second act begins with Roger visiting Alma in the rectory. He is showing her pictures and postcards of his mother’s travels when she was younger. Alma is obviously bored by Roger when Mrs. Bassett enters and informs her that, while his father is out of town trying to cure an epidemic in Lyons, John and Rosa have taken out a marriage license and are to be married the next day. After Alma asks Roger and Mrs. Bassett to leave, she calls long distance to inform the doctor of his son’s pending marriage.

The action is then focused on the doctor’s office where John is throwing an engagement party. Gonzales, Rosa’s father is a guest. John and Rosa are alone in the office as Rosa explains to him how she was raised in a poor family. As we are learning a bit of compassion for Rosa, her father interrupts then passes out on the couch. During this party, John is obviously feeling that his life is spinning out of control. He eventually leaves the party and goes to find comfort in

Alma’s arms.

While John is with Alma, his father comes home to find Gonzales on his couch.

Displeased with the party in his house and the prospect of his son marrying so poorly, he chases

Gonzales out of his house with his cane. Gonzales shoots the doctor and the scene ends with

Rosa screaming.

Later that evening, John is distraught in the doctor’s office while Reverend Winemiller is off stage saying The Lord’s Prayer at the bedside of the dying doctor. Alma brings John coffee and tries to console him. He becomes very angry with her for calling his father back from the clinic and gives her an anatomy lecture using the chart that hangs on the office wall. Alma has a difficult time accepting the lesson due to her idea of what is proper. She makes the point that the soul is also a part of the human anatomy but it is not listed on the chart. After their argument, Mr. Winemiller comes out of the bedroom and tells Alma that the doctor wants her to come in and sing to him. She goes and sings to him (Amazing Grace in this production) and when she abruptly stops singing we know that the doctor has just died.

Months later, we see Alma at home in her dressing gown, not looking well. Mr.

Winemiller demands that she get herself dressed, he complains that he does not like to see her sitting about day after day. He wonders what he is supposed to tell people when they ask about her. She tells him to tell them that she is changing. He just doesn’t know what she is changing into yet.

Parade music is heard in the street and Alma is told that the town is having a parade for

John’s homecoming. He has completed his Father’s work at the fever clinic in Lyons and is returning home a hero. Alma is led off stage after fainting at the sight of John through the window. John enters the doctor’s office carrying a loving cup given to him by the people of

Glorious Hill. He is obviously a changed man. Nellie surprises him by following him into the office; she now dresses much older than she acts. They kiss and John sends her away.

As lights come up on the next scene, we see Alma alone in the park, by the angel fountain. It is now winter time and she looks tired. She is greeted by Mrs. Bassett and they exchange pleasantries. Mrs. Basset tells Alma that their literature club had broken up after

Alma left it. Nellie enters the park and is excited to see Alma; she has a Christmas gift to give her. Not wanting to associate with Nellie, Mrs. Bassett says goodbye to Alma and walks away.

Alma opens Nellie’s gift and discovers, from the card, that the gift is not from Nellie, it was from

Nellie and John. Understanding this means that John and Nellie are engaged to be married,

Alma thanks Nellie and quickly excuses herself.

The last time we see John and Alma together is in John’s office. Alma has come to offer herself to him. She leads the conversation and makes a pass at John. John apologetically refuses her advances and tells her that he is a changed man. Alma explains to him that part of her died and that she has changed into a different person. She confesses that she loves him and will give herself to him. John tells her that he never felt that their relationship could ever get past a certain point and it never would. He explains that she was right, that the soul is a part of the human anatomy and it has to be fed. Alma realizes that they have switched places; she is now ready to give herself to him and he is ready to mend his ways. Nellie enters in the

Christmas spirit. She is completely unaware of the tension between John and Alma. Nellie shows Alma the engagement ring John gave her. Alma congratulates her and leaves the office upset. She goes to the angel fountain and takes one of the sleeping tablets John prescribed to calm her nerves. A train is heard in the distance and a traveling salesman enters, his name is

Archie Kramer. After giving Archie one of her pills, Alma and Archie go off to get a room above

13 the Moon Lake Casino. She has decided to give herself to a stranger. The final moment of the play is Alma staring at the angel fountain and walking off to follow Archie.

Summer and Smoke is a play about relationships. In a way, the final moments of the show typified the whole. Williams writes about Alma’s relationship to heaven and her reckoning with God and when Alma turns to look at the angel, she makes an irreversible decision. Alma is finally sure that she has to give into her secret passions. Much of the story of Summer and

Smoke is centered on the relationship between the spiritual and carnal drives within ourselves and how we reconcile them. The final moments of the play suggest that Alma has given into her carnal needs as John has realized the importance of his spiritual life.

Williams immediately sets up the idea that the play is about relationships in his detailed stage directions; playing the rectory on one extreme side of the stage and the doctor’s office on the other pits the two against one another. The rectory represents the “ideal” American home based on religion and spirituality, a place that fosters the gentile manner of society in which a southern belle can survive. The doctor’s office represents science and carnal need, portraying that portion of society that is changing to keep up with the industrial revolution.

Williams adds the third and most important element with the angel fountain named

Eternity. The fountain connects both the rectory and the doctor’s office to heaven, an ever present reminder that this play is about how parts of our humanity are in conflict with one another. Williams suggests that the carnal and the spiritual components within all human beings are eternally cradled in the wings of an angel that brings them into balance.

Just as the visual elements of the production have a close relationship to one another, the connectivity of the character’s relationships is also skillfully woven together. Alma’s relationship to her mother is full of resentment and anger. It is through her sense of dignity and

14 goodwill, taught to her by her father, that Alma has the strength to have taken care of her mother since the age of twelve. Her father, a minister, has a strange relationship with his daughter. He has had to rely on Alma to fulfill household duties as well as the duties that would normally be expected of a minister’s wife. Because of the circumstances in which they live,

Alma has never been able to have a normal childhood. In many ways she grew up as the minister’s wife with no father. This plays a large role in her hypochondria because Alma has taken the doctor on as a surrogate father. Alma liked the fatherly attention she got when she had to see the doctor and began paying him visits more for advice and comfort than for treatment. A case can also be made that she had some illusions of him being her future father- in-law.

