THE HALLWAY PLAYS

Emerson Stage, October 2011

director: Shawn LaCount

scenic designer: Danielle Babineau

costume designer: Dana Olinsky

lighting designer: Will Delorm

 

As part of the 2011-2012 season, Emerson Stage chose to put on two-thirds of Adam Rapp's The Hallway Plays, which are three plays set in the same New York City apartment building over the course of several decades. The last two plays of the trilogy, Paraffin and Nursing, were performed in repertory over the course of a single weekend, using most of the same scenic elements for each production. Paraffin explores the relationship between several characters who live in the same building during the 2003 blackout. Nursing, set at an indefinite point in the future in a world where all diseases have been cured, discusses the ethics of keeping one man on display in a Museum of Disease and Nursing to educate others.

 

The main challenge with this production came with finding a paint treatment that would work with both shows. It was important to keep Paraffin warm and personal, while emphasizing the colder, clinical feel of Nursing. This was accomplished through a series of washes and oversprays, which allowed the lighting for each show to pick up and support the differing color palettes of the two shows. A smaller, but no less significant, challenge came with the creation of a realistic linoleum floor, which was painted directly onto the stage. This was a complicated, multi-step process involving scumbling, a multi-color spatter, lining, and several coats of gloss.

 

all photos credited to Kirk J. Miller