Sondheim Forum

I'm starting this new thread for the two upcoming design projects I mentioned a couple months ago on the Mecca Tales thread (https://sondheimforum.com/index.php?topic=250.msg2672#msg2672).
(Ed.: now color-coded for added awesomeness!)

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To begin, here's a recap from that thread, with some additional detail about the plays themselves:

Alternating Currents is a fascinating new script, commissioned by The Working Theater and inspired by a little-known corner of NYC labor-union history, which thoughtfully dramatizes the tensions between old-Left labor advocacy and 21st-century identity politics in ways that are both movingly personal and highly theatrical.  Set in the present day, the play takes place in and around a co-op housing development (https://jibapprenticeexchange2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/museums4.jpg) which actually exists in Flushing, Queens (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/''/joint+industry+building/@40.7341716,-73.8097351,17z/data=!4m8!4m7!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c260590264b315:0x7985bafe8c8bf77a!2m2!1d-73.8101622!2d40.732575), and which was originally built by, and for, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in the late 1940s (https://urbanomnibus.net/2013/12/electchester-a-city-made-for-workers/).  (A number of unions were building their own housing projects at that time, but only Electchester survives today, and even it has undergone a slow decline (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/15/nyregion/electchester-getting-less-electrical-queens-op-for-trade-workers-slowly-departs.html) over the decades, in parallel with the labor movement itself).*  Alternating Currents imagines a newlywed interracial couple, both IBEW Local 3 members, who move there only to discover that the community's utopian American Dream remains in some ways as problematic and imperfectly-realized today as it was in the postwar heyday of the American suburb.  Written by Adam Kraar (http://www.adamkraar.com) and directed by Kareem Fahmy (https://www.kareemfahmy.com), the play will open near the end of April and then travel to each of the five boroughs over the following month -- at one point sitting down for two weeks at Urban Stages (http://urbanstages.org) in Manhattan.

I'm also working on a sort of proto-set design, on spec, for another new play: The Yacoubian Building, an upcoming stage adaption of Alaa Al Aswany (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/16/writing-the-revolution)'s celebrated (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/27/books/review/Adams.t.html) 2002 novel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yacoubian_Building) (which was made into an equally-acclaimed (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/yacoubian_building/reviews/?type=top_critics) 2006 film of the same name (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425321/), and then into a TV series (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yacoubian_Building_(TV_series)) the following year).  The Yacoubian Building tells a sweeping, intricate, almost Dickensian story of turn-of-the-millennium Egypt in microcosm -- as embodied by the titular apartment block (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yacoubian_Building_(Cairo)), a once-glamorous edifice in downtown Cairo.  Though epic in scope, the novel runs a svelte, fast-moving 255 pages (https://www.amazon.com/Yacoubian-Building-Alaa-Al-Aswany/dp/0060878134), which I devoured in a single sitting, while the sumptuous movie version (https://www.amazon.com/Yacoubian-Building-Nour-El-Sherif/dp/B000YMDIZS) -- reportedly the most expensive and most commercially-successful film in Egyptian cinema history -- is equally enjoyable at a stately but absorbing 165 minutes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P7WGYfp198).  The stage script is still in progress (Kareem is adapting the novel himself, with the author's permission), but an exploratory reading of his initial pass at the first act, last December, looked quite promising.  He'll be staging a workshop/backers' audition of the full script near the end of March, and he's asked me to storyboard a series of scenic renderings to be projected above/behind the performers, as a way of suggesting the rich visual possibilities of a future full production.

For present purposes (i.e., less a logistically-considered design proposal than a sort of visual aid/marketing tool), the Yacoubian assignment^† has no real spatial or budgetary limitations; if I can dream it, I can draw it.  (Actually, given such freedom, one of the main challenges will be to somehow ensure that the design still feels intrinsically theatrical, and not as though we're simply proposing to remake the movie).  Alternating Currents, by contrast, has a more-than-usually tight set of constraints: not only the inevitable low budget, limited staff and short tech time, but also the touring requirement: after our first run in Queens, the whole show (sets, costumes, lights, sound, props and stage management) has to be loaded into each of the subsequent venues by eight people in four hours for a performance that night -- yikes.

Still, in certain ways, the two plays actually have a few interesting similarities, and I'm uncommonly excited about them both.  In another post I'll try to explain why I find these particular projects so intriguing.  But in the meantime, since they're both new works, I just figured these thumbnail blurbs might be helpful for anyone interested in following this thread as the designs come together.  I'll try to post here every so often as things develop over the next few months.

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* Coincidentally, early in Season Two (2015-16) of  Mme. Sec'y, we used Electchester's Joint Industry Board building (https://www.local3ibew.org/images/JIBAuditorium.jpg) as a stand-in for the re-opening U.S. embassy in Cuba -- so I actually spent a couple of workdays on location there, though I knew nothing about the neighborhood, or about Alternating Currents (which Adam would've been in the middle of writing), at the time.  Inside the building, an auditorium bedecked in midcentury-ish gold wallpaper (http://273aiv293ycr20z8q53p7o04-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/04/Electchester-04_resize.jpg) and starburst chandeliers (https://igx.4sqi.net/img/general/600x600/15800878_Yj6HPzG7FgR5w_tu27JhDCAuEnJGmRsqPOpLxSDkAzs.jpg) -- which our location managers on MS used as a holding area for background actors -- is one of the settings in AC, and will actually be our opening venue (ooo, very meta...) before traveling to the other boroughs.  Also while I was there in 2015, several of my colleagues on MS stayed after work one afternoon to enjoy a few frames at JIB Lanes (http://www.brunswickbowling.com/photo-gallery/gallery/jib-lanes-flushing-ny/#2), the bowling alley downstairs where, as it turns out, another scene in the play is set.  Small world...

