FINAL Ruined Blog

Unifying Vision Statement

Ruined tells the story of women who are struggling with and facing the outrages of war; the very battles of war fought on their own bodies. It tells the story of hope through the midst of havoc. Through my production I will show the immediate despair through the dark lighting and the not-so-pristine, soiled look of the props and costume. The sound will represent hope and despair through its overall mixture of major and minor chords.

Performance Location

Although these women face such a difficult life, their will for life continues, their string of hope remains. I would like that to be shown to people of all cultural backgrounds. Hope is something all humans search for, it is what gives us the willpower to live on, to strive for something more, and so I want the audiences of my play to be from all over the world. This is why I want this play to be performed in Florida. Florida is an area of great multicultural significance. People from all over the world travel to the Florida for their vacation, therefore it would be the best area for different cultures. I want my audience to be able to unite with one another through the overall search for hope these women continue to strive for. It will therefore be performed in the Orlando Convention Center, which seats thousands, and at a reasonable price. The stage will be a three quarter thrust stage.

Scenic Design 


As the audience walks through the doors and look at the stage, I want them to feel as if part of the Congo has been picked up and set right before their eyes. I want the audience to be able to feel separate from the stage because I do not want any of them to experience the violence themselves but rather to watch the play and to have sympathy for the women. I sure hope none of the audience has empathy with them because I do not want anyone to have to be put through what those women lived through. 

The main set will include a house with a continuous, desolate road on either side. The house will be open on all three sides, which will show the bar and the stage upon which Sophie sings. The back room will be seen but only lit up when there are no men there. I want everything to look very simple. The bar should be wooden and weary looking and the floor will be hard dirt. Mama Nadi spends her money trying to keep herself and her girls alive, she has standards of cleanliness--the men must be respectful, empty their weapons, and wash off before they plan to enjoy themselves, but Mama Nadi does not have any extra money to have luxurious marble countertops and wooden floors. She does the best she can with what she has.

I want the bar to be set up similar to this in terms of the blueprint basics, but of course will be nothing of the like in terms of fanciness.

The wooden furniture can look something like this, something that could have easily been made from the woods around the bar. This play occured during a war, a devastating war; what furniture Mama Nadi had would not be very decorative or gaudy.

 

                     It would be very simple.

The bar would be again, simple. To the right of this picture would be the back room, and to the left would be the entrance. In front of the bar would be the tables, chairs, and stage Sophie sings on. Like this picture, the bar would be at an angle so the audience would have a better view of the bar. I wouldn't want the few chairs and tables to block the characters. Because of this same reason, the back room to the right would be raised up on a four foot platform.




Costume Design


Christian's suit will look something like this. In the beginning it will look very old and worn and when he comes back at the end of the story it will look very new.

Sophie's outfit will look something like this, simple but pretty.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Josephine's dress that the diamond jeweler bought will look like this.
 








The overall look of the women's outfits will be very simple to help represent the ruinous war they are dragged through.





 

Lighting Design 


I want there to be a darkness to the whole bar. The light surrounding the bar can have a natural look to it and the bar it self will have a hazy brown darkness with streams of natural light.When the government soldiers enter on page 92 (Act II, scene vi), I want streams of natural light to shine through. As the play continues till the end, I want the light inside the bar to be the purest and the light outside to turn dark. I want the exchange of light to represent that the war has left the house of Mama Nadi. 

Sound Design


The sound will have a huge part in abstractly representing the continuous will and yearning for hope by an ever-repeating, ceaseless major chord. To represent the despair their will be dissonance among the music. I will use drumming tribal music, along with the songs Lynn Nottage wrote, and the continuously played major chord can differ between various instruments throughout the play. The cello can be used during the moments of hardship, and the flute can be used during the happier moments of the play when Mama Nadi decides to give her stone's fortune to Sophie so she can have an operation done, and when Mama decides to dance with Christian in the end.