Proof set design

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/16/04 at 10:17pm

YAY! I got permission to direct PROOF, but not until the summer of 2005. I don't really remember what the set looked like at the Tony's. I remember seeing it...maybe...or maybe I didn't.

I tried googling for it, but all I got was coins. A lot of coins. Damn proof sets. Oh well...

Can anyone help?

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/16/04 at 10:19pm

If I remember correctly, it was the back porch of a Town House, or Brownstone in Chicago. There were windows and a door. Fences and maybe even garbage cans.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/16/04 at 10:22pm

Ok...doesn't help...I need to see pics. I'm not going to copy, exactly, I just need inspiration. And "trash cans" isn't exactly inspiration. But thanks anyway.

And I have the script, so I know what it says...i

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/16/04 at 10:26pm

Best of luck to you.

[ckeaton]

Posted: 8/16/04 at 11:18pm

If you want to find inspiration, drive to a middle class neighborhood near a university. Our set designer traveled to the location suggested by the author.

We had a two story, dark brick home, with a 30 foot wood porch with an 6 foot roof-overhang complete with worn shingles... There were a few weathered wood stairs to the lower level "yard", with lots of leaves, grass, and twigs... the house and yard looked a bit unkempt... like it hasn't been cleaned up after a bit of a windstorm.In the background there was a fence and further back a scaled version of row houses on the other side of the street.

I've also seen a production that went very abstract and used several mirrors to reflect through sihlouettes of windows and doors that were sized to get smaller as they moved downstage... It worked too.

But in the long run, I think this show works best with realism.

Updated On: 8/16/04 at 11:18 PM

[JoizeyActor]

Posted: 8/16/04 at 11:19pm

I don't have a picture, but I can describe the show that I saw.

The main set piece was the back of the house which had two sliding glass doors which had a little foyer with an exit off into the back and a staircase that led up to the bedrooms upstairs. Near SR there was another door that led onto the porch from the kitchen.

The porch was raised about 6 inches off the ground with railings on the left and right sides of the porch. Far SL there was some old brush and foliage that obviously hadn't been cleaned up in awhile and was just lying about the yard. To the far SR there was a space beside the house where Hal could enter from. A fence lined that side of the stage with some brownstone building wall beyond it.

The upstairs of the house had windows that lights could be turned on behind to show that someone was up there. I just remember the set being very beautiful and realistic. There was a little table set up with two chairs on the porch as well as a bench. Also, a garbage can near the porch SR. Basically the set looked like an unkept backyards with twigs and stuff all around the porch on the stage. But you probably had an idea of all this. Sorry if this wasted your time. I tried!

[JoizeyActor]

Posted: 8/16/04 at 11:30pm

Here, how about this:

[ckeaton]

Posted: 8/16/04 at 11:35pm

That house looks a little too wealthy for a college math professor. (Basically it's the pillars) But hey, to each his own. I like the middle - upper middle class home, with crappy furnishings not the upper class home.

Updated On: 8/16/04 at 11:35 PM

[JoizeyActor]

Posted: 8/16/04 at 11:36pm

AAAck! I didn't mean for the picture to be huge. In fact, I thought I was just posting a link. Oh well, if it's too big, Rob will remove it.

[Mamie]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 12:14am

Here's a few links that might help. The first is a good description of the set designs for the different sized stages in Chicago and then New York. The last link has a lot of good photos of that porch.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CVQ/is_11_34/ai_67149186

http://www.no-strings.org/proof.html

http://www.carpentersquare.com/shows/show_proof.htm

http://www.fredsternfeld.com/proof.htm

[ChiChi]

Posted: 8/17/04 at 12:18am

I would suggest doing your on thing rather than copying what the Broadway set was.