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The set design is very minimalistic with black furniture and a mostly bare stage.  Red- piano Green- Travel Agency Orange- Bank Blue- Boat/Interrogation room/Apartment/Diner/Street

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Lighting

Philip: Going off of the idea of Dual Identity I decided to go with two colors to represent the characters main identity (white) and their dual identity (red) and the lighting would be white whenever the characters were showing their main identity, but when they show their second identity it slowly fades from white to red.

Now I went with white and red because I wanted to create a noir-like feel to the play, and when I researched noir films and plays they played a lot with shadows and white/black color palettes. As well, we could use a gobo to get some of the desired black/white effects. Like creating window shades in the apartment scenes.

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The Playwright

John Guare was born in New York, NY on February 5, 1938. He lived in Greenwich Village for most of his life.

He wrote his first play at the age of eleven and very early became dissatisfied with traditional kitchen-sink dramas in which everything was "real" right down to the kitchen-sink. He yearned for a theatre that would proclaim inner truth rather than surface reality. "The theater," Guare argued, "is a place of dreams were you lay out the unconscious and make it visible." The overall effect of his plays is similar to Brecht’s. Hey says, "What I hate about kitchen-sink dramas is [this idea] that the set is real, therefore you're going to be seeing truth. You have to earn truth. Truth can't be a part of the fact that people appear to talk that way and live in that room. You're looking for the poetry in something, and I don't mean poetry in the fancy sense. Naturalism believes by just replicating a thing you give the truth, rather than earning the truth."

He finds the bizarre and comic in the human condition and magnifies it to massive proportions. He once stated that he has tried to expand the theatre's boundaries "because I think the chaotic state of the world demands it." Landscape of The Body in one of his darkest comedies which can be easily misinterpreted as brutal and caustic rather than as a comedy that mixes the grotesque with pathos. Guare has always been intrigued, amused, and terrified by how we tend to cope with the imperfections and irrationality of an unpredictable world in which truth is often a stranger to fiction: “Landscape is about people trying to deal with all the chaos inside and trying to find some form for it so that they’re not overwhelmed.”

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Rehearsal Day 3: 12/4/15

-Shot our promotional video! -Coordinated our presentation and did any additional research. -Solidified how we will present the scene.

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Layers of Thought:

Infanticide, Ethics, Denial, Justice, Identity

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Dramatic Structure (Spoilers!)

Status Quo: 1960’s, Kennedy era, describes the scenery of the town

Inciting incident: “People kill each other, say, because the words wont come into place. I think of murder as a sentence that did not make it through. As a computer that did not make it through to the head. If people had a better grasp of language, of syntax, of the right word, of being understood, you’d hear that crime rate, you’d see that homicide rate, plunge like those bottles you’re tossing over.”

Collision Factor: “the kid is dead.”

Recognition Moment: 2nd interrogation scene between Holahan and Betty

Obligatory Scene: Bert’s Death, because that’s how we know Betty didn’t kill him

Climax: Rosalie’s Discussion at the end of the play with Betty

Denouement:  Betty and Holahan acknowledge each other and Rosalie runs off, as she is just a part of Betty’s imagination at this point.

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Designed by Garrett. 

My plan is to start with simple but powerful images. Get build boards in Time Square and NYC busses to have this image. It is intriguing and will get people talking hence getting hype and public interest for the show.

Once the initial hype of the dramatic ad begins to fade, we blast them with a brand new set of images and promos. For the marketing and publicity side of Landscape of the body, I decided to follow in the themes of transparency the show has with pops and accents of red. These new ad’s would include images that directly relate to the show instead being more vague and mysterious.

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More About the Play

Landscape of the Body by John Guare explores the way in which people who have nothing, certainly no dreams or imaginative vision, try to connect in a society that is violent and destructive. It is set in New York City in 1977. Most of the play takes place in the far west end of Greenwich Village. This is not the West Village we know today, home to trendy restaurants and multi-million dollar condos; its denizens in 1977 were roving gangs of teenagers on the streets, rough trade cruising deserted piers and decapitated bodies floating in the river. 

Much of the play take place in Greenwich Village. The setting allows Guare two microcosms to represent America: New York City and New England. The dichotomy between the two settings reflects the gap between the real and the ideal. After Betty leaves Maine to visit Rosalie in NYC and attempt to bring her back to the safe haven of New England, she decides to stay after her sister is killed in a bicycle accident. The reality is that New York represents the insane, crippling, and devastating effects of modern life. The characters are left with no other alternatives but to search out for a degraded way of life. The ferryboat ride to Nantucket suggests freedom from the oppressive reality of America’s urban and suburban landscapes.