† Yay, The Yacoubian Assignment: my very own accidental fake Robert Ludlum title (http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2012/08/robert_ludlum_titles_great_fake_ones_from_slate_readers_and_salman_rushdie_.html)!

And, because procrastination is a helluva thing...
A guide to the links above, in order of appearance:

(Once again, Alternating Currents in blue, Yacoubian Building in red.  Both/neither/other in black.)

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("Mecca Tales thread"):  from this very website (Sondheim Forum) (https://sondheimforum.com/index.php?topic=250.msg2672#msg2672).
("THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING (reading)"):  TYB show page, on the LaGuardia PAC website. (http://siteline.vendini.com/site/lpac.nyc/rough-draft-festival-2018-readings)
("[R.S.V.P.] here"):  Ticketing page for The Yacoubian Building (reading). (https://tickets.vendini.com/ticket-software.html?t=tix&e=c9ffe04cfe81b5943b4ae24a5e3ee349&vqitq=4ceee831-0218-48cf-8c67-1c3a228620e6&vqitp=28097859-9a98-4a45-a979-3e9d2b9a30ab&vqitts=1517437567&vqitc=vendini&vqite=itl&vqitrt=Safetynet&vqith=8da7a1a425584fe82d9c4533d94930d0)
("ALTERNATING CURRENTS"):  AC show page, on the Working Theater website. (http://theworkingtheater.org/alternatingcurrents/)
("a co-op housing development"):  Vintage flyer for Electchester Apartments. (https://jibapprenticeexchange2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/museums4.jpg)
("Flushing, Queens"):  Electchester on Google Maps. (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/''/joint+industry+building/@40.7341716,-73.8097351,17z/data=!4m8!4m7!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c260590264b315:0x7985bafe8c8bf77a!2m2!1d-73.8101622!2d40.732575)
("originally built by, and for..."):  2013 Urban Omnibus article about Electchester. (https://urbanomnibus.net/2013/12/electchester-a-city-made-for-workers/)
("a slow decline"):  2004 New York Times article about Electchester. (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/15/nyregion/electchester-getting-less-electrical-queens-op-for-trade-workers-slowly-departs.html)
("Adam Kraar"):  The playwright's website. (http://www.adamkraar.com)
("Kareem Fahmy"):  The director's website. (https://www.kareemfahmy.com)
("Urban Stages"):  Website for the Manhattan venue. (http://urbanstages.org)
("Alaa Al Aswany"):  2012 New Yorker profile of the novelist. (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/16/writing-the-revolution)
("celebrated"):  2006 New York Times review of The Yacoubian Building (novel). (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/27/books/review/Adams.t.html)
("novel"):  Wikipedia entry for the novel. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yacoubian_Building)
("equally-acclaimed"):  Reviews of TYB (film), on Rotten Tomatoes. (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/yacoubian_building/reviews/?type=top_critics)
("of the same name"):  IMDb page for the film. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425321/)
("TV series"):  Wikipedia entry for TYB (series). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yacoubian_Building_(TV_series))
("titular apartment block"):  Wikipedia entry for the real Yacoubian building. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yacoubian_Building_(Cairo))
("svelte, fast-moving 255 pages"):  Amazon page for the novel. (https://www.amazon.com/Yacoubian-Building-Alaa-Al-Aswany/dp/0060878134/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517513590&sr=8-1&keywords=the+yacoubian+building+a+novel)
("sumptuous movie version"):  Amazon page for the film. (https://www.amazon.com/Yacoubian-Building-Nour-El-Sherif/dp/B000YMDIZS)
("stately but absorbing 165 minutes"):  The complete movie on YouTube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P7WGYfp198)
("Joint Industry Board building"):  Photo of JIB Building exterior. (https://www.local3ibew.org/images/JIBAuditorium.jpg)
("auditorium bedecked in..."):  Photo of JIB Auditorium showing wallpaper. (http://273aiv293ycr20z8q53p7o04-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/04/Electchester-04_resize.jpg)
("starburst chandeliers"):  Photo of JIB Auditorium showing chandeliers. (https://igx.4sqi.net/img/general/600x600/15800878_Yj6HPzG7FgR5w_tu27JhDCAuEnJGmRsqPOpLxSDkAzs.jpg)
("JIB Lanes"):  Photos of bowling alley, before and after renovation. (http://www.brunswickbowling.com/photo-gallery/gallery/jib-lanes-flushing-ny/#2)
("fake Robert Ludlum title"):  Slate magazine's fake-Ludlum-title contest. (http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2012/08/robert_ludlum_titles_great_fake_ones_from_slate_readers_and_salman_rushdie_.html)

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Okay, so I'm a little link-crazed.  What of it?