John’s relationship with his father is strained in much the same way as Alma’s. Just as she was expected to fulfill a certain lot in life, so was he. Dr. John Sr. expects him to become a doctor and take on the responsibility of caring for the health of a community. John spends the majority of his time rebelling against his father’s wishes. Unlike Alma, John has the opportunity to go outside of the community to study. He goes to school and discovers new ideas and views on life. He feels pressure being applied to his life by his father to plan for the future and be responsible for the community in which he lives. John, however, is only inclined to do what he feels like doing at the moment. John ignores his responsibilities to himself and society by focusing his energies on indulging his senses.

As John is rebelling, he feels shame and resents his father’s disapproval. The only real interaction we see between John and his father is in Act i, Scene ii, when John gets back to the house early the next morning after a night of drinking and gambling, and his father has sent his belongings to the Alhambra Hotel. “If that’s how you want it” is John’s only response. Those

15 words drip with false southern charm and great resentment. Of course the doctor gives into

John and has his belongings brought back from the hotel.

Understanding the relationships John and Alma have with their parents helps clarify the relationship they have with one another. Alma has loved John since she was a young girl.

However, as a young girl Alma was kept from doing normal “young girl” things because of her home situation. She adored John from afar. Whether John knew Alma loved him or not, he had the physical and emotional freedom to associate with other children in a way that Alma did not.

This is important because Alma was never able to become integrated into the society in which she was expected to be a religious leader. Consequently, Alma puts on airs because she doesn’t know how to be herself around people her own age. All she knows is how to be the minister’s daughter/wife. Knowing that Alma always does what she is expected to do, John refers to the desires that Alma suppresses as her doppelganger.

John on the other hand has been able to step away from the small town ideals in which he was raised and see that he cannot live up to them. He feels ashamed for not being able to live up to the town’s expectations which he perceives as being too lofty and unattainable. To

John, Alma represents all of these ideals and this is why he sees her as too lofty and unattainable. John’s inability to achieve Alma’s level of social acceptability is the primary reason he tries to marry Rosa. He wants to prove not only to himself but to everyone that he is unwilling, therefore incapable, of living up to their standards. While he is rebelling he is also making himself feel worse because he knows what he is doing is wrong. John has been raised as

Alma has with a sense of social responsibility. By the nature of his profession he has compassion for others and he knows he is using Rosa. The conflict between his rebellions and his sense of

16 shame reaches its culmination the night of his engagement party. As a result he must go to

Alma for peace of mind, one of the most passionate and intense moments of the play.

Both Rosa and Nellie are eager to marry John for a number of reasons. They both stand to make a substantial step forward economically and socially. Each would begin to have access to a society that may never accept them. The opportunity to prove their social propriety is more of a possibility if they were married to John. The interesting thing about Rosa and Nellie is that they both represent different levels of social standard. If Alma is at the highest unattainable level of achievement and Rosa is at the lowest, then Nellie is the compromise between the two.

John finds the proper balance in the relationship between his spiritual needs and his carnal drive, something Alma was only able to do after it was too late.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, is the relationship between all of the characters and the divine. It is undeniable that Williams is continually commenting on the relationship between mankind and God. In his journal he writes, “The beastliness of life frightens me so when such things can happen to people, how to believe in any good power over us mortals? The feat—the helplessness—what can we do?”(Leverich, 222) In this statement that Williams sums up the way he feels as a human being under the vastness of the universe, very much like Alma. Summer and Smoke is a commentary on his sense of our place in the universe and our relationship to the divine. By placing the angel fountain (Eternity) center stage, he is making the statement that the power of God is always present in our lives. What that presence does to our lives is what we don’t understand.

Chapter 3: Director’s Concept and Design Approach

Our first production meeting for Summer and Smoke was held on June 2. The meeting was a general organizational meeting. After the introductions, producer Mark Shanda discussed the production calendar. Preview was to be held on November 10, load-in for the set was to begin October 26, and auditions on September 26. At this time the department was establishing a new format for their production meetings. This included more concentration of time on conceptual planning at the beginning of the process. Consequently, this meant that a few dates had to shift to accommodate the expanded calendar. The director’s concept due date changed from July 6 to June 24, the first concept meeting was changed from July 10 to July 2, and the initial design meeting was changed from July 17 to July 24. The dates did not change for the preliminary design meeting, it was scheduled for July 31 and the final design was due August 28.

On June 25, 2009, Jimmy Bohr emailed his director’s concept statement to the production team. This was one week before the first production meeting. It was distributed to the production team with the intention that everyone would read the statement and have questions ready for the concept meeting on July 2. The director’s concept was very thorough. It was divided into three sections, “The Dramatic Action and World of the Play”, “Style, Structure and Tone”, and “Production Considerations”.(See Appendix A)

In the first section, “The Dramatic Action and World of the Play”, Bohr states that the most significant idea for this production is that Williams created a very specific time and place for the play: Glorious Hill, Mississippi in 1916. Bohr states that Williams felt that this play

18 happens, “Moments before the Great War.” Bohr says, “I’m sure he felt, as many did at the time, that World War I was the turning point in American civilization, after which a certain gentleness and civility was lost.” He goes on to say that the location is important because of the nature of the town in which the play takes place. Glorious Hill is a small town in which everybody knows what everybody else is doing; words and reputations travel very quickly through Glorious Hill. Bohr goes on to say, “It is a Delta town, close enough to the Gulf to feel its cooling breezes on hot summer nights.”

Bohr invoked other senses throughout his statement. In the first section he felt that it was important that the smells of the magnolia, honeysuckle, and jasmine filled the air. He mentions that we should feel how the Gulf wind cooling the heat of the Mississippi Delta is a character in itself. Visually he felt that the atmosphere of the production should be one of

“looking through lace.” I understood it was important to him to create an atmosphere on stage, not just visually but involving all senses. The combination of the Spanish moss hanging in the trees and heat of the South should create the proper world to “frame the great and complex love story of Alma and John.”

Bohr describes the dramatic action and the story of the play as, “Alma’s repressed, yet long-enduring and deeply felt love for John, and John’s turbulent and libidinous life that ultimately yearns for Alma. The star-crossed path that leads them to, and from, each other gives us the Dramatic Action and thrust of the play. All the other characters and stories are there to illuminate and define that love story.” This statement became very important in the design approach. The vast majority of decisions were ultimately made because the telling of the story of John and Alma’s love was the goal of the production. If a design decision needed to be made about an element in John’s environment it was almost always compared to how it related

19 to Alma’s environment. Therefore, it became very important to establish the style, structure and tone of the production.

