The costume designer envisions dressing the characters in a modern, dull color palette of greys, blacks, and whites to portray the hidden secrets of each character. For the character of Nora specifically, green and black elements would be incorporated to represent her greedy and mischievous sides. The director has cast Anne Hathaway as Nora and outlines the central theme of "Destruction of Perfection" as Nora's secrets are revealed. The style will be naturalism to closely observe real life. The light designer wants lighting with unique shapes/patterns to capture Nora's erratic moments, and darker, blue-tinted lighting for the play's gloomier moods involving blackmail and arguments.

1. Dollhouse
Rebecca Gilman
The University of Houston’s Production
Presented by: Michelle Liverman, Alicia Perkins, Omolola Areago,
Kiera Duffie

2. Costume Design
• In our production of Dollhouse , I want the characters to be dressed modernly. I envisioned Nora as a modern
housewife, but I also want to throw in elements of black into Nora’s wardrobe to show her mischievous secretive side. I
also want to highlight Nora’s greed with elements of green in her wardrobe. Nora has a two sides to her personality. She
is the good housewife who cares for her husband, Terry, but she also likes to shop and has secrets of her own that she
has to cover up. I want to show this character’s personality through her wardrobe and makeup. I would also have price
tags hanging from Nora’s arms, and sticking out of her pockets to further show her shopping tendencies.

3. Director
Cast:
 Marta – Drew Barrymore
 Pete – Tom Cruise
 Raj Patel – Robert De Niro
 Iris – Jessica Beil
 Kristine – Gillian Anderson
 Nora – Anne Hathaway
 Terry – Matt Damon
 Max - Parris Mosteller
 Skyler - Emily Grace Reaves
 Macey - Isabella Acres
Theme:
“Destruction of Perfection”
as the skeletons come out of the closet for Nora, we start to see
that she is not as perfect as we thought.
Directorial Concept:
Nora seems to have it all: a successful
husband, three children, and a beautiful home.
But what appears like the picture-perfect life is
distressingly incomplete, upheld up by
unpleasant betrayals and dark secrets. Her
husband, Terry, persistently rises with his
career while Nora’s obsessive shopping and
conniving ways drives her ever further from
self-determination and self-fulfillment. Their
life is built upon increasingly developing lies so
Nora comes to realize the true cost of what she
thinks she has always wanted. The audience
should be able to figure out what it is Nora is
expected to feel about her own self-
awareness.

4. Director
Spine of the play:
“Things Are Not As They Seem”
Even though Nora is seen to be the perfect wife and mother,
further in the play we learn that she has many skeletons in
her closet that in this case will not make her a saint as she is
seen to be.
Style:
Naturalism
As Nora’s Portraying her life on stage with a
close attention to detail, she reveals her inner
thoughts and secrets based on observation of
real life.

5. Costume Design
• As I mentioned in the previous slide, I want the characters to be dressed modernly. I
want their wardrobe to business casual and to show a little wealth. For their wardrobe
I would have the characters dressed in grey and black and white, very dull colors. Each
of the characters in this play have some hidden secrets and I wanted to portray that
with the characters by dressing them in grey monotone clothing.

6. • In our play I envision modern, intimate lighting to capture one of the main characters, Nora,
personal flair. I wanted to choose lighting that would match some of her erratic actions in the play,
especially the scene where she is dancing to the soundtrack of Flash dance dressed as Madonna in
front of Pete and Terry. I see the lighting to include unique shapes/patterns and the brightness
that can contribute to the overall feeling of the play
• I also want to capture the sometimes gloomy mood that came with the problems each character
was having such as the blackmail between Nora and Raj, and the final scene where Nora and Terry
have their heated scene. There are some scenes in the play where I envision much darker lighting
to capture the rest of the moods throughout the play.
Light Design

7. Light Design
• To capture some of the darker moods I wanted to darken the lighting. Not only did I want to
darken it a bit, I also wanted to add some dark blue hues. With the blue lighting, I think it
allows the play to remain intimate but allows for the mystery and a sense of urgency the play
possesses. The lighting will do a great job to help express the more draining moments in the
play.

8. Set Design

9. Set Design