That set design that started life a few weeks ago as the "Marrakesh Set" has turned into a "Coyoacan Blue House Set" to stage a Frida Kahlo inspired show. I made Mary watch the movie with me last week to try and fire her up… So much color, so much drama, so much visual candy, and such strong characters. There are certainly already been several plays based on her persona, but I think we can bring it something new and exciting with the use of multiple virtual "reversible" projected sets and multiple angles live camera feeds.
We basically work on a stage made of three spaces: the virtual space behind the projected backdrop, the actual space between the backdrop and the front set(boxed with two black side panels, and the space in front of the front set. These spaces can be virtually changed ad infinitum, and as I explained in a previous post, switched around 180 degrees. For example, we are in the street in front of the Casa Azul:
The façade is projected on the front set with real doors, the front space is the street in front of the house, the center space is the patio seen projected on the backdrop. Behind this backdrop is Frida's bedroom, barely visible through the door. The spaces can move forward: the street disappears, the front stage becomes the patio (the image projected on the backdrop moves to the front set), and the patio turns into Frida's bedroom with Frida in her four poster bed. We could even go one step deeper into the kitchen if we wanted to, somehow bringing the bed in front of the front set(wheels?).
Now, if we had two more short throw projectors and used white side panels, we could actually create a four sided patio or bedroom. Pushing it further, if the side panels were also plywood and had functional doors like the front set, we could also virtually move sideways to another room in the house…
Any of those combinations of spaces could be flipped 180 degrees, and the front stage could become the patio, with doors looking out to the street and the houses across the street virtually visible through those doors:
Brainstorming some more, we could conceive of using plywood panels with real doors for the backdrop, through which we could see another backdrop 10 feet behind on which the patio of the house across the street is projected, adding a third actual space.
If you flipped that back, you would find yourself in the house across the street looking out to the street, to Frida's patio through the open doors of the front set, and further to Frida in her bed into the bedroom though the open doors of the backdrop… I am getting all worked up! But that would of course require yet another projector… It IS possible though.
Now, we could take Frida in her bed forward from her bedroom to the patio, to a truck in the street:
that takes her to the show opening with houses moving by projected on the front set with all doors and window closed(making it a solid screen. We stop in front of the gallery, which can be seen projected on the backdrop through the doors that have been re opened, and manually move Frida in her bed into the gallery space behind the facade. We can then enter the gallery by moving the projected images forward, and spin around looking out to the street outside. Did I lose you? Well you get the jest I hope…
We can the same way take Frida anywhere, in bed with Diego or Trotsky, at the club getting drunk with Chavela Vargas singing, in New York City at the Rockefeller Building, in Paris at a cafe, etc… The possibilities are endless.
We basically work on a stage made of three spaces: the virtual space behind the projected backdrop, the actual space between the backdrop and the front set(boxed with two black side panels, and the space in front of the front set. These spaces can be virtually changed ad infinitum, and as I explained in a previous post, switched around 180 degrees. For example, we are in the street in front of the Casa Azul:
The façade is projected on the front set with real doors, the front space is the street in front of the house, the center space is the patio seen projected on the backdrop. Behind this backdrop is Frida's bedroom, barely visible through the door. The spaces can move forward: the street disappears, the front stage becomes the patio (the image projected on the backdrop moves to the front set), and the patio turns into Frida's bedroom with Frida in her four poster bed. We could even go one step deeper into the kitchen if we wanted to, somehow bringing the bed in front of the front set(wheels?).
Now, if we had two more short throw projectors and used white side panels, we could actually create a four sided patio or bedroom. Pushing it further, if the side panels were also plywood and had functional doors like the front set, we could also virtually move sideways to another room in the house…
Any of those combinations of spaces could be flipped 180 degrees, and the front stage could become the patio, with doors looking out to the street and the houses across the street virtually visible through those doors:
Brainstorming some more, we could conceive of using plywood panels with real doors for the backdrop, through which we could see another backdrop 10 feet behind on which the patio of the house across the street is projected, adding a third actual space.
If you flipped that back, you would find yourself in the house across the street looking out to the street, to Frida's patio through the open doors of the front set, and further to Frida in her bed into the bedroom though the open doors of the backdrop… I am getting all worked up! But that would of course require yet another projector… It IS possible though.
Now, we could take Frida in her bed forward from her bedroom to the patio, to a truck in the street:
that takes her to the show opening with houses moving by projected on the front set with all doors and window closed(making it a solid screen. We stop in front of the gallery, which can be seen projected on the backdrop through the doors that have been re opened, and manually move Frida in her bed into the gallery space behind the facade. We can then enter the gallery by moving the projected images forward, and spin around looking out to the street outside. Did I lose you? Well you get the jest I hope…
We can the same way take Frida anywhere, in bed with Diego or Trotsky, at the club getting drunk with Chavela Vargas singing, in New York City at the Rockefeller Building, in Paris at a cafe, etc… The possibilities are endless.
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