Private eyes
associate scenic designer
Private Eyes is a show about mistrust, denial, and deception. Husband and wife, Matthew and Lisa audition for a play, within a month of rehearsals an affair begins between Lisa and Adrian, their director. The show is told through flashbacks and fantasy tweaked by Matthew through his sessions with his psychiatrist, Frank. As the flashbacks continue mixed with fantasies of revenge it becomes difficult for the audience to discern what is fact and what is fiction.
Because of the need for fast paced change from one scene to another and in many different settings, the set was constructed like a busy box. Much like Matthew’s flashbacks and stories the set had layers and hidden effects that revealed themselves throughout the show. The first facade is that of the wall of the rehearsal studio, the box then opens to reveal the walls of the ‘shrinks’ office, and in the final transformation a second wall unfolds and a murphy bed descends creating the final look of a hotel room.
One of the most rewarding parts about serving as associate designer for this show was building the fully functioning model to present at the production meetings to show the exact process of the opening and unfolding of the busy box set.
All the bed sheets and pillows were hand sewn onto the mattress, or whopper poppers were added to make the bed look freshly made when unfolded but still able to be used as a functional bed.
Besides the ‘busy box’ set, the main focal point, each scene was furnished by easily movable furniture pieces. The dinner table had a special caster dolly made for it that worked much like a piano caster dolly with a low profile.
The bed was the final ‘layer’ of the set and the biggest reveal. A hidden painted vinyl roller shade was rolled down to cover the entire right wall and paintings of the ‘shrinks’ office to become a wall of the hotel room.
Because of the need for fast paced change from one scene to another and in many different settings, the set was constructed like a busy box. Much like Matthew’s flashbacks and stories the set had layers and hidden effects that revealed themselves throughout the show. The first facade is that of the wall of the rehearsal studio, the box then opens to reveal the walls of the ‘shrinks’ office, and in the final transformation a second wall unfolds and a murphy bed descends creating the final look of a hotel room.
One of the most rewarding parts about serving as associate designer for this show was building the fully functioning model to present at the production meetings to show the exact process of the opening and unfolding of the busy box set.
All the bed sheets and pillows were hand sewn onto the mattress, or whopper poppers were added to make the bed look freshly made when unfolded but still able to be used as a functional bed.
Besides the ‘busy box’ set, the main focal point, each scene was furnished by easily movable furniture pieces. The dinner table had a special caster dolly made for it that worked much like a piano caster dolly with a low profile.
The bed was the final ‘layer’ of the set and the biggest reveal. A hidden painted vinyl roller shade was rolled down to cover the entire right wall and paintings of the ‘shrinks’ office to become a wall of the hotel room.