I'll give the color-coding a rest (and ease up on the link-craziness) for this post, which I'm writing as a way to explore some similarities between these two projects:

As my descriptions may already have suggested, AC and TYB -- while different in more ways than not -- are both examples of a particular kind of play in which design can really play an integral, and hopefully exciting, role (hence part of my fascination with them both).  In fact, their designs are almost obligated to play such a role: you could say that the main "character" in each of these stories is really its setting.  By way of example, one could compare Alternating Currents's Electchester (despite its urban-ish context) to Our Town's Grover's Corners or Under Milk Wood's Llareggub; and Aswani's Yacoubian Building to the likewise-eponymous Grand Hotel (another novel subsequently adapted for stage and screen) and its numerous ilk (https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2007/sep/28/tallstoriestheappealofapa).

In an afterword to Alternating Currents, Adam explicitly cites Thornton Wilder and Dylan Thomas as influences (and I wouldn't be surprised if there were some Brecht and maybe even a little Odets in there too).  Most noticeably, while scenes between the central couple are written naturalistically (they're first seen perched atop a ladder, Our Town-like -- but only because they're installing track lighting in their new Electchester apartment), AC also includes a lot of direct address to the audience -- not least by a Stage Manager-type narrator who speaks to us as a self-conscious ambassador for the neighborhood, voicing its idealistic dreams and sometimes slipping into the persona of its late founder, Harry Van Arsdale Jr. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Van_Arsdale_Jr.)  Other metatheatrical devices include copious multiple-casting (a four-person ensemble portrays over a dozen characters, sometimes in a single scene without significant costume changes and, in a few instances, across race or gender lines); a couple of non-naturalistic dance-breaks; and a lot of stage directions suggesting a minimalist/poor-theatre approach to the design -- which is great, especially given the logistical limitations of a small touring production.  But what interests me especially is the importance of place to this story: however stark or presentational the stage furnishings may be, this is ultimately a play about a community, defined in concrete terms by a very limited geography (a few square blocks in Queens) which comes to embody not just the play's literal setting or its general atmosphere, but its themes, ideas and structure as well.

The Yacoubian Building is likewise built, albeit in very different ways, around the idea of its titular setting as a sort of complex social matrix.  Within its walls -- and above them, in a teeming rooftop slum (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvsHxy_9hPM) -- Aswany encapsulates all of Egypt from the 1952 revolution to the Mubarak era: it is the literal architectural scaffold on which he hangs numerous intertwining plots and a multitude of characters from across the social spectrum.  And while the story proper is set in 1990 and continues to resonate well into the 21st century, the building itself is full of history and atmosphere, conveying a strong residual sense of Cairo's glamorous, cosmopolitan heyday in the first half of the 20th, as well as the decades of corruption and decay that have accreted since then.

Both of these stories, then, are powerfully grounded in the specific places in which they unfold -- real ones, in the sense that Electchester and the Yacoubian building both actually exist (which adds a whole rich layer of research to help bring to life the fictional events and characters devised by their respective authors).  More specifically, they're grounded in the history of those places: not only what they are "now," in the present-tense of their respective stories, but also what they were, decades prior, when each was first built.  By the time we encounter them, both of these places have, to a greater or lesser extent, mutated into something their original architects couldn't have foreseen.  But both remain complex human environments operating in visible symbiosis, however vexed or dysfunctional, with the communities they contain -- affecting and being affected by their inhabitants over time.  While the stories themselves cover relatively limited timespans (maybe a year at most, in both cases; not decades or generations), their environments should bear evidence of their pasts.  Even if full-on scenic naturalism is beside the point -- AC's introductory notes describe its setting as "a dream space, with one foot in the real and one foot in the magical" -- I think it's thematically important for both of these plays that their designs somehow convey a sense of age and history.

All of which is just a schmancy way of saying that both plays offer a LOT of meaty material for a designer to work with, and a lot of opportunity to contribute to the storytelling in really interesting ways.  In addition to its "marketing" function -- dressing-up an otherwise bare-bones, book-in-hand reading -- Kareem has enlisted my help with the Yacoubian design, this early in the play's conception, partly as a means to explore and test ideas ("on paper") about the structure and stage-ability of his script-in-progress.  And I'm told that Adam, while working on some recent revisions to the AC script, claimed to have "learned some useful things about [his own] play" from my initial concept renderings for it -- a thrilling thing for a designer to hear, even if it also increases my current sense of pressure and trepidation about how to streamline that initial, rather ambitious design into something more practically feasible.

But I mean, come on: a neo-Brechtian electricians' utopia gone tepid, featuring electrified signage, light-as-architecture, a small army of practical fixtures and a climactic neighborhood Xmas-tree lighting?  And a crumbling Art Deco-colonial luxury building in downtown Cairo with a for-god's-sake shantytown on the roof, allegorizing half a century of Egyptian sociopolitical turbulence?  Both, furthermore, based on real places??  Trepidation aside, these are just amazing stories, rife with equally-amazing scenic possibilities: how could I not be excited?

AAAnnd... for all that jazz about history and sense-of-place, the AC design is becoming much more abstract and kinda ahistorical.

Just goes to show what all my artsy-fartsy blather is worth.   :D

I'm on what seems like my dozenth version of this design -- or, depending what you count as a separate version, still stuck endlessly, stubbornly tinkering with my first -- and I can't tell whether I'm getting anywhere, in terms of making it either better or more practically feasible.  I'm still holding out hope for both; on past projects it has often seemed as though streamlining for budget actually had a salutary, clarifying effect on the design itself.  (Or at least Kareem and I have gotten really good at convincing ourselves that it has).

