Unified Vision
Ruined is about the struggles women go through when they basically are stripped of their rights and violated. But near the end we can pull together and show others that we are our own bosses and we are not someone’s ‘item‘.
Location
Ruined would be held in the Baton Rouge Little Theatre in Louisiana. I chose this location because people in Louisiana know what it is like to deal with heartache and pain. Even if elders came to see the play they would know the pain of segregation in the south in the 1950s and prior. This place also helps my vision of the play being a sort of one-on-one basis with the audience. It is a small intimate space. I wanted the play to have a smaller space to occupy because it seems with smaller venues it seems more personal rather than distant with larger spaces. I want the audience to be captured by the play and feel as though they are feeling what Salima or Sophie feel or even what Mama Nadi feels even though she is a tough one to read.
Audience
That leads to my target audience, since there are younger girls in the play I would want it make sure there is a younger audience in attendance. But also I would want people that are a little older to be there as well, they know what it is like to be in wars and they know what it is like to have no rights and could be someone’s property.
Scenic Design
For Mama Nadi’s bar, the outside exterior of the building is going to have a western feel, because in the play there is one road passing through so it is sort of in a isolated location. It is not a super busy place so it will out by itself like western times. But the inside will have a contemporary feel to it. The tables and chairs will be in front of the bar where the men can get their drinks but it will be facing the stage for when Sophie sings. For the girls’ room I imagine it to be a dorm looking room. It is a small space because they, one, do not spend much time there and two they do not have all this space and money to make it luxurious. The girls only really need a place to sleep and that is what Mama Nadi provides so the small dorm seemed to fit. Also the fact that the girls would almost be like a couple of college girls when they would read magazines and books and look at the pictures on their down time. So the dorm seemed to be perfect.
The outside of the bar
The arrangement of the tables and bar (inside)
The stage
The girls' room
Visual Elements
For the visual element the color of the bar would be a muted color. I would want it to be a plain brown. Like the bar would be wood colored along with the table and chairs. I want it so give the feel that it is not the best place to be under the best circumstances but it is not horrible. The mass of everything on stage would have to be smaller because the space I chose is smaller so the table and chairs would be smaller along with the bar. For the girls’ room I would want the colors to be a red and blue. Blue stimulates a sad feel to it but red also puts out an anger feel. So it would be the sadness of the girls but also the anger the girls are dealing with. Say for instance the bed spread could be red and the walls of the room could be a blue color.
Costume Design
Now for costumes, since it is more of a contemporary feel the costumes are not ancient. The dresses the girls wear are to make up for the boring color of the bar. The dresses are more colorful yet it is subtle, it is not a hot pink to contrast. Since the girls are supposed to be ‘eye candy’ they will be wearing shorter dresses that intrigue the men. But even for Mama Nadi I want her to wear a dress that is black and white, this to me shows her character. During the play she is this strong woman who lets no one in, but at the very end she lets Christian as well as the reader that she is ‘ruined’. So the audience would think she is black or white (one or the other) but she is a bit of both.
This would be Sophie's dress
This would be Salima's dress
This would be Mama Nadi's dress
This would be Josephine's dress
Lighting Design
For lighting, during most of the time I would like a yellowish light to show a hazy kind of feel. Since the western feel of the outside of the bar reminds me of yellow. But when Salima’s husband Fortune comes to look for her and it is raining that night I want it to but dimly lit. I want the feel of the rain outside, the dreary feeling because it could people on edge for what comes up later on when Osembenga is told that Kisembe was at the bar before. Then at the end when Salima is bleeding and reveals herself to Fortune, I want the light to quickly flash to red to emphasize that power for Salima that she is standing up for herself finally. And I want the light to quickly flash to surprise the audience because they do not expect that to happen during the play.
Sound Design
For the sound, during Sophie singing I want a regional music to the play. So I found Papa Noel & Papi Oviedo. They are Congolese musicians. So I figured their music fit well with the play. But for other sounds I figured there would be gun shots every once and a while because it is a war- torn country. They are not living in a peaceful area.
All pictures are from google images:
http://www.camdendrive.com/media//resized/classy-short-teal-prom-dress-n2141-f_size2.jpg
http://media.onsugar.com/files/2011/02/06/1/1338/13383658/4d77fce5399f2e5b_promdresses2011.onsugar.com_purple-prom-dresses-2011.jpg
http://images.asos.com/inv/t/37/382/512590/sky/image1xl.jpg
http://www.promdresstoday.com/images/dresses/prom1145.jpg
http://www.29-95.com/files/imagecache/detail_lead_photo/venues/firehouse_ext1.jpg
http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs40/i/2009/023/2/5/Western_Bar_by_B_McKinney.jpg
http://www.internetphilippines.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Conspiracy-Bar-Stage-Set-Up.jpg