Bohr addresses the environment of the production in the second section of his concept statement entitled, “The Style, Structure and Tone”. Bohr describes the style of the play as that of “Poetic Realism.” He explains that “These are very real characters in a very real world, yet there is a poetry in the language and a slightly heightened demeanor in the style.” I agree with

Bohr when he states that he believes the world of the play, “Was Williams’ vision of the

American character he longed for, if never knew.” I came to understand this term as a heightened reality. It was the poetry of the play that Bohr felt must be considered in all aspects of the production and in all stylistic considerations of the production. Bohr ends this section by stating that, “The tone of this production should be this ‘Poetic Realism’ I mentioned before. It is an epic love story that exists in this very hot, suppressed, and yearning world.”

In the third section of the director’s concept entitled “Production Considerations”, Bohr states that he did not want to stray too far from the specifications Williams set in the script. As he mentioned in section one, Bohr feels that the time and place of the play are very specifically chosen and to change those would change the intention of the playwright. Yet, we could apply our own creativity within those parameters. The relationship established between the rectory, doctor’s office, and the angel fountain must always be in balance. The angel is as Bohr writes,

“Always in sight, hovering over every scene and guarding our two protagonists.”

In general Bohr wanted a realistic quality to all designs, scenic, lighting, costume, and sound. He said that the poetry should be the guiding inspiration for the lighting design and that it should stylistically support the realism of the set. The costumes needed to be realistic to time and place, and the sound-scape should also support the realism of the play. Finally, he states

20 that the notion of “Poetic Realism” should guide all aspects of the production. I was a bit concerned about the level of realism Bohr was expecting in the scenery. I felt that the financial limitations of the production would compromise the quality of a large quantity of very realistic scenery and that we would have to employ a more representational approach to some of the scenic elements. I brought this up for discussion at the first production design meeting.

The agenda of the first production design meeting held on July 10, was to discuss Bohr’s concept statement. The beginning of the meeting was spent listening to Bohr elaborate on his ideas. After which the design team discussed the concept and asked questions. The innocence of the time period was discussed in detail. Bohr explained that 1916 was a year in American culture when the effects of the industrial revolution were still being felt. It was a time when societal norms and niceties were changing very quickly. A great majority of the population now lived in cities because of the need for large numbers of workers in factories and trade hubs. This was a society that was working its way into the “roaring” twenties. I took this explanation as part of the reason for John’s rebellious behavior. This also accounted for Alma’s reluctance to change. But it was the innocence of 1916 that needed to come through on stage. The key words that were used by Bohr to describe the innocence were: clean, uncluttered, and a litter free world.

Another important discussion was had about the environment of the show. To what degree did we want to “theatricalize” the atmosphere, and how? The design team came to the meeting knowing that Bohr wanted a realistic setting that reflected the extreme heat of the

Deep South. What was discussed was the style of the environment. In his statement, Bohr says that the vastness of the sky is of great importance, Williams specifically calls for a vast view of the sky so the audience can see the change of the time of day as well season. Bohr also

21 impressed upon the team that the Spanish moss that hangs from the trees in the South was very important in setting the atmosphere of the play. The opening scene is in the park during the

Fourth of July fireworks display. The discussion began with how we wanted to represent the fireworks on stage. Did we want the absolute realism of projecting them on a rear projection screen along with the sky for the entire show? Or did we want to represent those effects in a more theatrical way by using the cyclorama and lighting effects. These discussions lead us to a conversation about how we were going to represent the trees and plant life surrounding the two houses. These issues were not decided at this meeting but the information was invaluable to me as the scenic designer. Bohr felt that whatever we decided needed to be consistent throughout. Shanda, the producer, brought a few practical considerations to the discussion. He brought forth the budgetary and time considerations that would affect how I approached the issue. He questioned if the department had the technology and facility to support a full stage projection of the sky and if the scene shop had the time to execute fully three dimensional trees on stage.

Later in the meeting, Bohr discussed the idea that the play was about the tension between the spiritual and the carnal. He said that the world of the play looked proper on the surface but it had an undercurrent of passion throughout. Williams’ placement of the elements on stage was the first consideration in this matter. He placed the rectory in direct opposition to the doctor’s office with the angel fountain between. As discussed in chapter two, the relationship of these elements to each other sets the relationship between the spiritual and the carnal. Bohr expressed that the anatomy chart was of great importance in the office because it was the epitome of the carnal. He was very clear that he wanted the anatomy chart to be full size and very prominent.

Before the next production meeting I began my research and sketching. My research included images of American gothic architecture. In his book The Gingerbread Age, John Maass says that the American Gothic architecture was the beginning of modern architecture in the sense that:

The Greek Revival house was designed to fit behind a traditional façade, it

belongs in a formal garden, is best viewed from the fixed standpoint of

Renaissance perspective. The Victorian house broke free from this academic

scheme. It is planned from the inside out, the free layout of rooms determines

the outward look; the broken, “picturesque” exterior makes the most of the

effects of sunlight, shade and foliage. (Maass, 64)

I explored the characteristic features of the Gothic Revival. Many of the features were found in

Constance M. Greiff’s book entitled, Early Victorian. One of the most relevant architectural features is the roofline. Greiff writes that the characteristics of the Gothic Revival roofline are,

“Steeply pitched, gabled, sometimes stepped; occasional intersection cross-gables or castellated parapets; grouped chimneys.” (Maass, 32) I decided to propose using a fractured piece of corbelled cornice above the rectory to balance the composition of the design as well as add a lighter, more feminine quality to the rectory. Its design reflected the gingerbread ornamental detail and steeply pitched roofline of the Gothic Revival style.

Greiff also writes that the distinguishing characteristics of Gothic Revival windows are,

“Single or grouped double-hung or casement; arched or flat topped with hood moldings; lancets and wheels; bays and oriels; French windows; tracery; conventional or diamond panes; tinted or stained glass, especially in churches.” (Maass, 32) My visual research included a pointed arch window that I decided to use for the rectory to give it a church-like feeling. (See Fig. 2)

Figure 2: Rectory Research

I sketched a square, French window in the doctor’s office because I felt it had a more masculine and less decorative quality.

