INTRODUCTION TO THEATER

SPRING 2014

Collaboration Project

Group: 38

Pei-Ju Chen / David Hill

Emily Nguyen / Wilman Reyes

DOLLHOUSE BY: REBECCA GILMAN

Premiered on June 19, 2005 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago

Adapted from ‘A Doll’s House’ by Henrik Ibsen, published in 1879

A view into the intricacies of relationships and the difficulties seen

therein

DIRECTOR

Casting, Theme, and Visual Fluidity

By: David Hill

CASTING In Order of Appearance…..

NORA HELMER

Charlize Theron

Notable Roles • The Devil’s Advocate (1997) • Monster (2003) • Hancock (2008) • Prometheus (2012)

Current Projects • Dark Places • A Million Ways to Die in the West • Mad Max: Fury Road • The Last Face

IRIS

Conchata Ferrell

Notable Roles • Circle Repertory Company

(Broadway) – various stage roles • Supporting roles (Edward

Scissorhands, Erin Brockovich, Mr. Deeds, etc)

• Love, Loss, and What I Wore (Off Broadway Production)

Current Occupation • Berta (Two and a Half Men)

TERRY HELMER

Sean Penn

Notable Roles • The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) • The Thin Red Line (1998) • I Am Sam (2001) • Mystic River (2003) • The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Current Occupation • The Gunman (2014)

PETE

Matt Frewer

Notable Roles • Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989) • Dawn of the Dead (2004) • Watchmen (2009) • 50/50 (2011)

Current Occupation • The Knick (TV mini-series: 2014)

KRISTINE LINDE

Angie Harmon

Notable Roles • Law & Order: SVU (1999-2000) • Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) • Seraphim Falls (2006) Current Occupation • Rizzoli & Isles (TV: 2010-present)

MARTA

Melissa McCarthy

Notable Roles • Charlie’s Angels (2000) • Bridesmaids (2011) • Identity Thief (2013) • The Heat (2013)

Current Occupation • Mike & Molly (2010-current)

MAX, MACEY, AND SKYLER HELMER

Mia Talerico as Skyler (Good Luck Charlie; TV Disney)

Atticus Shaffer as Max (The MIddle; TV Disney)

Macey (Will not be cast due to age restrictions) At the age of 3, a Doll shall be used

RAJ PATEL

Kal Penn

Notable Roles • Kumar Patel (Harold and

Kumar) • Lawrence Kutner (House) • Kevin Venkataraghavan (How I

met your Mother) Current Occupation • Associate Director of the Office

of Public Engagement (White House)

STYLE The Atmospheric Conditions…..

• With a modern setting, the style of Dollhouse will exemplify a modern materialistic nature, where value is placed on ‘things’ and nothing is as it seems

• Aspects of realism will be used to aid in the portrayal of Good and Evil

within the play; black and white does not exist, instead there are multitudes of, 50 if you will, Shades of Grey.

• This will be shown in the style of costumes, style of the sets, and the lighting.

• While the sets will give a sense of wealth, at closer inspection the will be

shown as a farce, giving the illusion of wealth but being of standard middle-class décor.

THEME The Glue that Binds…..

The IKEA Impression Sets will be done as if they are straight out of an IKEA magazine. (That is to say, a cover of perfection that hides the ugly truth)

Being Christmas time, the décor will match a holiday theme in such a way as to give the impression of an illusion of deceit

A detailed account in the troubles of Modern Marriage, Dollhouse gives us insight into the complexities that trouble relationships.

This is a play about deceit, love, and an overwhelming unwillingness to part with what is considered to be a ‘standard’ of living.

Our production of Dollhouse will exemplify these quandaries and show the many shades of grey that lie between the black and white

nature of good and evil

LIGHT DESIGN

Lights… Camera… ACTION

By: Wilman Reyes

SETTING Creating the Mood…..

Very wealthy living room, so stage will be bright and vivid in the

beginning

Reason is, dark rooms are usually associated with poor settings

• VS

ACT ONE Lights will shine the whole stage, with colors red and green scattered

about show that it’s the holiday season. Brings a lively mood.

ACT ONE When a character enters or leaves through the front door, lights will

brighten, because of the snow outside and the sun reflecting light off

of it. It reinforces that the play takes place in Chicago, where it snows a

lot during the winter.

ACT 2 Same light design as Act 1, but without red and green lights since it’s

after Christmas

When Nora tries on different options for her costume for New

Years, the lights should dim and focus on her and Pete

This creates a more intimate space between them when Pete tries to

flirt with her

ACT 2 When Nora explains her portrait to Kristine, the lights should shine

on the portrait so the audience can see it’s the subject of the

conversation

ACT 2 During the end of the act, lights will dim around Nora and Terry to show

intimacy.

ACT 3 Beginning of the act, the stage will be lit but not as bright as it was,

since it’s close to midnight. Party lights will be over the set to show that

there’s a party upstairs. It brings a festive mood.

ACT 3 As Raj and Kristine talk and Kristine ends up confessing her love,

the lights should focus on them. This set up will follow up with Terry

and Nora’s conversation afterwards.

ACT 3 Stage should brighten when Pete shows up, and then darken again to

put Nora on the spotlight when Terry reads his email. When darkened,

the lights should have a deep blue hue to show her resentment.

ACT 3 When the fight breaks out between the two, the stage should fill

with red lights to give off the mood of anger

ACT 3 When the fight is over and they start drinking, lights should go

back to normal to a soft white brightness, then fade when the act is

over

SET DESIGN

Where Shall we ACT!?

