Dark of the Moon
West High
School Auditorium
Iowa City, IA
May, 1995
Costume Design by Kate Hamm
Directed by Kate Hamm
Dark of the Moon was my final design as a high school teacher before returning to graduate school, so yeah... this one's been around a while and honestly, the best of the design was probably the lighting and because this was the era of slide film, I never got a good photo of the overall impact of the scale of the scenery - let's call this one a sentimental remnant. The show calls for at least the evocation of the hills of the Carolinas, and to that end many levels were erected, up to a height of 15 feet. (The director used this height for a dramatic opening as the Witch Boy leaped from the top platform down about 5 feet to the next platform - don't worry, he was a very nimble and athletic young man.) The collection of levels included a "tree" made of rebar that reached to the catwalks above and a narrow rock formation of a walkway. We also numerous other touches, including a running stream, a scrimmed area to allow reveals of the supernatural characters and numerous wagons that brought out different scenic units. The lighting attempted to show the transformation that the Witch Boy experienced in becoming human. The supernatural characters incited a use of rich color and the human world, more natural light. When the two worlds interacted, there was a combination of these looks. While the pictures do not do the stage's width justice (I was really just learning how to take photos) the set and lighting used the school's new auditorium to it's fullest.
