SCENIC SHOWCASE #1

Last night, Brian and I met in Design Studio 1 for my first look at a filled in model box. With the first budget pass a week away, the time came to start solidifying ideas into a physical shape in the space. After a month and a summer and a spring (working backwards) of images and words and ideas, time had come to synthesize and present.

Brian showed my the same model box of the Rauh theatre, (the empty space at the design launch) now filled with a wood planked floor, burlap covered walls, and seating. As I looked more closely, the parts that I found most interesting were the spots of green between some of the planks, signs of life in an otherwise dead space. The material of the world felt right on, but we agreed that the straight lines from the flooring to the walls were not telling the story of a girl in the spins of life. Buckets sat in the space, reminding us of the opportunity for action, but the how and what of the space felt blank. This is all exactly what it should be like at this part of the process. It is clear that Brian is thoughtful, specific and elegant in his process. This meeting provoked a wonderful conversation about what else the world needed to be. Ultimately, we went from a rather flat, square world to a perfectly circular panorama in space. Fully incorporating the environmental feel we have been talking about all along. Will it go over budget? yes. definitely. But that's where Brian's superior editorial eye will come in. This week he will spend drafting and plotting the design for the technical director and production management team to budget. We aren't completely out of the yes phase, but it is time for some careful decisions. We want to make sure that this is a world of possibilities. The initial model box didn't have enough hiding places for magic to happen, this next draft will certainly me more magical.

Surprisingly, there was a small flower taped onto the top corner of the box (it looked like a miniature Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors). I asked Brian what it meant. He said that when his assistant came in from in from a nature walk to gather natural materials to play with, the little flower was closed. He left it overnight in the box surrounded by the rest of the grassy finds, and when he returned the next day, it was completely open and beautiful. And that is why Brian belongs designing maggie's world.