But this particular process has been rather slow and precise, and I still feel like there are a million details I haven't gotten around to sorting out.  From the beginning, our vision for the environment has been -- by off-Off showcase standards -- rather complex, cluttered and flashy (literally: lots of practical lamps, lightbox signage, bare bulbs, etc) -- maybe ill-advisedly so.*  But it's not as though I haven't also been thinking, from the beginning, in terms of how everything breaks down for travel (more easily than might appear to be the case, if perhaps still not easily-enough).  If all my gradual whittling-away simply isn't enough to make things manageable -- if a big fat axe-chop needs to happen at some point soon -- then I worry whether the original concept will survive at all (how do you streamline the idea of complex, cluttered flashiness?).  And if that concept doesn't survive, then what -- with time ticking away -- will take its place?  Stay tuned for my head to explode...

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*See next post...

A word about this flashy complex clutter, which might sound like the exact antithesis of Brechtian/Dylan-Thomas/Our-Towniness.

On the surface, I suppose it is, and that's not altogether accidental.  The modernist principles underlying those sources have actually been very much on my mind throughout this project (side note: if, for amusement's sake, you ever feel like fomenting passionate argument among a group of theatre people, just ask them for a consensus on exactly what "Brechtian" principles are, and how best to embody them in concrete terms).  Still, it's true that Kareem and I have been more-or-less consciously shaping this design to be not-your-grandparents' Our Town.

Judge for yourself:

AltCurrents8x11small.jpg

This is really compelling reading Dave. It's a privilege to get an insight on your creative processes and the constant tensions between visionary passion and practical expedience. Keep 'em coming :)

Thank you, Martin!    :)

The Alternating Currents webpage has been updated:
http://theworkingtheater.org/alternatingcurrents/

And here's the box office link:
https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/35029

Hair-tearing continues apace, with rehearsals beginning this coming week and the set design not yet within budget (though I have at least managed to hack it down -- waaay down -- to something much smaller and more tourable).  But I do love the new poster art.

AC-v5_Page_3-e1522185132980-700x1050.jpg

I meant to keep up with this thread more regularly, but I'll try to recap a bit when things have calmed down.  For now, I'll just say that Alternating Currents has been a hectic experience (per usual, sigh) but also a surprising one.

We loaded-into our Queens venue last Monday, and began previews on Thursday, in the union hall -- and right upstairs from the bowling alley -- where parts of the story are actually set; and with some of the real people on whom certain characters are based in attendance.  Two more shows today, then we move to Manhattan for our final previews before our official opening on May 8.

TDF just published this piece about us on their website (https://www.tdf.org/articles/1894/How-Well-Do-You-Know-Your-Neighbors), and used my original rendering to illustrate the AC show page there (https://www.tdf.org/shows/16583/Alternating-Currents).  That rendering -- the same one I posted here over two months ago -- no longer reflects what's actually onstage; but I'm satisfied (and several other people have remarked, unprompted) that we were able to condense its most important features (including the above-mentioned complexity and flash) into a much more tour-able version that serves the production and still carries the flavor of the original design.

Some quick catch-up: I was able to significantly simplify the set itself, though the practical electrics (and their attendant wiring -- what seems like miles of cable feeding 50-odd separately-controlled lamps, bulbs, lightboxes and individual letters on the Electchester sign) remain ambitious for a show this size.  I'm polishing up the 3D model to create an animation which I'll post here, along with some photos, once I have a chance to breathe.

To my astonishment, this "simplified" version (but still not simplified nearly enough, I felt fairly certain until shockingly recently) has somehow been realized in its entirety, crazy electrics and all -- but I'm not heaving any sighs of relief until this thing actually manages to travel.  The set per se comes apart and goes back together quite simply; as a piece of carpentry, it's actually rather elegant despite having been cobbled together in just a few days out of crappy 2x4 and Sched. 40 pipe.  But all those set electrics -- most of them wired for the first time only after the set had been installed at the Queens venue -- may be a different matter...

The irony is that I've managed to simplify all the already-relatively-easy stuff (reducing the side walls to stock black masking and the "ceiling" framing to a pair of blue goalposts for lighting) while keeping most of the inordinate complexity and its consequent headaches completely intact (all of the signage, along with the colored bulbs and all that conduit, has simply migrated onto the back wall; so, really, almost none of the electrics -- the hard part -- got cut).  Our Master Electrician has been up to his ears in zipcord, lightbulbs, and LED tape for the past few days; and that's to say nothing of the actual lighting plot which, by comparison, is actually quite spare, comprising only a couple dozen instruments.  My hunch is that we're still over budget, but hopefully not spectacularly so.  (The first bid we got for the original design, as rendered above, came in at about three times our budget, and that wasn't even including any electrics; I can confidently say that the final version cost nowhere near that).  But whatever we ended up spending, the upside is that every penny is very much visible onstage: simplification notwithstanding, it's still an eye-catching physical production, which has drawn compliments from local audiences out in Electchester.  It will be interesting to see how it looks in all these different spaces.

