Machinal
By Sophie Treadwell
Directed by Jennifer Jones
Scenic Design by William Temple Davis
Costumes Designed by Tricia Stevens
Lighting Design by William Temple Davis
Department of Theatre
University of Denver
November 1996
Machinal was produced on the University of Denver Theatre
Department’s proscenium stage converted into a 3-sided arena
space. The playing space was 17’ wide and 20’deep.
Trim height for all battens was 18'.
The Machinal set consisted of a series of 1x boxes of varying
depths. (4” to 12”). The boxes marked A were the front
ends of platforms that could extend downstage into the acting
area. The boxes marked B contained doors. The box marked C could
remain in place while the box underneath it moved downstage,
or it could travel with the box below it. Box C also contained
a vertical board which hinged at the top and could be angled
to provide the Young Womans hospital bed. The set is based on
the fantastic found object sculptures of Louise Nevelson. All
of the boxes were then filled with a random collection of 20th
century junk including a bowling trophy, a typewriter, vacuum
cleaner hoses, a frying pan, balusters, computer keyboards, and
a rubber chicken. Everything was then painted a dark-blue and
highlighted with a lighter shade of blue.
The lighting design concept of the play demanded small lighting
areas in order to isolate the young woman as much as possible
from the frightening mechanistic world she inhabited. In order
to accomplish this the fairly small playing space was subdivided
into nine lighting areas. Each area was lit with three ellipsoidals
with Roscolux #64 (Light Steel Blue) and Roscolux #62 (Booster
Blue) from downstage and Roscolux #48 (Rose Purple) from directly
upstage of each area. In addition the entire stage was washed
with a total of 18 wash lights gelled in Roscolux #68 (Sky Blue),
#76 (Light Green Blue), and #80 (Primary Blue). There were also
a total of 31 specials (most of them being goboed) for the 9
scenes of the play. All of the cues except in Episode VI were
executed with a timing of zero seconds.
Episode I - To Business
Episode II - At Home
Episode III - Honeymoon
Episode IV - Maternal
Episode V - Prohibited
Episode VI - Intimate
Episode VII - Domestic
Episode VIII - The Law
Episode IX - A Machine
The Execution
By Sophie Treadwell
Directed by Jennifer Jones
Scenic Design by William Temple Davis
Costumes Designed by Tricia Stevens
Lighting Design by William Temple Davis
Department of Theatre
University of Denver
November 1996
Machinal was produced on the University of Denver Theatre Department’s proscenium stage converted into a 3-sided arena space. The playing space was 17’ wide and 20’deep. Trim height for all battens was 18'.
The Machinal set consisted of a series of 1x boxes of varying depths. (4” to 12”). The boxes marked A were the front ends of platforms that could extend downstage into the acting area. The boxes marked B contained doors. The box marked C could remain in place while the box underneath it moved downstage, or it could travel with the box below it. Box C also contained a vertical board which hinged at the top and could be angled to provide the Young Womans hospital bed. The set is based on the fantastic found object sculptures of Louise Nevelson. All of the boxes were then filled with a random collection of 20th century junk including a bowling trophy, a typewriter, vacuum cleaner hoses, a frying pan, balusters, computer keyboards, and a rubber chicken. Everything was then painted a dark-blue and highlighted with a lighter shade of blue.
The lighting design concept of the play demanded small lighting areas in order to isolate the young woman as much as possible from the frightening mechanistic world she inhabited. In order to accomplish this the fairly small playing space was subdivided into nine lighting areas. Each area was lit with three ellipsoidals with Roscolux #64 (Light Steel Blue) and Roscolux #62 (Booster Blue) from downstage and Roscolux #48 (Rose Purple) from directly upstage of each area. In addition the entire stage was washed with a total of 18 wash lights gelled in Roscolux #68 (Sky Blue), #76 (Light Green Blue), and #80 (Primary Blue). There were also a total of 31 specials (most of them being goboed) for the 9 scenes of the play. All of the cues except in Episode VI were executed with a timing of zero seconds.
Episode I - To Business
Episode II - At Home
Episode III - Honeymoon
Episode IV - Maternal
Episode V - Prohibited
Episode VI - Intimate
Episode VII - Domestic
Episode VIII - The Law
Episode IX - A Machine
The Execution
