It is always a joy and a real adventure to do a new play…in the same sense that actors have the privilege of originating a role, the designers have the opportunity to forge new ground and embark on totally virgin territory. The Best of Enemies offered a challenge that we see a lot in modern plays…it moves fluidly and cinematically through about 45 scenes and something like 35 locations. The one thing you never want to be responsible for as a set designer is slowing down the pace of a show with cumbersome scene changes. I also have a resistance to doing sets that are of the “dark void with two chairs” variety! I always try to create an environment where the “envelope” of the design has a particular style and character…even if there are tons of scene changes. This all led me to the idea that we would put BSC’s brand new video projector to good use. I approached another show with the same demands in a similar way- but in that case we used a system of three projectors. I knew we wouldn’t have that ability here, so I had to plan for a way that the one projector could give us a suitable variety of looks. I came up with the idea of a simple two part “machine”- a single tracking panel and a flying panel that both fall within the same focal point of the theatre’s projector. That would allow us to create a projection surface that was constantly moving and changing shape- but always in the right place to receive a clear image. I also made the decision that Ann and C.P. could have “home bases”. It made sense from a staging point of view to let their respective homes live on the set for the whole show. It also made a good symbolic gesture- their two opposing lives and points of view living on opposite sides of the space, with the places where they found common ground sitting between them. Julie and Mark and I met and storyboarded the entire show, planning out the projection ideas and staging long before the actors ever hit the rehearsal hall. Obviously, things changed and developed in rehearsal- but it was invaluable to have a blueprint in place early on.
Once the “bones” of the scenic idea were in place, I went on an exhaustive quest for research. To my relative surprise (and great joy) I found a huge amount of research and pictures of the history of Durham, so almost all of the images in the show are very real…our image of the YMCA is the actual Durham YMCA, circa 1971…the images of Ann and C.P.’s streets are from the neighborhoods they actually lived in. There are small “cheats” here and there, too! The Durham County Court House is standing in for City Hall in our show, for example. Julie and I were looking for one single large idea that made a statement about the whole story, and we found it in a picture featured in the original book “The Best of Enemies”. The sign, “Durham- Renowned the World Around” was built in 1913, and was not in use very long before it was destroyed by a storm- but it provided the perfect ironic statement about the dichotomy between perception and reality in the city’s class structures. Another thing that is very important to me as a designer is getting particular details of the characters’ environments correct. This takes place in 1972, but people (particularly poor people) don’t rush out and buy current trendy furniture, so both houses have furniture and radios, etc. from the 1950’s and earlier.
The thing that I have to admit I still find almost magical about modern technology and working with projections is that I can change things instantly. As I write this, we are still in previews and I am making changes and modifications to the projection images based on how they combine with the lighting, etc. I can change the artwork on my computer; load it onto our shared hard drive; and see it onstage three minutes later as Brad (my co-projection designer) programs it into the system. There was a time not so very long ago when deciding to make a big change to the scenery always meant several days of work and multiple thousands of dollars!