Clybourne Park: My vision.

My Vision:

Robert J. Van Horn

The follow is my creative ideas, vision, and dream if I we're to produce Clybourne Park. A marvelous piece which deserves much respect from the community as well as a critical standpoint. We will have here my views and opinions of where my space shall be held, one can't have a production without a stage or area in which to perform. (Yes I am aware of the improv and theatre in public). I also wish to impart upon you as a viewer my unique vision as it pertains to the overall ideas of the play. Now we all have different ideas in which we might believe what this set would look like, all opinions and visions are worthy of exploration in my book. Now, coming from a theatrical directors background I do have an idea into what goes on for any production, sound is a key component just as any. Of my years of experience in the theatre, I was a lighting designer in my high school theatre, I do know what importance and weight it carries in any theatrical production. Finally, the costumes...in this instance (opposed to what I normally try to do) I believe that the costumes for my actors should be time specific and classic.

A question that often comes to mind when one is planning so you ask yourself : "Where are we going to put it?. To answer this question when the little thought arose in my mind one place stood out amongst the others, the Metropolitan Park in Jacksonville Florida. While this space is open air this allows for a "blank slate" and enables us to literally construct any world we wish to create.  The amphitheater like style  allows for a more in depth scene for a set designer to work with. Now from an audience members perspective this allows many clever opinions to be made on there part.

Now to give you a little bit of detail on this particular location. This was constructed in Jacksonville Florida in 1984, sporting a 2,400 square foot stage. Not only does it sit right near the water it is placed not so far from hat most people would call the "ghetto". The fact that it does in fact sit near the "ghetto" it will add to the audience that would attend, example: If one is to put a Shakespearean play at the Royal Albert Hall in London, one would get alot of the higher class and "artsie" crowd. So to follow with reason one would prefer to have a showing of a production that could connect with the target audience in a particular area. That being said this will bring to light the racism as well as class warfare that may not be very public anymore, but is still quite prominent in our society. 

Now for me to share with you my vision as a director, hypothetically speaking off course. The ideas and creative roads I wish to travel will go into quite a few unique and different aspects. For Example: Racism is and has always been a rather tender topic in any conversation.  To really explore this issue one must confront it head on with the strength to say, "THIS IS STUPID"! I do believe that a directors feelings and  views are given through many mediums. I personally wish to call both sides on this argument of racism, and shed light on how we have as a society been reduced to stepping on eggshells. I am hoping to bring together a team of professional, articulate, and open minded individuals to bring this creation to light. The necessity of being able to take a spicy topic of racism and lay it out on the table in a creative medium, and at the same time remind everyone that it is still alive today. This, in my opinion is cause by the perpetual actions, refusal to better ones social image and re-opening old wounds by racial fanatics and misconceptions. Not to mention that we of course on both sides have the ignorant and stubborn whom are all bitter and refuse to put things to rest in a constructive and healthy manner. 

That being said this creates an unpleasant atmosphere not only for the audience but for our characters as well. This will again bring the main issue of racism, misconceptions and stagnant view on others back to light so that all will have to address it no matter how hard you ignore or "dust it under the rug."  Now for the audience, a certain level of discomfort may arise due to the fact of the subject matter hits a little close to home with the impoverished, and working middle class.

This brings us to my target audience, I would hope that I would get a melting pot of cultures and society's attending the production, I do think that realistically we would have a predominantly black audience as well as some white. This is an attempt by me to bring everything together so it can be laid out on the table and be easy to understand "black and white" if you will.

Time to discuss the scenic design

as far as the way that I envision the ascetics of this production, I believe on using some subtle accents that accumulate within a home that most don't even think of. I believe of dust in areas of minimal traffic in the home, due to the fact when a structure is in the same place for an extended amount of time dust will for on low traffic areas. The same would go on the opposite end of the spectrum, in high traffic areas of any home one will have scuff marks, worn sections of carpet etc. This brings a bit of realism to the scene as well as the characters within it. We can "humanize" all aspects of the home so that our audience can relate to it on more than just the principals of ideas within the play, but the fact that in many common homes in the "real" world have these same components to them. All in all this will be an attempt to bring the realism to the scene, and all it takes is a little bit of dust in those "hard to reach areas" that we all keep putting off, you'll never see them until you are in the middle of a move.

