Behind the Curtains -Take 3- Creating the Back Story

When designing a set, the crew has to consider the tiniest details.  Each prop, set piece, furniture item, even paint color, makes a difference in the production.  The pieces placed on stage reflect the characters and create a back story to help, you, the audience members, join in the characters’ lives. 

Mel and Edna Edison, the main characters, have quite a complicated back story…at least that’s what we concluded.  Every rehearsal we found a new set piece Mel and Edna would have in their apartment.  Like an easel and paint set for Mel’s hidden painting talent (learned during therapy), seen on stage during Act 2.

Throughout the show, Mel and Edna also mention that they have daughters in college. We never see them, but they are a piece that completes the puzzle in the characters’ lives.  Therefore, something was needed on stage to represent that important part of Mel and Edna’s family, but weeks of rehearsal passed before the prop was ‘discovered.’  There’s a scene where Dave (Mel) needed to have something physical to reach for while he’s feeling despair, concern, and sadness; he’s so desperate to…better stop there; you’ll have to see the show for more!  Anyhow, the answer to this question was his daughters.  Photographs!  We needed family photos. 

During a rehearsal photo shoot, Joshua Tarquinio, our in-house photographer, therefore captured some fantastic shots of Mel and Edna’s wedding and then a family vacation (from years later of course).  The final photos will be on stage so keep an eye out for them.  But to tide you over until then, here’s a sneak peak at the beautiful family.  Enjoy!

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