By: Emily Nguyen

General Objectives • Creates an environment for performers and the

performance. • Helps set the mood and style of the play. • Help distinguish realistic and unrealistic aspects of

the play. • Displays the period the play takes place. • Provides a central image for the play.

TYPE OF SET

Why? • The play takes place in a house

with many rooms. • There are many entrances and

exits within the play. • For the scenes done on the

front porch at the end of the play, you would not see it take place on the set.

Right Stage Wing Stage Left Stage

Wing

Audience

Proscenium Theatre

ENVIRONMENT

Fancy and high-class.

Care-free and rich.

Immense amount of fantasy, limited amount of reality.

MOOD AND STYLE

Style • Upper-class • How?

• Many rooms in the house.

• Fancy furniture. • Many decorations.

• Mood • False happiness and

oblivious to the truth. • How?

• The excessive decorations in the house.

REALITY AND IMAGINATION

Reality:

• Nora and Terry are poor and in debt to Raj. • How?

• The exquisite items are fake.

• Imagination: • Nora has all the money to

spend, and Terry’s promotion would make their life even better.

• Nora’s father left money for Nora and her family after his death.

• There are many exquisite items around the house.

TIME PERIOD

21st Century • Modern technology (computer,

television, and telephones). • House design

Stage Floor

Front Door

Back Door

Stairs

Front Room/ Hallway Room: • Consists of

family portrait and coat hanger.

Study Room: • Terry’s study

place containing his computer.

TV Room • A room for the

kids, used in a few scenes when the kids come home. Could also be the room Marta used.

Upstairs Living Room: • Where the

party took place.

Living Room: • Consists of

fireplace, Christmas tree (in some scenes), and Couch.

Kitchen: • Where Dr.

Pete entered and spoke to Terry.

SET LAYOUT

COSTUME DESIGN

Weaving the Threads

By: Pei-Ju Chen

STYLE/SETTING The style of the play is very modern with everything neat and

polished.

The play takes place in December of 2004 in a condo in west

Lincoln Park, Chicago.

MAJOR CHARACTERS

Nora Helmer (age:32) o In the play she is portrayed as a dreamy and a little

bit airhead kind of housewife that loves to shop and often refuses to face reality.

o She is a housewife whose only job is to shop, cook, and play with the children. She would be in outfits similar to the picture located on the right of the slide because of a few reasons. o First: She loves to shop. o Second: Hired a house cleaner and a nanny. o Third: Bought a condo with borrowed money o Conclusion: she likes to live extravagant while in

reality her financial status might not be the best.

o Throughout the entire play she felt like she resembled a doll that lives in a dollhouse (their condo) who waits for her owner (her husband, Terry) to pet her every now and then.

Terry Helmer (age: 33) o Depicted as a man with very high self-

esteem and often contradicted himself. He spoils his wife, Nora, with all these money to go shop with and based on the dictions used we could infer the affections he has for his wife but he would raise his voice at her and at the end of the play even called her a “retarded cunt”.

o Is the division head manager at bank one in the mid-market lending department

o His occupation was what allowed Raj (the person Nora borrowed money from) to be able to blackmail Nora.

o The performer acting as Terry would put on some sort of business attire as he leaves for work and then would change into semi-casual clothing while at home.

Home Work

Raj Patel (age: 33)

o The antagonist of the play, he blackmails Nora but

later on decides to drop everything because of

Kristine Linde.

o He was one of those loners in college who had bad

social skills and had hard working parents who

struggled to pay for the tuition fees of him and his

sister. During college he was accused of stealing

money from young republicans as well. Kristine (his ex-

girlfriend) had also left him which contributed to his

feeling of hatred.

o Raj is working on stem-cell research.

o As for the clothings to be worn for the character Raj,

it would things like a sweater with some jeans or a simple

t-shirt with khaki pants.

MINOR CHARACTERS

Pete (age: 33)

o He was the old roommate of Terry Helmer, visits

the Helmer family quite often. Towards the end of

the play he reveals that he visits the family in order

to see Nora and shows his affections towards her.

o Worked as an endocrinologist.

o Pete also served as a catalyst for Nora’s

realization that Terry is not treating her the way

she deserves.

o He would dress in one of those button down

collar shirts along with some khaki pants.

Kristine Linde (age: 34)

o An old friend of Nora; worked as the R.A. while Nora

was in college.

o Depicted as a very independent single woman who

turned out to be Raj Patel’s ex-girlfriend. She was

unemployed when she visited Nora because she spent all

her money on traveling by herself after leaving Raj.

o In the end of the play, she also successfully

convinced Raj to stop the blackmail and drop everything.

o The actress playing the role of Kristine would dress

in a very simplistic but stylish at the same time kind of

clothing like the picture shown.

Iris (age:30) o The house cleaner, only appeared in the play

for a short period. o A minor character that does not affect the

theme too much but it shows the extravagant life the family lives

o Would dress in casual clothing when she is out with Nora or another family member and when she is cleaning as well.

Marta (age:30) o The nanny, portrayed as a quiet and

responsible employee and a single mom with one daughter.

o Although she appeared in many of the scenes, she does not relate to the theme too much. Also contributes to show the luxury life the family lives.

o Wears casual clothing like Iris but would carry around a bag of children supplies (ex. Snacks, water) if they leave the condo.

Macey (age: 3), Max (age: 4), Skyler (age 6)

o They are the children of Nora and Terry Helmer, but only appears in a few scenes.

o We could only infer they are very lively and energetic kids from the play script but nothing else about their personalities were hinted or stated.

o Max would put on outfits similar to the one on the far right

o Macey and Skyler would dress in very cute girly outfits, preferably dresses.v

THE END The production lifecycle of Dollhouse..