A Papal Mass on Sacred Ground - PLSN.com

PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
Joan Marcus
design is a key element in a show. “When you
look at that set, you have to feel that this is
a grand old house that’s been around much
longer than the characters who are currently
living in it, and what that brings to the story.”
“It takes a long time to evolve a design and
get it executed if you’re going to do right.”
— Ray Klausen, scenic designer
Ray Klausen, set designer for Broadway’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
set up the entire set, bring in all the major
props, then walk the actors and the director
through the set. This allowed the cast and director
to familiarize themselves with the set,
props and distances between things. “It was a
tremendous help that everyone went to see
the set, because when they came onstage, it
was something that they had already seen
and had in their mind,” Klausen says.
“I can’t recall a single problem we had
with the actors once we got on stage. They
happen to be a very cooperative, nice
group of people, so that helps tremendously.
But it was a fascinating experience, and
ultimately very, very rewarding for me. I am
immensely proud of the production, both
from an aesthetic standpoint and a technical
standpoint because one of the problems
that Debbie and I had was we wanted
the walls to be made of scrim. When you
light them from the front they look solid,
but when you light anything behind them
you can see through the walls.”
The scrim walls did present a challenge
for a set that has eight doors. Any time
someone slams a door with a fabric wall, it
will shake or ripple. “Fortunately I had Hudson
Scenic building the set, and they were
able to make every door and door frame
independent of the walls,” says Klausen.
“They look like they’re all attached, but
in fact there’s about a quarter of an inch
space between the two objects. If you slam
a door, even though the doorframe moves
a little bit, it doesn’t affect the walls.”
Nag-free Direction
FTM
When it came to the architectural style of
the plantation and house, Klausen went through
all his research and picked out the elements he
liked. He made sure the doorknobs were correct.
He and Allen brought in French doors. The
ones facing the patio had folding shutters to
cover them. The only unsolvable problem that
they had was the inability to slam two French
doors at the same time without them possibly
bouncing back, so Allen accepted that fact, and
the actors had to avoid this action.
“Bless her, if you explain something to
her clearly, with logic and with honesty, she
gets it and moves on,” Klausen reports of Allen.
“She’s not one of these people who nags
you and drives you crazy, because some
directors can do that. As much as I loved
working with her at the Kennedy Center,
I adore her now. I would do anything that
she does now because I gained so much respect
for her as a director and her abilities.
And because she’s a choreographer, she
used every square inch of that set. There’s
not a part that isn’t used, whereas a regular
director might not take advantage of a
certain space. She has people bouncing all
over that set, and I love her for it.”
Ultimately Klausen created a set that
he loved and which fit the show and its
story. But it certainly took a lot of time
and toil to get right. “You don’t get a designer
much more fussy than I am,” asserts
Klausen. “One of my big problems is that
because I’m so meticulous, when I get
through with a production, I usually have
this gut feeling that I could’ve done it
better. This is one of those rare instances
where there’s not a thing I would change
about it. I am really, really pleased with
how it turned out and proud of the end
result.”
Fire in the Sky
FTM
Another challenge that Klausen and
Allen faced was when the drop had to be
redone. Originally encompassing sky and
many trees, Allen decided she wanted it to
show more sky and fewer trees, which also
would allow the fireworks sequence, which
was done by slides, to have more space.
“Drops like this are painted on the floor, and
what they had to do was scrub all the paint
off, then mask off all the trees and repaint
the sky,” remarks Klausen. “The frightening
thing was that they couldn’t guarantee me
that it would work. They were 90 to 95 percent
sure it would work, but there’s that 5 to
10 percent that really eats into your sleeping
hours. Fortunately it worked great, and
we were able to see more of the fireworks
and not have them go off in the trees.”
Klausen ultimately took it all in stride. “It’s
really important that a designer be supportive
of the rest of the creative team because
you don’t always nail it right the first time. You
think you have, but then someone comes up
with an idea that makes it better.”
The designer recalls being in the masters
program for set design at Yale and having a
fellow student tell him, “It’s all about scale.”
That stuck with him, and he believes good
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2008 JUNE PLSN
21