ELLIE LANGTON

When working together within a production it is vital that you take into

account others around you, whether that be with other prop and set

builders to ensure you both have similar understandings on

geographical, historical, social and contextual understanding of the

play, this also is important when leasing with music, script and

choreographer producers, in order to make sure all involved are on the

same page.

Specifically when creating the set for IN THE HEIGHTS my group were in

charge of constructing the shop ‘stop ‘n’ shop’ it was important like said on

the previous slide to correspond with other people who were constructing

different parts of the set, to make sure that each area contrasted well with

each other.

One main design idea which ran through both script and research was that

the set needed to look run down and derelict, this was due to the

historical, geographical and social context of the production. IN THE

HEIGHTS was set in the present day in the less well off parts of

Washington heights in New York city due to it being the place where

immigrants from the Dominican republic fled to in hard times, therefore it

was imperative to make it look like between the community money was

lacking. when planning the look of our set and shop in particular, myself

and my group had to come up with ways in which we could design our

product to look worn down and dirty.

There were 4 main aspects of ‘stop ‘n’ shop’ which the 3 members in my

group had to focus on specifically and they were, the canopy, the counter,

the shop sign and the 4 flats surrounding it. The canopy was created by 1

person in my group and it was made to look run down by covering the

fabric we purchased with in mud and coffee stains,

The over all look of the shop was for it to have a ‘market stall’ look rather than

an actual shop compared to well known brands such as ‘Asda’ and ‘Morrison's’

as again markets stalls are something you associate with the less fortunate, in

order for this to come across on stage we purchased market like fabric which

would cover the frame of the canopy. We wanted it to look very stereotypical

and authentic, this is why we used the colours we did.

When it cam to constructing my sign I decided it should look like a man made

sign, again to illustrate the social class of the cast, I chose the colours of my

sign so they contrasted well with the rest of the shop, and especially the

canopy. I picked blue, green and yellow as the colours of my sign, because to

me they highlighted the mood and over all atmosphere of the play, the yellow

represented the mellow, chilled back lifestyle the characters lead, the green

represented there naturalistic ways of life, and the blue symbolized, the

emotional rollercoaster the community go through within the play. However I

also used these colours for aesthetic reasoning because I thought they would

stand out better on stage.

The counter was also apart of the set which another member of my team

constructed, we also again agreed that this should have been the same colour

blue as on the sign, again for it to tie in together.

In reflection I think our whole set contrasted well together, this was probably the

result of our constant cooperation throughout the process and communication

and compromise assisted well in the design and construction.