Adventures in Set Design: A Chronicle of the Arsenic and Old Lace set

When I decided I wanted to direct Arsenic and Old Lace, I knew what I wanted:  an amazing set for my actors to play in.  Although I'd directed before, I wanted to take things to a new level.  All my previous set designs had been small and cheap.  That was about to change.

About a year ago, I started with some sketches:


I looked at other Arsenic sets online and scoured the script for what I'd need.  Practical problems had to be accounted for:  the need for a window seat, curtain cords, stairs, cellar, etc.  You know, mechanics.

I also wanted to make it pretty. :)

My director's concept became "decay" and so every design choice I made from there was based upon that idea: no green or blue (both of which represent life and peace), only dead flowers used as decorations, a color palette based on an old rotting photograph, pictures of dead people on the walls, etc. For the most part, I stayed true to this concept.


I had various sketches over the course of several months that involved a lot of tweaking.

I also made a 3-D model so that we'd be sure to get the dimensions right.

Linze Struiksma, my co-worker and buddy, had the brilliant idea to incorporated half of the Arsenic design into our first show, Cinderella.

If this critical piece hadn't already been built, I don't think that the Arsenic set would be where it's at today.  It was so nice to have this part out of the way.


...and it looked great as the manor in Cinderella.




Because of other bookings in the auditorium, we weren't able to start putting up the set for a long time, so it was built in pieces by our fabulous tech class, and stored at the back of the stage.  I was so excited the day we actually got to put it all up:

The start of the day, before any set up has been done.  That's the stair unit at the back of the stage.

The "manor" in place

Starting to add walls.  The 14 ft wall was a beast to attach. But we got it up safely thanks to all the muscle in the cast.

All of the walls attached.  9 pieces in all.

We got a lot done that day, but the work was far from over.  You see, I thought I was really smart and planned to paint all the walls pink and brown.  Then, we would stencil cream over all the pink to create the illusion of wallpaper.  Brilliant right?  Well, stenciling takes a long time.  A REALLY long time.  My artistic designer, Cheyenne, spent countless hours with a sponge in her hand.  I also spent hours before, during, and after school painting stencil after stencil.  Many cast members contributed to stenciling at one point or another:  from our lady love interest, to our villain.  Does the final project look awesome...

yes.

Would I do the stenciling again...

yes...but I'd buy another stencil or two to speed up the process.

At this point, we'd added a lot of the stencil, curtains, and some set dressings.  Once we got here, I knew the set would look good. 

  The set looks great under the stage lights, which Tim, one of the actors, and Jezory, the light board operator, spent a ton of time helping me configure.

The front door was a hassle, but my stage manger, Brooke worked with our wood shop teacher to make something perfect.  Eirik, Danielle, and Brennen featured here as actors.

This is the completed set, featuring actors Michaelann, Brennen, and Dallin on opening night.  The tombstones on the front of the stage came from Hannah, one of my actors.  Brilliant idea.

In the end, it came out more beautiful than I could have possibly believed.  I have so many favorite things about this set:

The creepy old man portrait, painted by my artistic director Cheyenne.

Frame made by Eirik and Kylan, two of my actors

The 12 hats displayed on shelves, idea by actor Cassie White

At the end of the play, the dead bodies emerge from the cellar and take back their hats

The lace curtains provided by my mother, and also the red and pink curtains and window seat cushion made by the fabulous Cida Case.

All of the awful art hanging on the walls courtesy of Deseret Industries, Savers, and internet searches by Bryce Jack and Connor O'Hagan.

The stained glass window for the front door which I made using plexiglass, hot glue, Elmer's glue, and food coloring. The idea on how to do this was given to me by my brilliant husband Soren.  He helped me work through many problems on this set.  He is, as always, the reasonable voice guiding me through problems that aren't as hard as I think they are.

The make-shift bird cage with dead birds in it--embodying my concept of "decay"

This set came about because of a collaboration between teacher and students.  The actors put their sweat, blood (literally, in the case of my stage manager), and tears (of exhaustion) into this set.   Even those who had "smaller" parts in the show put forth a ton of time and effort to make sure this show looked awesome. Everyone was patient with me and anxious to share their ideas.  It started as my set, but ended as our set.

I'm so proud of what we've accomplished and I'm excited to start work on the next project!