From the Desk of the Set Designer: Man of La Mancha

It's kind of sad.

One minute the last audience for Into the Woods is clapping wildly, and the next, the trees of the set are piled up like a giant game of pick-up-sticks. Suddenly the auditorium is empty and echoing, waiting for the next show: Man of la Mancha.

That new setting starts to grow.

The first design sketches – the “pretty” drawings - were done a while ago. Their inspiration comes from some of Pirenesi’s engravings. (His hobby was designing imaginary prisons. Maybe he was nuts.) By a wild coincidence those engravings are now on display at SMU’s Meadows Museum – gorgeous things.

At the first Production Meeting, however, a few things were changed, a few surprises were added, so that the ink is barely dry on my construction drawings.

The Technical Director and carpenters study those construction drawings (muttering, “She’s got to be kidding!” under their breath). They ask questions. They order lumber and price scrim. And we all hunt for an elusive garden lattice we need – cheap, pre-fab sheets of garden arbor (roses grow up it), but not with the usual diamond pattern, we need square. (“If she’s not kidding, she’s nuts!”)

Saw dust starts to fly.

Over the next few weeks, the carpenters will build platforms and steps, raise walls, cut out arches, and create prison cells. (“Square lattice! She’s nuts.”)

As they build, the scenic painter will magic plywood and canvas into stone and – if we find it – square lattice into rusty steel cages.

Meanwhile, the prop designer and I gather junk. For a normal living room, set dressing would be cozy sofa pillows, a vase of flowers, books. But this is the home of the Spanish Inquisition, so… rusty chains, a few cozy implements of torture… Buckets of blood too over-the-top? (“Don’t go nuts,” I mutter.)

So right now a handful of hard-working people build a new world - one where you really can expect the Spanish Inquisition.

It’s kind of exciting.

(Got lattice? Seen lattice? Square lattice?)

-Clare Floyd DeVries