Pure geekery, just for giggles -- a list of all the set electrics:

1-12: "ELECTCHESTER" sign, each letter controlled individually to chase, bounce, shimmer, etc.
13-22: Red bulbs (10), controlled on two channels: SR (6) and SL (4)
23-34: Blue bulbs (12), controlled on two channels: SR and SL (6 each)
35-44: Green bulbs (10), controlled on two channels: SR and SL (5 each)
45: 2 sconces above Fillmore's Tavern sign
46: JIB Lanes lightbox (on reverse of Fillmore's sign)
47: Lamp 1 (Electchester apt), above
48: Lamp 2 (Pomonok apt), below
49: First Housing lightbox (mounted on back of sofa, in storage position USR)
50: Mirror ball
51: I.B.E.W. union seal / Pomonok Houses lightbox (double-sided, reversible)
52: Outlet SL of door (Xmas tree, moved from its "home" position for the final scene, plugs in here)
53: Podium light
54: Ghostlight

AC_BulbLayout.jpg

So... 54 practical sources running on 28 channels, assuming I haven't forgotten anything.  (There's also a flashlight used in one scene, but I left it off the list because it's entirely actor-controlled and involves no wiring).

One other practical was always intended to light up -- the LED-illuminated boombox on the upper shelf USL, near the mirrorball -- but electronic issues arose with rewiring the internal LEDs to be controllable from our lighting console, and there simply wasn't time to deal with it.  I left it sitting there just to fill space, but it doesn't do any audiovisual tricks.

My unofficial goal was for every single element on the back wall to be something that could light up at one time or another during the show; we came very close, but there are a few elements whose functions are entirely non-electrical:

- The door has a working lockset, deadbolt, chain guard and peephole, but it doesn't do any lighting tricks (I had originally put a small outdoor sodium-light fixture right above it for one scene that took place just outside the apartment building -- but then that scene got cut in rehearsal).  And the wall switch immediately SR of it is never used in the course of the show, as much as we kept looking for a moment to do so.  But the buzzer panel directly above it is used, complete with uncannily accurate sound effects supplied by our sound designer.  (I assume he recorded it from life; anyone who's ever lived with this particular door buzzer will recognize it instantly: an aggressively annoying two-tone warble that sounds like nothing else on earth).

- The large electrical box on the wall USR is just a wooden box decorated to look like a metal breaker box with two (fake) access panels and several warning stickers on it.  But the whole box swings down from the wall to become a cantilevered table surface for two scenes set in a basement laundry room.  In the original design, an overhead fluorescent tube fixture hung directly above this table in its "down" position; but when the ceiling frame from which this fixture hung ended up getting cut from the design, the fixture itself had to go too. Ditto the track lighting (likewise mounted on that ceiling frame in the original design; likewise cut), which is referred to several times in the script, but is now treated as "invisible"; an actor simply climbs an aluminum stepladder and mimes fussing with track lights.  (I justify that to myself as our one nod to Our Town's traditional prop-less, mime-heavy staging style).

- The small cluster of conduit and bulbs on the lower SL section of the back wall (directly below the union-seal lightbox) pivots on its SL-most vertical pipe to swing like a gate; behind it lives a rolling office chair which is brought out from behind this "gate" for use in one scene, and replaced there afterward.

The rectangular-ish black surface on which the First Housing (lightbox) sign is mounted is actually the back of a sofa facing upstage -- in fact the same cheap, compact, usefully boxy and generic Ikea model (https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50399318/) I used in rogerandtom (http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z19/scenicdesign71/rogerandtom/RampT_TallinnBalcony_zpsf5e6dd87.jpg) some years back* -- which is pulled out from its storage "garage" in the back wall, spun around, and used for two different apartments, one in Electchester and one in neighboring Pomonok, with contrasting dressing (throw pillows and blankets) for the two locations.  All of which is just to say that it's kind of several tricks in one: a light-up sign that reverses to "become" a multi-use sofa.

The other two signs are likewise reversible:  the Fillmore's sign is front-lit by two attached sconces (meant to evoke the actual Fillmore's Tavern (https://twitter.com/FillmoresTavern/status/877119341468295168) in nearby Fresh Meadows), but the entire sign-and-sconces assembly rotates laterally around a central pivot to reveal the JIB Lanes lightbox on the reverse.  And the I.B.E.W. union seal is actually a double-sided lightbox, with plexi on both sides, reversing to "Welcome to Pomonok Houses" (again taken from reality (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pomonok_Houses.jpg)); in this case, the box rotates vertically, just for variety's sake.

Yikes... looking over this list makes me newly nervous for tomorrow's transfer to Manhattan.  The set came down in Queens this afternoon -- smoothly, according to our Production Manager, but I'm still nervous about all that wiring, which, if anyone on the technical end of things has devoted serious thought to the logistics of dis- and re-assembling it safely, quickly and accurately, I haven't heard about it.  Here's hoping they'll (pleasantly) surprise me.

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* The same model, but not the same individual specimen: another useful thing about the KLIPPAN is that they tend to be readily available secondhand on Craigslist, Apartment Therapy and similar sites -- usually at a steep markdown from their already-inexpensive list price.  We bought one for rogerandtom in 2012 and reused it the following summer when the show transferred upstairs for a longer run.  For the Tallinn festival production, two years later, the sponsoring company in Estonia bought another one -- for all I know, it may have been from an actual Swedish Ikea.  And for Alternating Currents, our prop master found yet another online for a hundred bucks.  It's not the most elegant loveseat in the world, but it's simple and no-frills, easy to acquire, and doesn't take up a lot of space.  Its low-slung design also makes it sightline-friendly for arena or thrust spaces (or "alley" arrangements, like rogerandtom's), and allows actors to perch on the back or arms if desired.  Granted, the slipcover never really looks as smooth and sleek as the catalog photo; it tends to get rumpled as soon as anyone sits on it.  But on the plus side: being a slipcover, it's easy to launder, or replace -- you can even make your own using different fabric (though I've never tried this myself).

