THEA 1331 Collaboration Project

1. Wintertime Play Sets
By Sam Ellison, group 49

2. Act 1.
› This scenes takes place in a summer house in a
snowy, rural part of the United states. I feel like this
house would be better presented as a wooden cabin
house rather than a summer house because this will
help the audience immediately recognize where the
play is set. It will also build on the theme of
wintertime, and the lovers being cramped together. I
think a proscenium is also the best type of theatre to
use for this play.
How I see act 1 of wintertime being
set, on the left is the inside, where the
scene will take place. While the right is
just the type of cabin I described.

3. Act 1 Necessities:
› In Act 1, there were a necessities I noted that needed to be incorporated
to the set and need to be part of this play.
› A prop needed Is a desk chair that Johnathon uses when he has a fit of
anger. Since this chair breaks, I think it would be necessary to have it made
out of a very light and easy to break wood. There is also a reference of a
desk, piano and a fireplace.
› Since there are actors entering from both the front and back, I think there is
a need for a front and back door, however we also see when a couple
gets in a fight they storm off in 2 separate directions. This means that we will
likely need to have 2 other exits for actors to use. We saw the beaux
stratagem play use doors in the back wall of the set. I think 2 doors in the
rear of the wall will work well for this play (both will be on separate ends of
the stage for a more dramatic effect)
› Lastly there is reference of snow on a lot of the items in the house, since this
would be difficult to present without making the stage a mess, I thought
perhaps the best thing to do would be to use small sheets of paper and
place them on top of the furniture with snow on.

4. Realistic or non- realistic scenery?
› After reviewing realistic and non-realistic theatre from
the book, I believe that the best course of action is to
keep the scenery realistic, this is because there is not
a lot of physical action happening in the play, it is
more dialogue heavy. The more action required the
less and less realistic the scenery becomes. However
when the neighbor comes in shivering there needs to
be an non – realistic scenery with the water. Also the
snow is being represented, not by actual snow.

5. How to establish time and place in Act 1.
› Since this is in a snowy, rural United States (the exact
location is never specified) I thought perhaps a map
could be placed on a wall, this map should be one of
northeast United States, as there is several mentions of
New Hampshire and New York. I don’t feel that the set
needs to establish the time, as it is winter outside and
the characters talk heavily for their new years plans.
However the year is important, since this is a modern
time, perhaps some of the actors could have a
smartphone. The idea here is that since this is a winter
cabin, a lot of the things in it wont be
modern, however the smart phone is both realistic
and shows the era when this play is set.

6. How to set up the mood for Act 1
› Act 1 has a lot of tension, thus I see it necessary for a
few things added to help the audience see this
tension. I thought since this was a family summer
house, perhaps to have an old photo with
Frank, Maria and Johnathon together. Since there is
tension between these individuals already in addition
to tension with the lovers.
› Another idea is have the space of stage be rather
small, this will also increase the tension as there will be
less maneuverability and a seemingly heightened
fight or flight sense.

7. Remaining props I feel necessary for act 1:
› 1. For the furniture I think just a sofa and a small desk
will be a good prop, I think the props should be a
minimum for this play as the house is mentioned to not
have enough room for everybody.
› 2. windows to view the outside, this will re-establish its
wintertime. For the outside have a picture of it
snowing or a video of snow playing.

8. How act 1 will look
Front door/
stage left
Door
Desk chair
map
Window
Fireplace
set
Small piano
audience
Door
Back door/ stage right
Back end (wood cabin look)

9. Re-occurring Metaphor
› After reviewing the theme that love is valuable and
shouldn’t be thrown away. Love is often described as
fiery and passionate, so I feel a good representation
of that would be through the fire place, heave the
fireplace burn brighter when everyones together and
happy and go out after the fighting, later when the
group gets back together and makes up, have the
fireplace begin burning again.

10. Act 2
› It did not specify where act 2 took place, it just simply
stated the whole house is covered in black. I would
like to think this is at the house of the mother rather
than back at the winter cabin. For this scene, I don’t
think a location is necessary, it will however still be
somewhere in northeastern US. The act should be in a
large foyer/ living room area though.

11. Act 2 necessities
› Since act has no one storming outside/ in different
direction I don’t think there is a need for any
doors, just stage right and stage left. These will serve
as entrances/ exits for the room.
› The script mentioned orchids, black drapes covering
the walls, 7 chairs covered in black, 2 tables on either
side of the room with food and drink.

12. Realistic or non- realistic scenery?
› After reviewing realistic and non-realistic theatre from
the book, I believe that the best course of action is to
keep the scenery realistic, this is because there is not
a lot of physical action happening in the play, it is
more dialogue heavy. The more action required the
less and less realistic the scenery becomes.

13. Establishing time and place in act 2
› We have already the era established in act
1, however there needs to be some show that time
has passed. I thought perhaps there could be two
windows outside with calm snow just sitting
there, unlike act 1 where it snowed the entire scene.
› Several actors talk about the time in this act also, this
means we know when the date is.
› Lastly I don’t feel the location is that important in this
scene, we already know we are somewhere in the
northeast US.

14. How to set up the mood in act 2
› Since a good portion of the stage will be covered in
black, this will be a good start for setting up the
mood. A lot of funeral set pieces are already there.
However we do need to re-establish the theme of
love, this time being mended perhaps there is a
poster of a heart on one of the walls.
› We can also use the reoccurring fireplace metaphor
to help establish the mood. We could see the
fireplace light up when the lovers get back together.

15. Remaining props I feel necessary for act 2
› A fireplace: since this will be a metaphor in the
play, this will be used in this scene.

16. How act 2’s stage will look.
Back of the stage (covered in black drapes)
Table for food
Motivational poster for love
orchid
audience
wall
Motivational poster for love
Chairs X7
Table for food
wall
Fireplace on
bottom/ window
on top

17. Last note for act 2:
› In the end the script specifies for confetti, this should
come out in the middle, there can be confetti
dropped from the roof.