Here WE Are
First glimpses of the production's design through press photos
Click here for WE tickets. Performances October 11 - 20, Brooklyn, NY.
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I’ve been working with my collaborators on a theatrical adaptation of Yevgeny Zamyatin’s dystopian novel WE for over two years. At our recent press photo shoot, we had an opportunity to realize some of the design ideas we’ve only dreamed about.
Seeing all the actors in costume for the first time made me feel as if a world that’s only existed in our imaginations finally made itself visible in real life.
It was such a treat to watch the actors bring their characters to life, especially considering that in a photo, they don’t have dialogue to work with. However, they knew their characters so well that they created poses vividly expressing the essence of each character.
I also discovered that we’ve solved a lot more design challenges than I realized.
One of our biggest challenges was creating the uniform of the “One State” citizens Zamyatin describes in the novel. Identical uniforms for theatrical productions are typically built or rented. Building costumes from scratch is too expensive to fit the budget for this production and rental costumes usually come off looking like something you see on Halloween. However, our costume designer found an exciting work-around that allowed us to create the effect of a “uniform” made from pieces sourced from retail clothing stores. She also added the nifty detail of silver badges attached to dangling pocket watches that gives the effect of a uniform that’s both futuristic and vintage.
The bust of Russian author Alexander Pushkin plays a significant role in the story. Pushkin is beloved by most Russian authors and, reading between the lines, I suspect Zamyatin desperately wanted to be best-buddies with him. They were not alive at the same time, but through his novel, I think Zamyatin fantasized what it might have been like to have a deep friendship with Pushkin. I didn’t think we’d be able to construct a convincing Pushkin bust, so I searched online to see if anyone sold them. Luckily, I found one used from a seller in Ukraine described as vintage Soviet propoganda and, through the magic of international shipping, we received the bust in time for the photo shoot!
We’ve only used a mannequin head in rehearsals, so I’m excited to see what the actors do with the authentic bust during technical rehearsals this week.
Shadows are a recurring visual motif in our production, mainly expressed in shadow puppetry. But as our projection designer put up images for the actors to pose in front of, we noticed the projections cast strong shadows. Our original plan for the show was to mount the projector in the grid above the audience, but after the photo shoot, we decided to change that plan so we can achieve the same shadow effect shown in these images by placing the projector on the theater’s floor.
The characters in the story live in a future city made of glass. Everyone exists in a panopticon-like environment because the walls of their apartments are transparent. However, they’ve kept an “ancient house” with opaque walls as a quasi museum depicting the “primitive” life before the One State was founded.
We weren’t sure how we’d express this house, but we seem to have landed on something useful during the press shoot. The image of the house shown above is a photo of a very small cardboard house that we use for shadow puppetry moments and can be seen in my previous post. The photo was digitally altered to give it some dimension and the windows are altered to look as if the lights are on inside. I can’t wait to see how this idea evolves during technical rehearsals this week.
I’ve written in previous posts about my interest in the film noir aspects of the novel and the image above sent noir chills down my spine when it was created at the photo shoot.
When I think about dystopian or science fiction novels, I don’t automatically think about flowers. Nevertheless, nature is a recurring motif in Zamyatin’s story, driving home the idea that nature is a force stronger than any authoritarian government.
We had a lot of fun taking photos and videos of faux florals and exploring how we might project them in exciting ways. I’m looking forward to how we continue to incorporate natural elements in the show as we move through technical rehearsals.
It’s very hard to capture video projection in photos, and I am so thankful to our incredible photographer Jonathan Levin, who beautifully captured our design ideas.
If you enjoyed these photos and my previous posts about making WE, I hope you’ll join us at the theater! Opening night is Friday, October 11, 2024.
Click here for WE tickets. Performances October 11 - 20, Brooklyn, NY.
WE is made possible by grant funding from the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR) in the Arts, the Puffin Foundation Ltd., and NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund (A Statewide Theatre Regrant Program). Production design support provided by the Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Fund, a program of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York).