Surprises abound: our Manhattan load-in went smoothly, and the show is now up and running at Urban Stages, where it will remain until May 20 (with a quick detour to the Bronx for a single evening on the 16th -- but, due to the nature of that venue, the show will be performed there as a free staged reading, with minimal props and costuming, and no set or lighting).

My next source of stress will be the final two stops, in Staten Island and Brooklyn, both with much shorter load-in times.  Our producer claims not to mind hiring some extra help to get us loaded into these final two venues, on account of being so pleased by how good the show looks.  And our T.D. and M.E. now have two installations under their belt, and a couple weeks in which to prepare for the next two.  But I'm a worrier; I'm still in a haze of stunned disbelief that we've made it this far.

Christine Jones -- whom I first met at NYU, where she was just a couple years ahead of me in the graduate design program -- opened the $68M B'way transfer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child last week.  And here's me at 46 -- on what, pitifully, may be the most ambitious design I've yet attempted here in the city -- giving myself grey hairs over a few dozen lightbulbs...
(or a couple hundred, if you include each bulb in the Electchester sign, but who's counting?)

:))

Nifty podcast featuring our playwright Adam and producer Mark:

http://goseeashowpodcast.com/2018/05/02/adam-kraar-mark-plesent-of-alternating-currents/#more-3681

This has been very interesting reading.  Thank you for sharing @scenicdesign71. I'm hoping to see the show when I cat sit the weekend of the 18th.

Thank you, Tom!  :)

After a full week of previews, our official press opening was last night; unfortunately, I couldn't be there because I had tickets for My Fair Lady which I had purchased many months ago.

But the first review I've been able to find online is insightful and well-written (and I'm not just saying that because it's favorable):

"Adam Kraar's world-premiere play touches on the multifarious meanings of community" and "perceptively explores the messy realities of living and laboring in NYC, and, by extension, the United States today.  ...  Kraar and Working Theater ably capture these kinds of contradictions and nuances with empathy and humor, and Alternating Currents proves illuminating in more ways than one."

Also:  "The production boasts great set and lighting design by David Esler and Scott Bolman, respectively, making clever use of elements such as scaffolding, conduits, and spools."

http://culturecatch.com/theater/alternating-currents

It's worth reading in full; there's really quite a lot going on in Adam's script, and this reviewer's deft synopsis may be of interest if you can't see the show (like most on this board), but want to know a little more than the few crumbs about subject and style that I've mentioned on this thread to date.

Those renderings are amazing, Dave. Beautiful work as always. Congratulations on "great sets"! Thanks as always for your thorough and thoughtful posts.

Thank you, Amy!  And Tom, let me know if you are indeed able to make it next weekend!

More reviews, overall positive-to-mixed.  Now that we're on page 2 of this thread (as good a place as any), I'll just keep adding them to this post as more come in.  (I'm also including that first review here, copy/pasted from the previous page, just in the interest of having them all together in one place).

---

CultureCatch.com (http://culturecatch.com/theater/alternating-currents) - "Alternating Currents proves illuminating in more ways than one.  Adam Kraar's world-premiere play perceptively explores the messy realities of living and laboring in NYC, and, by extension, the United States today.  ...The production boasts great set and lighting design by David Esler and Scott Bolman, respectively, making clever use of elements such as scaffolding, conduits, and spools."

Lighting & Sound America (http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/news/story.asp?ID=-8VMWGT) - "Alternating Currents has an inventive set by David Esler that surrounds the cast with a serpentine network of pipes and tubes, each ending in a lightbulb.  This arrangement also contains a number of important props, including signs, clocks [?], the IBEW logo, and a tiny Christmas tree.  Scott Bolman's lighting creates a number of atmospheres, including a warm bar interior, that establish a strong sense of place."

StageBiz.com (http://stagebiz.com/alternating-currents-at-urban-stages/) - "I found David Esler's scenic design to be absolutely exceptional.  The space was gloriously transforming thanks to the ingenuity of the multi-functional set that also stayed true to the electrician's 'toolbox'.  Small electrical 'cotton reels' for seats, metal pipes and electrical cords formed a stunning frame for the piece.  Scott Bolman's lighting design was fabulously in tune with the script ensuring that light (electricity) was dominant throughout, almost as if it was another key character in the mix."

TheaterThatMatters.com (https://theaterthatmatters.com/2018/05/12/alternate-currents-gives-us-an-alternative-view/) - "Doing a play with so many moving parts is daunting, but thanks to strong direction by Kareem Fahmy, the puzzle comes together flawlessly.  David Esler creates a set that is malleable, fun, and just informative enough to let us know where we are without adding unnecessary detail.  A very impressive accomplishment all around."

Off-Off Online (https://www.offoffonline.com/offoffonline/2018/5/6/alternating-currents) - "Part romantic drama, part social commentary, and a dash of historical pageant play... ultimately the characters take a back seat to a place and an idea.  David Esler's adaptable space has a grid of pipes painted bright blue around it and just a few serious props—an aluminum ladder, a sofa, a podium with Van Arsdale's photograph hanging from the front."

