Rodriguez recounts a designer run where the cast of one of the shows in which she was involved performed the show using only the props, set, and direction they had at that moment. “I remember sitting down watching the show…and someone said ‘I’m going to the kitchen’…and they left through the front door,” she says. “From a logical view that doesn’t make any sense. If you’re going through the kitchen you don’t leave the house.” All it takes is a step out of the wrong door to break the illusion of a world for the audience.

It’s these small details that complete a performance, especially in adaptations of frequently performed plays such as Shakespeare’s. Many directors choose to modernize plays in an attempt to breathe new life into the script, and in doing so, they can accidentally restrict interpretation with a concept such as placing “Romeo and Juliet” into the context of a modern political conflict. Hays recounts a rendition of “Othello” where “the whole set was…glossy white, there were curtains that were white, and moving platforms” of the same color, which limited the theatergoers’ ability to view the play from their own perspectives. If the performance in question is an adaptation, it seems that the set designer must make the appropriate changes while maintaining the spirit of the original.

SPATIALLY CHALLENGED

Each stage has its own set of quirks, and it’s the set designers’ responsibility to utilize the space in a way that suits the director’s vision. When a designer decides the placement of objects, he or she must consider fly space—the amount of space above the stage where objects can be flown in via pulleys during the performance. The same sort of judgments must be made to allow for different sight lines, the varying angles an audience will see of the stage, props, and actors depending on where in the theater they are seated. Each aspect affects what audience members can and cannot see, which contributes to the aesthetic and emotional appeal of the play.

The stages on campus have different benefits and negatives that set the parameters in which a designer can work. “[The Loeb Ex] is good because of the black box. You can basically do whatever you want,” says Isabel Strauss ’13, a veteran set designer who has been involved with multiple HRDC productions. This could mean a strategy like placing the audience in the middle of the stage, as was done in the HRDC’s production of “Cain and Cain,” or creating a separate stage not entirely dependent on the physical constraints. This is in contrast  to a stage like that of the Agassiz Theatre, which has essentially no fly space, poor sight lines, a balcony, and a “bad grid,” which is located above the stage and hangs lighting instruments.

Handling space doesn’t end with the purely technical limitations of the theater, but also involves the position of chairs, platforms, and other physical objects on stage. The Loeb Mainstage presents a particular challenge simply by being massive: the theater can seat up to 540 people.

“The Glass Menagerie,” currently being performed by the American Repertory Theater, is staged on this particular set and provides a perfect example of how to utilize the space. On the right side is a leveled fire escape. A red sofa is stationed next to it with a table to the far left, and the backdrop is black. What is remarkable is the way that the empty space is filled and seems interconnected rather than riddled with gaps.