Figure 3: Doctor’s House Research

The idea that the office was masculine and the rectory was feminine guided many decisions in the way they looked in terms of color, texture, form, and function. The furniture in the rectory would have a more delicate feel to it, a cabriole leg and floral print fabric upholstery indicating not only the type of person Alma is but to also indicate the type of gentile society she wishes to associate with. The office furniture needed a heavier visual weight and the only upholstered piece of furniture would be leather associating with John’s bold and brutal personality. A place to entertain and comfort needed to be the function of the rectory. The doctor’s office needed to be set up to conduct business and examinations. The materials the houses were to be made of were also considered in this manner. The rectory would have clapboard siding, a softer surface than the sturdy stone exterior of the doctor’s office.

When looking for images of Southern homes I found images of foliage and how it created an environment that was uniquely Southern. I knew that I wanted to accomplish the hot Southern atmosphere primarily with the plant life on stage. The images that showed an entire canopy of Spanish moss were of particular interest.

Figure 4. Spanish Moss Canopy Research

The live oaks and Spanish moss designed to surround the stage came directly from this research. Bohr and I felt that the shape and age of these trees were ideal for creating the correct atmosphere for the production.

On July 21, I met Bohr to share my research images and discuss some ideas I had for the design. I showed him the research I had done and he responded very positively. We sorted out the pieces of research that would represent the exterior of the two houses as well as the angel fountain. The script calls for a stone angel, however, both Bohr and I loved the image of a patinated bronze angel so much we decided to use its image as a model for our angel fountain.

(See Fig. 5)

Figure 5. Angel fountain research

I presented several versions of ground plan to Bohr. I made no attempt to sketch the set because at this point in the process I felt it was more important to sort out the logistics of how

26 we wanted the scene shifts to happen. My initial idea was to use a unit set without any moving pieces. The layout of the space was as specified by the director and the playwright, rectory stage right, office stage left, and fountain center stage. I felt it was important for sightlines to have the angel fountain on an upper level. The yard between the two houses became a strong design element for me. It became the signifier, in color and shape, that literally pointed to the angel and highlighted it as the most important piece of scenery. I did this with a raked platform that was in forced perspective centered on the angel. After sorting through what we liked and disliked about the ground plans I had done, Bohr and I decided that we would use wagons to change the scenery. When I was confident that we were in agreement about the look of this world, I began to revise the design for the next design meeting scheduled three days later.

In the next three days I worked on the ground plan and decided that the design would utilize five wagons to move the scenery. The park would be comprised of three wagons and the houses would each use one. The general movement of the scenery was quite complicated at this point. To create the park two wagons lead from off stage left and right to the angel wagon which held the angel fountain. These were raised platforms that allowed access to the angel fountain that I referred to as walkway wagons. The angel wagon would move independently from the two walkway wagons. The angel fountain was on a 12’-0” x 13’-0” wagon that traveled up and down stage on a raked platform covered with synthetic grass. The fountain had to be functional. The idea was that the angel would rise up in the composition as it moved upstage, revealing the green grass on the raked platform below. The park walkways were elevated to 42” so that the actors would be seen above furniture that had to remain on stage in the houses. The two houses would have furniture that remained on the extended apron of the stage the entire show. Each house would also have a wagon that would track on and off stage that would

27 complete the look of the house. The rectory wagon would carry on Mrs. Winemiller’s puzzle table and chair, the rectory window and a fireplace. The doctor’s wagon would carry the examination table and dressing screen, the anatomy chart and the window that faced the rectory window. The central images of the design were the relationship between the two windows in the houses that faced each other across the yard and the angel fountain at center stage.

At the meeting on July 24, I showed a power point presentation outlining the rough scenic design. The overall idea of the design was well received. The consensus was that the movement of the scenery was overly complicated and needed simplification. I also presented the idea of using a white cyclorama with a black scrim in front of it to represent the sky and layers of scene painted trees on muslin with Spanish moss hanging from them to create the atmosphere of “Poetic Realism” for the play. The production team liked the atmospheric considerations. A discussion began about the five wagons used to move the scenery. It was decided that the two wagons used in the houses needed to be smaller and the complicated movement of the three park platforms needed further consideration. The scale of the angel fountain also came into question. There was concern that it was visually and physically too big.

At this point in the process I was presenting sketches, I told the group that I would know more about the size of the angel when I got the design into model form.

At this point we began talking about the color palette for the show. The idea was that the rectory would be in the lighter creamy colors with accents of dusty roses and an oak hardwood floor. These colors were in keeping with the idea that the rectory had a softer, lighter, and more feminine feel than the office. The office was to be in bolder more masculine colors with dark walnut paneling and floor. Not all homes were converted to electricity in 1916

28 and those that were had limited wiring compared to modern homes. With that in mind, I felt that the doctor’s office would be more up to date by having electrical lighting fixtures. This would support the idea that John is affected by the scientific ideas of the modern times. The rectory would still have gaslights indicating the Alma’s reluctance to change with the advancements of society. The choices of lighting were a direct reflection of John and Alma’s personalities.

After getting feedback from the production team, I met with Bohr and we discussed a plan to simplify the set. Bohr suggested that we make the angel wagon and the two walkway wagons a single wagon that was the entire width of the stage. This meant that I would have to level out the raked platform with the grass on it that I liked so well. Knowing that it was the right thing to do to make the wagons work, I implemented those changes. After making these changes, I met with Shanda and Zinkon to discuss the feasibility of the new design. They were both pleased with the changes and encouraged me to continue with the drafting. It was at this meeting that I told Shanda that I would not be able to meet the deadline for the final design package as scheduled. Having only just settled on the design, I could not draft the show, build the finished model, and complete the painter’s elevations in only 9 days. He was very understanding and we decided that I would focus on getting the finished drafting to Zinkon as soon as possible so that he could begin drafting the construction drawings. I would then complete the model and painter’s elevations as quickly as I could. Zinkon informed me that he would not start drafting the working drawings until September 8, and that there was no need to have the design drawings to him before then. I completed the drafting on September 1, the model on September 5, and the painter’s elevations on September 12. It was at the production meeting on August 28 that I presented the final ground plan which included all of the changes

29 discussed in prior meetings. All other design materials were presented to the production team at subsequent meetings.