TheaterScene.net (http://www.theaterscene.net/plays/offbway-plays/alternating-currents/joel-benjamin/) - "Alternating Currents is a diverting look at what happens to an idyllic place after decades of reality intrude.  The smart set by David Esler, basically a framework of a room defined by pipes, turns out to contain shelves and drawers[?] that become beds[?], tables, chairs, etc., defining different spaces with economy.  Dina El-Aziz's costumes help define the miniscule differences between the hierarchy of Electchester and Scott Bolman's lighting makes the most of the intricacies of the set."

Manhattan With A Twist (http://www.manhattanwithatwist.com/alternating-currents-a-look-into-life-in-the-city/) - "Alternating Currents [boasts an] exceptional cast, almost all of whom play multiple characters.  It is an intimate look at what it means to be part of a community, and what you're willing to sacrifice personally to be a part of the whole."

TheaterPizzazz.com (http://theaterpizzazz.com/alternating-currents/) - "A good experiment in learning about human behavior.  The simple but effective set design is by David Esler with lighting by Scott Bolman, sound by Lawrence Schober and costumes by Dina El-Aziz."

---

I've inserted [question marks] into some of these quotes where a couple of the reviewers apparently "remembered" elements of this set that don't exist -- clocks, drawers, beds -- effectively imagining for themselves a more complex design than the one that's actually there.  If my work somehow tripped their imaginations into overdrive, I couldn't be happier.  And if not -- if they're just delusional, or given to embroidering reality for rhetorical effect -- well, I'll take it anyway.

I just bought a ticket to see it on Saturday night!!  Anyone else in town care to join me?

Thanks for keeping us up on this and The Mecca Tales, David. I think of all the people who visit this site, you're the one who's most successful in the actual industry that we're about -- and who's getting the most work. (I don't know how you manage it. Stage and television -- any movies yet? Start producing music and someday I expect you to have a full EGOT. ;)

(You're also probably the most articulate person on the site, present company not excepted, and write superbly about what it is you do.)

:-[

Thank you, Chris. (still blushing)

I'm gonna hazard a guess that you might have been responding, at least in part, to my self-pitying mention of a spectacularly (and, I should add, deservedly) successful former classmate a few posts ago.

Having posted that (in spite of qualms), and then reading your kind words above (did I mention I'm still blushing?), it's got me thinking about that aspect of my so-called career -- the insecurity, broadly speaking -- and whether there's any possible way for me to write about that here that wouldn't be hopelessly maudlin, flat-out boring, or otherwise unreadable.

In less negative terms, it's got me wondering whether there's some approach to that subject that might even be useful, in some sense, to me or to anyone else; I'm always conscious of the risk, with some of my long-form rambles on these threads, of diarizing.

And while a blog might seem to be the answer, most of the same concerns apply.  Freed from any compunctions about hijacking a small corner of a chatboard whose greater purpose decidedly isn't to clock the inner doubts of a struggling set designer, there's a good chance that, on WordPress or wherever, those compunctions might be sorely missed -- by me and/or my hypothetical reader(s) -- as a last defense against total solipsism.

In any case, your post floored me (did I say that already?).  Alternating Currents closes in Manhattan today, and I'm undecided about whether or not to make the trek out to Staten Island and/or Brooklyn next week.  So I'm on hiatus with no particular plans (albeit a lot of personal stuff that I'm putting off doing anything about; mostly cleaning up my apartment [aka Grey Gardens], which is a huge trauma that nevertheless has GOT to be addressed) -- and the show that's been monopolizing my attention for several months is effectively over and done with.  In other words: a perfect recipe for feeling insecure and vaguely depressed; so your lovely words couldn't have come at a better time.

Dave, your messages would be very much missed here and, far from being a hijack, are probably appreciated far more than you know. (And I wasn't referring to comments about a friend, which I'm embarrassed to say I don't recall, but I'm guessing he's doing movies.)

You could take the approach I've often taken here with my own blogs and post a version here and an expanded version on Wordpress. Or reverse the process, use Wordpress as a way of removing any compunctions you may feel here, then post a different version on this site.

However, if you feel compunctions over simply taking up space, please don't. We have way too much extra space at the moment. Losing your posts would leave a gaping hole.

Quote from: Chris L on May 20, 2018, 09:09 AMDave, your messages would be very much missed here and, far from being a hijack, are probably appreciated far more than you know.
...

However, if you feel compunctions over simply taking up space, please don't. We have way too much extra space at the moment. Losing your posts would leave a gaping hole.

Seconded here. I'm always glad to read--and sometimes reread--your posts. I wish I had as much that was as interesting to say as you do.

Quote from: KathyB on May 20, 2018, 12:07 PM

Quote from: Chris L on May 20, 2018, 09:09 AMDave, your messages would be very much missed here and, far from being a hijack, are probably appreciated far more than you know.
...

However, if you feel compunctions over simply taking up space, please don't. We have way too much extra space at the moment. Losing your posts would leave a gaping hole.

Seconded here. I'm always glad to read--and sometimes reread--your posts. I wish I had as much that was as interesting to say as you do.

I'm strongly with Chris and Kathy!!

Thanks, you guys!  Now I'm embarrassed -- the point of all that actually wasn't to dig for still more compliments, though I appreciate them more than you probably know.  For the record, my uncertainty was more about the wisdom (or not) of writing about my professional insecurities, specifically, on this or any other public-ish forum.  (Not, or at least not often, and not in detail or at length, will remain my general principle for the time being).  But as for writing about work more generally, I remain gratified by everyone's interest, and grateful as always for the words of encouragement.  So fear not, my blather will continue.

