Suddenly Last Summer/ Talk to me Like the Rain
Produced by Avant Bard Director: Christopher Henley Set Designer: David Ghatan Projection & Lighting Designer: Hailey LaRoe (thats me!) Costume Designer: Anna Marquardt
Props Designer: Liz Long Sound Designer/Composer: Clay Teunis Adapted Sounds Design: Brandon Cook
*Most photos in this section where taken by me (unless otherwise noted), as you can tell I am not a photographer by I hope this gives you an idea of the show
Suddenly Last Summer is a classic Tennessee Williams play that explores the tension between a grieving and manipulative mother, her niece, and a doctor. Part family drama, part psychological horor, this show takes us on a tense journey to discover how Sebastian was murdered and the psychological damage that has done to his family. While this story is told primarily in the expansive garden of Mrs. Venable, we used lighting and projections to delve deeper into the minds of the characters. We highlighted specific moments in the text that spoke to Sebastian’s poetry and travel, incorporated birds and color shifts to emphasize the omnipresence of God in the story, and we used jarring spiral overlays and video montages to emphasize the psychological torment Katherine experiences as she recalls the horrific death she witnessed.
Talk to Me like the Rain and let me Listen, is a lesser known, mini play by Williams delving into the psyche of a couple arguing, dancing, and comforting each other on a rainy night.
Photos: DJ Corey Photography
Photos: DJ Corey Photography
Content Creation and Process
The unruliness of Nature was another theme we explored through projetions. God, nature, and the relative helplessness of humanity and brutality nature comes up several times throughout the show. Most of the show takes place in a garden, which we chose to make as close to a jungle as possible. I also created a number of videos throughout the show that emphasized different natural elements, such as the white hot heat of the sun and the consistant flocks of birds that moved through the space whenever the characters directly referenced god.
The Power of God and Nature
The importance of the text
In conversations with the Director, it became apparent that the written word and writing in general was an important theme we wanted to focus on when dealing with the character Sebastian. Sebastian is hailed as a poet throughout most of the play, his travels were influenced by writers such as Melville, and his poems are the only thing left of him after his untimely and brutal death. These Ideas paired with the way Tennessee Williams has felt about his own writing, lead us to chose several moments throughout the play to project the text of the play on stage, more as a texture than anything else and as a constant reminder of the importance of the written word in the show.
