Vieux Carre - Brown/Trinity MFA Program 2011

Tennessee Williams' semi-autobiographical piece about his twenties living in the French Quarter (the "Vieux Carre") of New Orleans is rarely produced. Director Kristopher Lencowski saw the beauty in the story and led the charge to bring it to life in Providence. Scenic Designer, Jarrod Bray, enclosed the stage with four walls, cutting out space for the audience to look in on the 'broken-down jewelery box' of Williams' home in Mrs. Wire's boarding house. Using unique furniture pieces (like two twin brass beds with high head and footboards), I populated the space with pieces both specific and versatile as the show moves from room to room of the house. Since the play is a memory piece, we set our production in the house as it might have been many years later when Williams looks back, now a grown man and an accomplished author. Heavy distressing and making sure the furniture was move-able were both important parts of my process, along with the sticky and difficult endeavor of making sugar-glass window panes for a moment at the end of the show when a character punches through the window. That was, to say the least, a big learning curve!