Whew.  All that, from one little quip about the Harry Potter play.  (And, yes, the ocean of self-doubt underlying said quip).  Moving on...

Thanks very much, Chris, for the thoughts about Wordpress.  I might just do that one of these days -- or, who knows, if I ever (EVER) get this portfolio website off the ground, perhaps I'll attach a blog page to the site.  (Or maybe do both, since, as you suggest, it might be useful to keep things separate at times).

Tom, I'm curious what you thought of Alternating Currents the other week.  I never did make it back to see the show again after the second or third preview, and my initial fascination with it is by now way-complicated by the usual loss of perspective.  It was a strange experience, and I still haven't sorted out my own feelings about it.  But if you feel like sharing any reactions, either here or by DM, I'd be interested to hear; was it at all what you expected, or had I oversold it to high heaven?

In related news, y'all's cheerleading on this thread -- along with my friend Isabel's nudging -- has inspired me to submit my designs for This Time (https://issuu.com/davidesler/docs/thistimeimages_small), The Mecca Tales (https://sondheimforum.com/index.php?topic=250.0), and Alternating Currents into consideration for the 2019 Prague Quadrennial (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Quadrennial).  Because why not.

I will try to post something soon.  I haven't really had time to sit down and write more than a few sentences at a time and to give you something a little more substantial than that.  

Quote from: scenicdesign71 on Jun 03, 2018, 04:50 PMThanks, you guys!  Now I'm embarrassed -- the point of all that actually wasn't to dig for still more compliments, though I appreciate them more than you probably know.  For the record, my uncertainty was more about the wisdom (or not) of writing about my professional insecurities, specifically, on this or any other public-ish forum.

I've been meaning to respond to this for a while and somehow didn't get around to it. My policy is (and I suspect that this is yours as well) to never post anything on a public forum that I wouldn't want known by every person on earth. Of course, only the most infinitesimal fraction of the earth's population is ever likely to see what I post, but I don't know who's in that fraction.

Posting about professional insecurities adds a new level of complexity. You certainly shouldn't say that you're not sure you can complete a project satisfactorily, unless you've already discussed those misgivings thoroughly with your employer. If you're merely going to say that, like almost any other creative artist on earth, that you have insecurities about your work in a generalized sense, that might not be so bad. Welcome to a very vast club. Then again, maybe you'll get passed over for a job because your competition feigns greater confidence. But I think your work speaks for itself. And what it says is that you can deliver.

I never talk about my writing projects, except in the most generalized of terms (excluding works that are long finished, like the Hardy Boy books I wrote 25 years ago). I never discuss specific ongoing projects at all, but that's partly because they would sound a lot more boring than your work does. But it's also because there might be misunderstandings if a client saw the posts or just the sense that I'm violating a confidence. On the other hand, I might plug a project that's on the market under my own name, but that describes a surprisingly small portion of my work currently (because it involves a lot of ghostwriting, for one thing).

That doesn't really answer your (implied) question, but it's interesting to talk about.

Update on the Prague Quadrennial, since it's slipped onto this thread:

I got an email a couple days ago from the judges at USITT (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Institute_for_Theatre_Technology), which, among many other things, sponsors the U.S. entry into the international festival in Prague every four years.  The upshot (downshot?) was that my submissions were not accepted for the American exhibit at PQ 2019, but they do want to include my work in an "online catalog of recent excellent American stage design" -- apparently unrelated to PQ -- that USITT will be hosting, details TBA.

[ambles over to the Simple Wooden Shaker Chair for a spell -- head spinning with acronyms]   :-\

I didn't mean to ignore your thoughtful response above, @Chris L -- in fact, I tried a couple of times to come up with a response-to-your-response, but ended up with false-starts that languished for awhile in my Drafts folder before fading away entirely.

I still haven't come up with anything to add (well, at least not anything that doesn't risk delving into cringe-y or otherwise inadvisable territory, re: advertising one's insecurities).  But I did want to thank you, however belatedly, for sharing your thoughts on the subject.

For now there are no new design projects on the horizon -- which makes holding down the TV job a lot less stressful, but also leaves me with no excuse for not dealing, in what free time I do have, with the usual raft of "life issues".  My room's still an ungodly mess.  I still need to quit smoking.  And build myself a website.  Etc.

In happier (and relevant to this thread) news, a few weeks ago I was able to attend another public reading of The Yacoubian Building -- this time without any projections, but with some sharp new script revisions (and Mr. Al Aswany himself in attendance) -- as part of the Atlantic Theater's Middle Eastern Mixfest.  And even before that, last month I had the great joy of attending Kareem's wedding, which offered, among other pleasures: a performance by a belly dancer; a chance to catch up with some really great people I hadn't seen in some time (and make a new friend or two); a series of short one-acts commissioned for the occasion (including a delightful two-hander by Young Jean Lee, performed by Ms. Lee and Kareem's husband); and, of course, a rare excuse to dress up fancy and have lots of drinks.

So life isn't terrible.  It just needs more parties, fewer cigarettes, a website and a clean room.  I suppose I can wait a little while longer for a career-boost, a boyfriend and a Tony, all of which unaccountably seem to be taking their sweet time.

:-[