On September 10, I received an email from Zinkon containing the scenery bid. As designed, the design estimate was $3,122.65 over budget. Zinkon broke out the price of each unit and made suggestions on where he felt cuts could be made. This was very helpful. We followed most of his suggestions and were able to cut $2,459.44 from the budget without much problem. Shanda authorized a slight increase in the scenic budget which meant that we finally settled on a cost of $5,163.21. Only a few items were cut from the design, such as the brick texture on the upper level of the angel wagon and a non-woven material suggested by Shanda that could be applied to the surface of the painted trees to give them a more textured feel. I did not feel that the integrity of the design was compromised at all. I met with Bohr the next day and discussed the cuts with him; he understood and agreed to the cuts.

The last significant design decision was how to accomplish the Spanish moss that would hang over the entire set. I was leaning toward using the shredded paper that is used in packaging. The concern with using this material was that we would have a very difficult time fireproofing as required. This was critical because the trees and moss would be so close to the lighting instruments and could be a fire hazard. Finally at the production meeting held October

20, Bohr suggested using shredded lace. I immediately felt that it was a very good idea. Using lace would give the appropriate shape of the moss and it would work very nicely with the

“looking through lace” concept that the director wanted. After a successful demonstration of this material in the lighting laboratory we decided that the lace was the right choice of material to create the illusion of Spanish moss.

Chapter 4: The Production Process

The primary challenges in the production of the scenery for Summer and Smoke were due to scheduling. The scenic studio had two productions to build for the Department of

Theatre during autumn quarter. Classes for autumn quarter began on Wednesday September

23rd. Palmer Park was the show being mounted in the Bowen Theatre one week before Summer and Smoke. Consequently, both shows were being built at the same time. Summer and Smoke opened on October 12th giving the scenic studio five and a half weeks until the first technical rehearsal. To compound the problem, the Thurber Theatre was rented out to various organizations nearly two of those five and half weeks. This was a challenge because the stage is often used for construction and painting and the production could not move onto the stage until

October 19th, ten work days before the first technical rehearsal. The technical director, Chris

Zinkon did an excellent job orchestrating the build calendar to best utilize the facilities when they were available.

The first pieces of scenery to be worked on were the painted trees that surrounded the stage. The stage floor was the only space large enough to layout the trees. Due to the rental schedule of the space, Zinkon and I knew that the trees must be laid out and painted before the autumn quarter began. On the weekend of September 18 - 20, I found a backdrop in stock that was large enough to accommodate the necessary pieces, stretched it on the Thurber Theatre stage, laid out and painted the trees. The drop was then rolled up and put aside until the next

31 week when each tree was cut out with a pair of scissors by the students working in the scenic studio.

During the first week of classes, materials began to arrive in the scenic studio. The first hard piece of scenery that was built was the groundrow. It was also too large to be built in the scenic studio and it had to be laid out on the stage. Thurber Theatre was being rented every day that week. Fortunately the rental was only using the down stage portion of the stage, leaving us the up stage area to layout the ground row. Zinkon had asked if I was willing to make a few minor adjustments to the shape of the groundrow to utilize more stock flats and cut down on the cost of the unit. I agreed and after the stock pieces were laid out on the stage floor, I cartooned the shape of the groundrow from the design drawings. The cartooned pieces were unscrewed from the floor and the students cut them out and framed them throughout the week. Later in the process the ground row was painted flat black before it was installed.

The construction of the various platforming systems began in the second week of the build. The +2”, +7.5”, 15.5”, -6.5”, and the +0” platforms were all laid out, cut and framed that week. The majority of the work was done in the scenic studio due to another rental of the

Thurber Theatre the first two days of the week. The doctor’s office walls flats and the rectory wall flats were built the later part of that week as well, they were put aside to be painted later in the process.

At the beginning of the second week, Zinkon and I arranged a meeting with Chad

Mahan, the scenic studio supervisor, and Martin Savolskis, the properties master, to discuss the schedule as it pertained to props and paint. Because the department was mounting two productions at the same time I felt that it was necessary to give special attention to the scheduling of paint and props. I felt that this meeting would be helpful in avoiding any

32 confusion with the timeline, especially since the angel fountain was being considered a prop not scenery. Zinkon and I wanted to be sure that we were all aware of how tight the schedule was and that we were all comfortable with the timeline under which we were working.

The base of the angel fountain was built by the scenic studio. Zinkon insured that the fountain was functional and the bucket, pump and power needed to create the flow of water would be housed in the base. The sculpting of the angel fell to the props team. The base of the fountain was executed on time and handed over to the props team in the second week of the build. Savolskis and I discussed the approach we would take for sculpting the angel that week and he began shopping for the materials right away. We decided that the understructure of its body would be constructed out of 2x4 lumber. The concern was that the wings would shake as it rolled down stage on the wagon. We needed the support member for the wings to pass through the shoulders of the angel and attach as far down on the base as possible. There were discussions early on in the production process that the angel’s hands and face would be plaster casts of a real person. As the sculpture was being built, we decided that using a styrofoam head and mannequin hands would save time and look just as good as the cast pieces. The bulk of the angel’s torso was sculpted out of chicken wire and draped with a simple dress that Savolskis picked up from a thrift store. The costume studio gave us an old wig to use for the hair. The shape of the wings were cut from a piece of plywood and attached to the piece of 2x4 lumber that came out of the back of the angel’s shoulders. The feathers on the wings were cut from cardboard and attached to the lauan. As the angel was taking shape, it was coated with a mixture of white glue and joint compound to solidify the hair, clothing, and wings. Muslin strips dipped in the glue mixture were used to unify the different pieces of the sculpture. The strips made cleaner connections between the hands and the sleeves of the robe, the joint between

33 the Styrofoam head and the collar of the robe, the juncture between the wings and the shoulders. The construction of the fountain was completed later than planned. It was given over to paint in the final week before technical rehearsals began. This was a small matter of concern that did not affect the quality of the production at all.

The majority of the third week of the build was free from rentals of the Thurber Theatre.

Zinkon took advantage of the stage space by building the angel wagon that week. The center portion of the angel wagon was constructed of steel. Since that portion of the wagon had to bridge the 10’-0” wide section of grass on the platform below, Zinkon felt that a steel frame would promote less bounce in the wagon as actors walked on it. He welded the frame together himself. The two 4’-0” wide walkway sections of the angel wagon were assembled by undergraduate carpenters. All three sections of the wagon were fitted with casters and stored until they could be installed the week before technical rehearsals began.

