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Ressa
Arts. Ressa’s set design for The Seagull, by
Anton Checkhov, during the Spring 2007
Design Lab was inspired by the work of
the late scenographer Josef Svoboda, who
was famous for his abstract designs. While
The Seagull’s intertextual relationship with
Hamlet allows for potential Shakespearean
sets, Ressa teased out the context of this
famous work through careful interpretation
and readings, finally deciding to present
the plot of this 19th century romantic and
artisitic conflict on a canvas that makes the
audience ask themselves “What is art?”
Just as the four main characters speak in
abstractions and avoid direct references
to their problems, the set is shrouded in
a misty haze that conveys ambiguity. The
characters’ false fronts in personality are
mirrored by Ressa’s use of fake scenery
that gives the illusion of things being on
the stage, but in fact are specters working
in the imaginations of the audience. Ressa
sought to achieve universality with the set
design, and therefore chose a futuristic
style, costumes organic in nature, with a
compilation of cultures existing within the
Well-researched set design is about building
trust with one’s audience, knowing
that what they see is a gateway into what
they will imagine
characters, but contrasted with a clean set
uncluttered by cultural references to leave
the audiences mind clear to process the
complexities of the story.
Ward introduced Ressa to Svoboda’work
and from this influence he was about to use
light to create sets emulating Svoboda’s
style of creating space through illuminated
colored mists, even using a red light on the
floor to symbolize a pool of the seagull’s
blood. Research into this style taught Ressa
the importance of the play of light and
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shadow on stage.
Ressa created physical models, photographed
them, and then created “moment
pictures” from the play as multiple drawings
in different media such as colored
pencils and pastels. These assignments
were laborious and demanded meticulous
attention to detail, as Ressa often spends
hours manipulating lighting, photographing
hundreds of shots with lighting differences,
and experimenting with modeling techniques
to create the perfect effects. The
small models were creatively crafted using
art supplies from Mish-Mish, the local
Blacksburg craft store, as well as household
supplies like flashlights and colored
cellophane that served as glowing moons,
watery abysses, and menacing red clouds
of light. Ressa used a special Plexiglas filter
to make a lit-up floor and cutouts of items
like trees and windowpanes to create the
appearance of props while only using their
shadows.
Doubt
A play written by John Patrick Shanley and
winner of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award,
the cinematic version of Doubt was produced
by Celia D. Costas and released in
January 2009 to select theatres, where it
received immediate acclaim. Only a few
months before, in a joint effort with Hollins
University, the Virginia Tech Department of
Theater Arts presented Doubt, a Parable to
the 2008 Roanoke Arts Festival. Directed
by Hollins University Theatre Department
Chair Ernie Zulia and featuring Virginia
Tech’s head of the Department of Theatre
Arts, Patricia Raun, Doubt showed from October
3 to November 9.
Ressa worked as scenic designer on this
production and led the research that created
the Bronx collage project, the culminating
piece of the production. Compiled