Why The Balloons?

In photos from the re-mount of The Comedy of Errors, you might noice some giant helium balloons have been added to the set design. why?

While the most important aspect of scenic design is to help create the world of the play, one of the elements the designers must take into account is the playing space. The designer wants to fill the entire space to create a world that feels bigger than the confines of the proscenium arch. We had no problem doing this with our set for Damn Yankees, but this is a touring show, and we need to be able to fit every element of the set inside a school van, and later to keep it stored inside a 10' x 10' area backstage, and finally, to set it up in under 90 seconds.

So you can probably see why helium balloons can be helpful.

In addition to being compact (we are bringing balloons and filling them with helium at Party City once we reach Greensboro) and allowing us to fill the other wise dead space above the 8' mark, balloons are just plain delightful. Each actor who has walked into the theatre space since we brought in the balloons has smiled wide.

"Balloooooooooons!"

Which brings us back to the initial job of any good scenic element: it helps create the world of the play. Something that is bright, bouyant, colorful, and makes people smile is exactly the tone we want to set for our show.

(That "pegboard/cheese grater door is next on our list of things to tackle!)