Also during this third week of the build, the lauan sheet goods were laid out on the stage floor for me to cartoon the shapes of the two palmetto bushes. A team of undergraduate carpenters cut out the shapes and framed the flats. The seams were filled with joint compound and sanded. They were set aside so the carpenters could begin assembling the wagons for the rectory and the doctor’s office. The third week of the build was quite successful. All of the wagons for the show were completed and there were a few things ready for paint as well, though the painters could not get to them until Palmer Park was done.

Thurber Theatre was rented out the entire fourth week of the build. Knowing that the space to build would be limited, Zinkon used this week to focus on the smaller pieces of scenery that could be built in the scenic studio. The rectory window unit was probably the most detailed scenic unit in the entire production. It was scheduled for construction in the fourth week of the

34 build but was not started until the sixth and final week of the build. This became a bit stressful for me but I knew the unit would get done and the paint treatment was not difficult. The doctor’s window, however, was built on schedule in the fourth week. The flying window, arbor unit, and rectory roof unit were also assembled during the fourth week.

The week beginning October 19, the fifth week of the build, was the first time Summer and Smoke had the stage without interruption from a rental. The installation of the set began at that time. The first thing to happen while the stage was bare was to hang all of the soft goods for the show. There were five sets of legs and borders, a black scrim and a white cyclorama.

After the soft goods were hung, a crew of carpenters began installing the platforming that created the apron of the stage. At the same time, a crew began laying the tree cut-outs on the stage floor and attaching them to the scenic netting from which they were to hang.

After the trees were hung on their batons, I noticed that they were not attached to their netting properly causing them to hang crooked; some were off as much as thirty degrees from the original design. I spoke with Zinkon and we decided that in a few days there would be time to go back and fix them. The following week a few undergraduate carpenters and I adjusted the tree units by pulling them up and attaching them higher on their scenic netting. The problem was fixed without incident. This was also the ideal time to attach the Spanish moss to the trees.

The Spanish moss was made of lace that was tattered and draped on the branches. The effect was quite nice. After seeing it under stage lights, I decided that the moss needed to be denser.

I took the note and added more lace the following day.

The fifth week of the build was also the first week slated for the painting of the scenery to begin. Palmer Park was still occupying the majority of the painter’s time. With the exception of the trees, no significant painting happened on Summer and Smoke until the sixth and final

35 week of the build. The platforming and wagons were the first items to be installed but they did not have their facings or show floors attached until the middle of the week, so they could not be painted until then.

With the first technical rehearsal approaching, the tracking systems and wagons were installed and made functional. The ground row was installed and the flying units were made ready for performance. During the sixth week the lighting designer, Alex Kyle-Dipietropaolo, and I set the heights for the borders and electrics while sitting in the house together. As the show went into the first technical rehearsal, all of the scenic elements were represented with the exception of the rectory window; it arrived on stage a few days later. Each unit that was on stage was base painted, so there was no raw wood showing on stage. The brick facings on the platforming came from the manufacturer already painted a similar color as the brick for the show. Though it was not yet specifically painted for this production, it was not distracting during these early technical rehearsals.

The technical rehearsal process went very smoothly. Kyle-Dipietropaolo was prepared with the light cues and ready to make changes and adjustments wherever needed. Stage management was in control of the rehearsal; cues were being called and executed as written.

The sound designer, Mike Lillie, had some difficulties throughout the process with the timing and levels of the sound cues, but his notes did not slow the rehearsals down too much.

The reason the wagons on stage were not motorized was because the equipment owned by the university was not functional. It had not been maintained and there was not enough time to make it operational. Since the wagons were not motorized, as I had hoped they would be, they were manually operated. Some time was spent during the tech process orchestrating the movement of the wagons and flying scenery. Part of the difficulty was that

36 the operators of the angel wagon could not see if the house wagons were out of the way so the angel wagon could move down stage unobstructed. The solution was that the angel wagon would not start moving until the operators saw the window above the doctor’s office fly all of the way out of sight. Another complication with the manual operation of the angel wagon was that one of the two operators would push harder than the other and the entire wagon would get off track. A few times it ran into the stationary platform in the doctor’s office. The solution was that we cut the doctor’s office platform back to give more clearance for the angel wagon to pass and we called the two operators in early for more practice with moving the wagon evenly.

From then on the angel wagon moved smoothly.

By the time the production moved into dress rehearsals the remainder of the scenery had been painted. At which time, Savolskis and I were putting the finishing touches on the set dressing. The addition of the costumes into the production happened smoothly. Alma’s costumes were incorporated into the final technical rehearsal because she had a large number of quick changes that affected the timing of the scene shifts. This extra rehearsal time with

Alma’s quick changes made the first dress rehearsal very productive.

Preview for the show was well attended. The reactions of the audience throughout the performance gave the actors and running crew a much needed sense of accomplishment. The next day we did not have rehearsal because the university was closed in observance of Veterans

Day. The following evening the show opened successfully on October 12, 2010.

Chapter 5: Evaluation

The design process for Summer and Smoke was delightful and rewarding. The production team collaborated well in all aspects of the production, from the producer to the running crew. Each person approached the project with enthusiasm and an eagerness to create a great production. Working with Bohr was a pleasure, he and I had worked together on several shows in the past and we have always worked very well together. One aspect of our successful working relationship on Summer and Smoke was that we both brought very strong personalities and opinions to the project.

Throughout the process of mounting Summer and Smoke Bohr and I collaborated freely, a result of good communication. There are several reasons we were able to communicate. He knew what he wanted to see on stage and clearly communicated his ideas to me. I also felt that

I was free to suggest and discuss any idea of my own with him. Bohr also possesses a strong visual sense which made it easy for me to communicate with him. He used the set for Summer and Smoke very well. His blocking utilized the traffic patterns built into the scenic design beautifully and it was a genuine pleasure to watch. Finally, he trusted my vision for the show.

Working with a director as experienced as Bohr brought great value to my education.

Summer and Smoke provided me with numerous educational opportunities. I enjoyed having the time to apply my knowledge about how to use Auto Cad. It was a very important part of my educational experience at The Ohio State University. Being taught what the program

38 can do is very different from learning how to use it. I was able to discover more efficient ways to use the program during Summer and Smoke. I learned that turning an object in Auto Cad into a block is beneficial because any change you make to the block automatically changes the object whenever it was is used in the drafting. This allowed me to revise the drafting more effectively.

Modifying the location of the blocks on stage also becomes easier because it is faster to select one object from the drawing than it is the many lines that make-up the object. In general using blocks is great way to manipulate the drafting.