To transition in the present day (as far as our set is concerned), one pictures the stage hands coming out in stage blacks moving stuff around and getting it done rather awkwardly with a "clunk" as if to say SCENE CHANGE! I believe that the characters themselves should lightly help with the scene change. This will give the sense and feeling that they really are distressed about moving out and are going to be involved in the process.  

I am aiming for a "this is getting done" kind of vibe, the type of look and feel one gets when doing an extensive renovation, this taking place during the scene change which brings us to our second Act.

All of this is all well and good but is nothing (as far as a theatrical production is concerned) without sound. Well let us first think about sound; what do you think of when you hear the word sound? Music, birds chirping, people talking, a moving score during a tense moment in your favorite horror film. There is always a place for sound, especially in a production. However sometimes a lack of "doctored" sound is appropriate  or even the lack of sound in it's entirety. Before I go into detail about what I believe would be appropriate to  show you an example of what could be considered "natural or ambient" sound. When a scene is set or a location is presented to you, you immediately picture it in your mind, also you hear many different sounds.  

Ambient Noise is a short sound-based performance inspired by Jean Genets. This particular performance is based off of a quaint piece of literature, The Balcony, which deals with the core themes of reality and escapism. The production itself does have some "doctored" sounds in it, however it is appropriate in it's execution. It feels natural and that it belongs there.

Now to relate this to my production mainly to the fact that there will be next to no sounds in this play, save the occasional car pulling up to the drive way, a door slamming and the radio achurnin' out some lovely tunes. In the case of my production of Clybourne Park, it takes place in a single room at various stages of it's existence.  This being said one could assume that it is in a neighborhood, (which it is) what are some of the sounds that you hear in your home on a daily basis? No , No , No, not your computer playing music or the television on, or your children bickering in the the common room. What do you hear in your "atmosphere" your "ambient" noise, you have cars driving by, the occasional siren, a plane flies overhead. The fact that this venue is already outside near a suburban area we are going to have all of these present through the entire performance. This will even further entrance the audience further into the scene, they will literally feel like that they are in that room, hearing all of what is going on inside the set, but having a constant reminder that there is a world out there and it is constantly changing.  On a lighter note, my sound designer and tech crew will be happy to have to do almost no work at all. ^^

Lighting, is such an important aspect in theatre as well as life in general. You may have a wonderful set design, make up artists, and costume designers working their trade to produce for you an amazing appeal, however it is all for naught if you can't see a bloody, or if you have to much light. I believe that  a gentle wash could suit it well enough, now given the fact that this is an  out door venue we will have natural light already present through the entire show (assuming it doesn't rain) this effecting the final decision of what light is appropriate. There is going to be a need for some household lighting, a living room with multiple lamps or a main light, plus a small lamp on a chair side table, things that one would normally find in any house.

What can you say about the 1950's and 60's? Dresses for women or even the long skirt, the casual "dock worker" look for the men, perhaps even the city suit we've come to see in all of the movies nowadays. As the overall sense of fashion for both the time periods we will be working with in this production, going with classic and accurate is probably the best way to go. This is not only to capture the sense of time and place, but to really connect with the people who are wearing them. This would be accomplished by a very subtle accent of wear and tear on the clothing that our characters will be wearing. This creates a sense of life in which these clothes have been a part of by the wearer. To really see the worn shoulders of a once pristine tailored suit, or the lovely summer dress that has been stain with tea, coffee, and other household mishaps. The presentation of something that is worn yet still cared for will make the characters seem real and that they didn't just appear on stage, they have had lives up until this point and we just happen to be able to watch.

The same could be said for the "present day" section of our play. Bear with me if you will as we McFly our way Back to the Future. We are going to have a casual modern get up for all involved. Just the normal jeans, T-shirt, maybe even perhaps a polo or two. The setting of the final act is in the middle of a renovation and one wouldn't be wearing there Sunday best when your going to be moving around furniture and repainting the walls, not to mention digging up an entire tree in the backyard. Again I hate to repeat  myself this will bring that sense of realism to the set , characters as well as the setting in which we are viewing. You really can't dance around this one, it's just that simple as they say.