Zachery Snow-
Scenic Design/Scenic Art

~Zachery Snow
        I design for the sake of immersion, not for realism but for detail. I want my audience to feel like they’ve stepped off of planet earth, and into a fantasized new realm where anything and everything is possible. A place where disbelief is permanently suspended. Over the years I know my styles will morph and change but one premise will always be the same, to emerge the audience in a new world. I’ve always said a good set design does not directly draw attention to the audience. A scene design shouldn’t distract from the story of the show, it shouldn’t be noticed above the actors, the dancers, or any of the musical numbers. Instead, the scene should enhance what is happening on stage, and give an area for actors to play. I want to create a space where an actor can explore alongside the audience.

         Looking at my design from a technical standpoint, I always start with the shape. Shape is always an essential part of a design, even if a room is comprised of a simple cube, there is always a way to stylistically place that cube on stage. There’s a way that we can angle and offset the cube so it’s more than just a box in the middle of the stage. Symmetry is boring. Our brains are hot-wired to recognize symmetry and patterns. We can use this to subvert our audience’s exceptions to create an emotional response. In extreme examples, people will have intense emotional reactions when faced with asymmetry. Where it’s an 89.5-degree angle or a circle that doesn’t end where it began, people feel robbed of the satisfaction of symmetry. From a graphic design standpoint, this could be bad. However, in scenic design, we can use this emotional response to punctuate the scene. We can use asymmetry to stop an audience from glancing over the details of a set. Because we are hot-wired to see symmetry, we tend to enjoy it less. It’s a simple way of thinking about the world when in reality. The world is complex, the world is scary and the world is asymmetrical. Another aspect of scenic design that I love to utilize is the use of texture. Texture is what makes and breaks a set. There are amazing examples of shows using texture to create  

         The illusion of realistic materials such as brick and wood, as well as creating a sense of depth within those textures. When in reality everything is painted on a flat strip of fabric. Texture is amazing but it does need to be used carefully. Too much texture and our eyes suddenly don’t know where to look, the texture starts to attract our brain and it starts to draw attention to itself. Whereas little to no texture can create a luminal space. A space where things feel wrong, where it almost falls into an uncanny valley. This could be an interesting concept to play with if done intentionally, but when it’s accidental, a scenic design can start to look flat. Texture can also help create forced perspectives. The further away an object is the smaller it looks, so If you want a building to look taller, shrink the texture as the building goes up. Overall, texture is a great way to give a design life, age, time, and place.

               One of the final aspects of scenic design that I highlight is color. Color speaks a lot of a time period. And its use in design can radically alter the time and location of the scene. We associate certain colors with different decades, for example, Warm earthy colors like dark greens, rust reds, & pale yellows all invoke a feeling of the 1970s. Even if these colors aren’t 100% accurate to the decade itself, we can still use color to set the time period. Likewise, certain colors give us a sense of class and wealth, golds, purples, and whites are a symbol of wealth and royalty. Whereas greens and browns are signs of serfs and peasants. Color can also be a point of emphasis in a story. Light and color combined to create emotional reactions from a character and the audience. Red for potion and anger, blue for sadness and cold. Yellows for happiness and so on. All these colors combined create a compelling and immersive environment that can create the emotional strings for a scene.

         Overall, Theater design should be playful. It should draw the audience into a world and allow them to explore. Shapes, colors, and texture are all important parts to create a compelling scenic design. Depth is an important part of any scene and a specific aspect of design can create motifs to reflect and emphasize the story and large.