Another useful thing I learned in Auto Cad was how to better control the layers and lineweights within the drawings. For instance, I found that it is more useful for me to label the layers of a drawing by the qualities of the line being drawn rather than what is being drawn with the line. For instance, it was better for me to draw the angel with the “light” lineweight layer than it was to draw it on an “angel” layer. This significantly reduced the number of layers used making the drawing more user friendly. Also, by making the angel a block, I was able to turn off the block when it was not needed in the drawing rather than turning off the layer.

I feel that the scenic design was very successful. The environment captured on the stage supported the director’s concept of “poetic realism”. The visual balance and tension between the two houses and the park created a pleasing composition. The canopy of trees was probably the most effective scenic element in creating the environment on stage. The lace

“Spanish moss” was very appropriate, though I do wish there could have been more of it. I feel that the illusion of the Spanish moss would have been more complete if the lace that was used to create the moss was heavier, and made of a more natural fiber. It would have draped and hung more appropriately and it would have looked denser.

The interiors of the houses were quite successful. I feel that the selection of furniture and set dressing created a unified look in each house. The properties master, Savolskis was instrumental in making that happen. The selection of furniture and set dressing that he brought to me for approval was well chosen. His eager and insightful placement of the set dressing was greatly appreciated. His natural eye for detail and dedication to the show were reassuring to me. The scenic design was enhanced and the quality of the production benefitted from his contribution.

The movement of the scene shifts was quite stunning. Each night I enjoyed the choreography of the scenery transforming the stage. Though I was slightly disappointed when I learned that we would not be motorizing the angel wagon, all of the wagons moved smoothly with a little practice. The scene shifts were very short and smooth, giving a poetic quality to their movement. I am also glad that we were able to accomplish the effect of having the angel fountain glide down stage to become more of a presence in the park. The angel was intended to be the centerpiece of the play. I believe that it accomplished that very well.

The most effective visual element was the angel fountain. Kyle-DiPietropaolo’s attention to the lighting on the angel ranged from very good to exquisite. Its presence was always felt on stage. Yet, for as large as it was, it never dominated or distracted from the action of the play. The angel became a watchful presence over the lives of the people in Glorious Hill,

Mississippi. There was a general concern about the noise of the water as it splashed in the basin of the fountain. I was glad that the noise was not so great that we were forced to mime the water. I felt that the faint sounds of the water in the fountain added an appropriate amount of reality to the production.

I feel that the least successful pieces of scenery were the palmetto flats. They were a good idea but their execution was not what it should have been. The two palmetto flats were a clever way to mask the actors as they walked up the steps onto the walkway platforms in the park. They also added more lush Southern plant life to the environment. The difficulty I had with them was how they were painted. I was not able to paint them as well as I wanted. They needed to have a richer, deeper quality. They were too flat and cartoon-like. I believe that a more realistic and finer detailed quality would have been more in keeping with the realistic tone of the houses that played in front of them. Though their painterly quality tied in with that of the trees above, I do feel that they could have been painted a little more realistically. I believe that this was due to a combination of time and skill. By the time I was able to paint these units I was pressed for time and given my skill level as a scenic artist I was not able to do the units justice in such a short period of time.

The design process was truly collaborative. With Bohr’s leadership and strong direction the design team was able to work closely in the creation of each design element. I was very pleased with the color coordination between Catherine Schmeal-Swope’s costume design and the scenic elements. The costumes were beautiful period pieces that neither stood out nor blended into the scenery. The color palette of the entire show was carefully controlled and

Schmeal-Swope integrated the costumes into the environment delicately. Kyle-DiPietropaolo’s color choices for the lighting tied the colors of the set and costumes together and created the

Southern heat that was so important in the play.

I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to design Summer and Smoke and to have been a part of this production team. The collaboration and commitment to the best production possible were inspiring. Every individual involved was dedicated to the vision of the

41 playwright. The words of Tennessee Williams were beautifully portrayed on the stage and the world in which his characters lived was eloquently represented. I feel that the audience came away from the show moved by the message of the play. Summer and Smoke is a painful yet lovely story and I am very proud of the version we rendered on our stage.

Works Consulted

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1940’s). Northern Arizona University, N.p. n.d. Web. 7 July 2009.

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Appendix A: Director’s Concept

DIRECTOR’S CONCEPT

Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams

Autumn Quarter 2009, The Ohio State University Department of Theatre

Submitted by Jimmy Bohr

1. The Dramatic Action and World of the Play

Let me first address the “world of the play”. It seems the most significant and important idea for this production. Tennessee Williams created the very specific world of the small southern

Mississippi town of Glorious Hill in the second decade of the Twentieth Century, specifically

1916. (Williams states that it is “moments before the Great War”. I’m sure he felt, as many did at the time, that World War I was the turning point in American civilization, after which a certain gentleness and civility was lost.) It is a Delta town, close enough to the Gulf to feel its cooling breezes on hot summer nights. It is a very small town, where everyone knows everyone’s business, and the town square is the social hub. There is a Victorian propriety and primness evident in all aspects of the town, as well as the underlying lustful and carnal passions that are also very present in that steamy part of the American South. The heavy smells of magnolia and honeysuckle and night-blooming jasmine fill the air, a thick canopy of Spanish moss gives the whole town a slightly mysterious and looking-through-lace aura, and the heat of the Mississippi Delta is a character in itself. It is an imagined world, perhaps a little romanticized, yet a very real one. It is a world to frame the great and complex love story of Alma and John.

It is the journey of that love story that is the Dramatic Action of the play. It is Alma’s repressed, yet long-enduring and deeply felt love for John, and John’s turbulent and

47 libidinous life that ultimately yearns for Alma, that is the story of the play. The star-crossed path that leads them to, and from, each other gives us the Dramatic Action and thrust of the play. All the other characters and stories are there to illuminate and define that love story.

2. Style, Structure and Tone

I think we now must stylistically define this early work (1948) of Williams as “Poetic

Realism”. It closely followed the huge successes of The Glass Menagerie (1945) and A

Streetcar Named Desire (1947), and has much tonally and stylistically in common with those masterpieces. Williams was also very much influenced by the innovative and realistic

American playwriting style of Odetts and O’Neill and Inge , and the actors coming out of the

Group Theatre and the Actors Studio with this new form of “realistic” acting. Clifford Odetts wrote of the working class in New York City, Eugene O’Neill wrote of his New England heritage, William Inge wrote of his Midwestern experience, and Tennessee Williams of the magical South he knew and loved. These are very real characters in a very real world, yet there is a poetry to the language and a slightly heightened demeanor in the style. I think it was Williams’ vision of the American character he longed for, if never knew. It is the poetry of the play that I feel we need to pay special attention to stylistically in all aspects of production.