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Interview with Scenic/Light Designer, Philip MacKenzie

Liana: How were you able to portray the film noire/cabaret style that Guare wrote this play in?

Philip: Well, to really get across the noire feeling, I first looked to stills from old noire films and realized that they played a lot with shadows and white light, so I tried to integrate that as much as possible using things like a gobo, for instance, to create shadows and enhance the noire feel.

Liana: Did you have to make artistic compromises in order to fulfill the director's vision, or vice versa?

Philip: I would say no, specifically because I tried to get a full understanding off Noah's vision before formulating ideas on both the scenic and lighting designs. And then I used his vision as the catalyst for any and all ideas I generated.

Liana: Thank you so much!

Philip: Of course!

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Rehearsal Day 2: 12/1/15

-Ran the scene multiple times. -Pitched ideas for the promotional video. -Discussed character objectives.  

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Rehearsal Day 1: 12/1/15

-Scene fully blocked

-Concept and design finalized 

-Individual check in (everyone is right on track!)

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Tentative poster design: transparent cover, touch of red

Garrett: The initial designs I created included the transparent flare that the production staff had discussed. My interpretation of that was to create 3D ad’s that had see through panels made from transparent paper and other materials.

For my design around Betty’s message in a bottle, I placed a transparent wave over the bottle to shows its floating in water and then had bubbles and the authors name printed on the wave. I chose to have the only real pop of color on the page be the title “Landscape of the Body” in a blood red.

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Costume Descriptions

Look into 70s outfits with Al capone flair and film noir

Reds and Blues, Bare

Joanne- not freaked out by death, blame on someone else, kind of a bad bitch, bonnie from bonnie and clyde, tom boy but classy, very masculine colors, something ripped, hair in a bob,

or go with black and white with only the scarf red

Sweater with high waisted grey bell bottoms, cap, red scarf, make up very light except for a nude/brown lip

Rosalie- pornstar with a heart of gold, fontine, love actually, charity from jeckyll and hyde

“She travels fastest who travels alone” - life motto

redhead, tough, blowsy, a good sport, moves like a stripper

maybe still wears red bathrobe but open, lingerie romper underneath, eye make up heavy, no lips (no time for lips)

Raulito- a gold lame evening gown over his suit, very handsome like 1940s latin leading man with a pompadour an diamond rings, sexually threatening, trench coat, maybe wears a hat, come back on with baby powder

Donny- sleeves rolled up wearing a lot of red wristwatches, the one who does the killing, no vest

Bert- headphones, arms around girls, lures them in but can’t hurt a fly, just interested in money,

red vest sleves aren't rolled up,

Bank Teller- smilign, 70s, women’s skirt suit, grey, white scarf around neck, red broach

The Dope King of Providence- suit, fur jacket, zebra print, matching hat, babypowder

Mavis Brennan- white dress, red buttons, similar to Betty Draper

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‘WELCOME TO FEAR CITY’: The NYPD’s scary mid-1970s campaign to keep tourists out of NYC

“I really came to be enchanted by [New York City] through the pages of MAD, in which it was depicted as a place of extremes. The subway was a place to get killed. Times Square was a primal circus, while Fifth Ave was full of elitist ultra-rich snobs. Greenwich Village was home to wackos, hippies, and wannabe bohemians, while a jog in Central Park was less a workout and more a way of escaping the mugger chasing you.”

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/welcome_to_fear_city_the_nypds

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About Us

We are Emerson students in Eric Weiss’ Languages of the Stage class creating an hypothetical production of John Guare's Landscape of the Body.  

Director: Noah Scenic/Lighting Designer: Philip Sound and Video Designer: Michael Outreach Coordinator: Nicole Costume/Hair and Makeup Designer: Alicia  PR and Marketing Director: Garrett Dramaturg: Liana

Cast: Rosalie: Liana Bert: Philip Donny: Michael Joanne: Alicia Raulito: Garrett Killer Extra/Bank Teller: Nicole

Here we will document the rehearsal and design process and ultimately give our audience inside perspective and insight into our collaborative development. This is our journey through the great theatrical machine that is Landscape of the Body. So who really did kill Bert?