Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley (This Is Water Theatre, 2016)

Directed by Seth Johnson

My Roles:
Artistic Director, Producer, Technical Director, Lighting Designer, Sound Designer, Properties Designer

DIRECTOR - SETH JOHNSON
STAGE MANAGER - DYLAN FLASOWSKI
SCENIC DESIGNER - KRISTINA MILLER
COSTUME DESIGNER - RAYNA DEXTER

Lessons Learned

This was the first time that I handed over the directing reins for a This Is Water show, and it was challenging to release that control. I found it important to physically stay away from the space during the majority of the rehearsal process, to give the ensemble and director a sense of trust and ownership over the show.

When I did come back in later in the process (around the time of starting runs off book), it was an adjustment to give notes to the director rather than the actors or designers, but it was empowering and freeing to work with a collaborator like Seth who was willing to listen and also assert his artistic perspective when we disagreed on something.

Why this show?

I was looking for opportunities to hand the directing reins to others, in an effort to expand the possibilities and perspectives of This Is Water Theatre, and Seth Johnson was a student at Texas A&M University who had impressed me with two different self-produced works that maintained a high degree of artistic quality despite working with non-existent budgets and found spaces. He and I discussed several possibilities, but it was this show that excited him most.

Concept

Working with a very limited 800 square foot space, Seth originally envisioned platforms to put the audience on that could be moved by the ensemble, essentially changing the audience’s perspective throughout the show. While very cool in theory, when confronted with safety and space issues, we ultimately decided to stage the show in an arena setup, with some of the action happening outside of the arena, behind sections of the audience. As a design team, we leaned heavily into the “video game” aesthetic, choosing design elements that were geometric and stylized, and included the use of blacklight to help highlight the shifts between the “chorus” storytelling and the “in game” reality. This is contrasted by the most “realistic” scene at the end being lit only with practicals.