The Structure of the play is a traditional two-acter, with 7 scenes in Act 1 and 6 scenes in Act

2. Act 1 is defined as “Summer” and Act 2 is defined as “Winter”. There is some passage of time between each scene, and a more significant passage between the Acts. The action flows seamlessly between three major settings, the Town Square with the Fountain (to be discussed later), the Rectory, and the Buchanan’s Doctor’s office. There is a small set at the end of Act

1 of an arbor outside the Moonlight Casino that only appears that one time.

The tone of this production should be this “Poetic Realism” I mentioned before. It is an epic love story that exists in this very hot, suppressed, and yearning world.

3. Production Considerations

Williams is very clear and specific in describing the set for this play. I don’t think we need to stray too far from his specifications, yet can be as “poetic” and creative within those specifics as we want. He talks of the ever-present sky. I think this is a very important image and backdrop for this story, and would be great if it could have passing clouds, bright sunlight, and stars and a changing moon at night. He describes clearly the Rectory stage right, and the

Buchanan’s doctor’s office stage left (which contains the anatomy chart that has to be prominent and profound). Care should be given to these interiors that they reflect the opposite personalities of John and Alma. The Rectory parlor should reflect Alma’s primness and repression, and John’s office should reflect his strong masculinity and ease and carelessness. There are also references in the text in Act 2-5 that John’s office has been modernized, “new glass cases, glacial brilliance”, and “everything is new except for the anatomy chart”. This change in the set also reflects the change in his personality. Most importantly, he details the Angel Fountain of the Square that I believe is the central image of the play. He talks of how the Angel is always in sight, hovering over every scene and guarding our two protagonists. (The Angel is a fountain, and there are a number of textual references of characters drinking from the fountain and using the water.) I like his idea of transparent or suggested walls to keep the background of the sky, the hanging moss and palmetto trees, and the image of our kneeling Angel, always present. These three settings need to be able to be present at all times, or easily seen when needed. The arbor of the

Moonlight Casino for Act 1-7 can be relatively small, and we need to be creative as to where to put it.

The poetry of the play should be the guiding inspiration for the lighting design, as well. I think the difference between the summer light of Act 1 and the winter light of Act 2 needs to be significant. The lighting of the sky, with stars and a moon, and its daytime passages, seems very important. I think stylistically the lights need to support the realism of the set, and also have the freedom to be poetic when needed. The costumes need to be realistic and true to character and the period, 1916, in the small-town South. But also here, there needs to be a poetic consideration. What is important, I think, is tracking the emotional states of Alma and

John with their costumes. They both go through major emotional transformations, and I would like their clothes to reflect that.

All the costumes should reflect the deep heat of Southern Mississippi, where in Act 1, summer, it is VERY hot, and in Act 2, winter, it is just plain hot.

There is a rather extensive sound-scape described by Williams. I think this world of sound and music that he describes is very important, and only a starting point. There is much room for extensive sound and music originality. All of the sound supports the realism of the play, and the music is the music of the period. I don’t think there is any abstract sound in the play, but certainly the poetry needs to be considered here, as well.

In all the design aspects, the HEAT of the Deep South needs to be a consideration. It is a character in all of Williams’ plays, and has a profound effect on the action, the language and the emotional fabric of the play. And this notion of “Poetic Realism” should guide all aspects of the production.

The casting needs are 8 men and 6 women scripted. I may want a few townspeople to fill some scenes. That can be determined later.

Tennessee Williams’ quote on the title page:

“Who, if I were to cry out, would hear me among the angelic orders?”

-Rilke

Appendix B: Preliminary Visual Research

Plate 1. Research: Trees and Spanish Moss

Plate 2. Research: Palmetto Plant

Plate 3. Research: Rectory Interior

Plate 4. Research: Doctor’s Interior

Plate 5. Research: Anatomy Chart

Plate 6. Research: Anatomy Chart

Appendix C: Sketches, Model, Paint Elevations

Plate 7. Sketch of Park

Plate 8. Sketch of Houses

Plate 9. Sketch of Arbor at Moon Lake

Plate 10. ¼” Scale White Model of Park

Plate 11. ¼” Scale White Model of Houses

Plate 12. ¼” Scale White Model of Arbor

Plate 13. Tree #1 Paint Elevation

Plate 14. Tree #2 and #3 Paint Elevations

Plate 15. Tree #4 Paint Elevation

Plate 16. Tree #5 Paint Elevation

Plate 17. Rectory Paint Elevation

Plate 18. Doctor’s Office Paint Elevation 62

Plate 19. Palmetto Paint Elevation

Plate 20. Brick Paint Elevation

Appendix D: Final Drafting

Plate 21. Park Ground Plan 65

Plate 22. Houses Ground Plan 66

Plate 23. Arbor Ground Plan 67

Plate 24. Park Section 68

Plate 25. Houses Section

Plate 26. Arbor Section 70

Plate 27. Angel Wagon Elevation

Plate 28. Center Platform Elevation

Plate 29. Apron Extension Elevation

Plate 30. Rectory Wagon and 15 ½” Platform Elevation

Plate 31. +7 ½” Platform and Stoop Elevation

Plate 32. Doctor’s Window Detail

Plate 33. Doctor’s Paneling and Upper Window Detail

Plate 34. Rectory Window Detail 74

Plate 35. Rectory Roof and Flats Detail

Plate36. Tree #1 and #2 Elevation

Plate 37. Tree #3 and #4 Elevation

Plate 38. Tree #5 and Palmetto Elevation

Plate 39. Ground Row and Arbor Elevation

Plate 40. Angel Fountain and Lamp Post Detail

Appendix E: Production Photos

Plate 41. Production Photo 4th of July in the Park

Plate 42. Production Photo Interior of Doctor’s Office 79

Plate 43. Production Photo Interior of Rectory

Plate 44. Production Photo Arbor 80

Plate 45. Production Photo Doctor’s Office at End of Play

Plate 46. Production Photo Park at End of Show

Plate 47. Production Photo Final Moment of the Show