Little Women

SUNY Cortland Performing Arts Fall 2017

Dowd Mainstage Theatre

  This musical was created from the Novel by Lousia May Alcott.  This design was inspired by one of the main characters Jo, who dreams of being a great writer.  As Jo is an autobiographical character for the Novel’s author, Louisa May Alcott I began researching Louisa May Alcott’s own hand written letters This became a visual motif for the show.  This also served the design of the show as the story is told as if through a series of letters.  Through this process I also discovered Victorian scrapbooks and the floral and bird imagery used.  These scrapbooks, shadow boxes and handwritten letters became the basis for my design.  

  I worked with Director Kevin Halpin to create a beautiful show that flowed effortlessly from location to location.  To do this I designed 3 shadow boxes that were also projection screens.  Several students and I built oversized butterflies and flowers and applied them to the screens.   I made custom artwork and projected it onto each screen to tell the audience a different story for each location utilizing the scrapbook theme.  I even projection mapped a video of a burning fire into one of the screens that had a fireplace.  Projection mapping allows you to custom fit any image to any surface shape or size and also allows you to layer video over a digital image.  I also added photos of the actors, in costume, to portraits hanging on the wall.  At the top of the show, the audience entered into the theatre to see a full stage curtain with real, oversized picture frames that had the actors portraits projected into them.

I had an exciting time exploring and learning about what can be accomplished with multiple video projectors used to create and embellish scenery.