In this post, Lilly Theater Manager Krista Layfield shares about the inspiration behind the set design and install for our latest performance, The Tortoise and the Hare.
The plot of Tortoise and Hare centers on a race. We thought about how racing must be a pastime for forest creatures, kind of like how you might play baseball in the backyard with your friends. Our stage already had the oval shape needed for a race track, but how could we make it into a place for animals?
The original discussions about the set design occurred with Jay Ganz, the technical consultant for Lilly Theater. The set designer, Abigail Copeland, continued this idea by looking at photographs of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and other racetracks. She also looked into architecture that used natural materials, traditional wooden pagodas, and landscape art.
Inspiration also came from an unexpected source—a furniture store. This is where the giant leaves used on the set were found. There were a few basic elements that our set shares with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including the Pagoda, banked corners, and the tall protective fencing around the oval shape of the track. The fence posts were made to look like trees, the fence material is a leaf-like curtain (called camo-netting, which is used for camouflage). A table is a tree stump and the chairs toadstool mushrooms.
The final effect is that the animals live and play in a natural, forest-like racetrack. It took about two full weeks to build, install and paint the set. Here is a picture of the completed product with the added touch of the stage lighting.
Have you seen The Tortoise and the Hare? Where do you like to race with your friends?
The Tortoise and the Hare by Candice Cain; presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
The museum's next production, The Tortoise and the Hare, will be in Lilly Theater from March 16 to April 21, 2013! In this blog post, Lilly Theater Manager Krista Layfield shares how costume and creative makeup can transform actors into animals.
In my bright blue outfit and neon green cape, guests instantly recognize me as a superhero.Of course, because Captain Extraordinary is unique to our museum, they don’t necessarily know which superhero I am. I often get: “Green Lantern!” or “Superman!” (or one time, inexplicably: “Wonder Woman!”). Either way, the kids are excited. We talk about dinosaurs and Transformers and how people can use porcupine quills to make art… but now it’s 10:30 am, and I must bid my friends farewell. I head to the dressing room and replace the outfit with an understated gray suit, a vest, and a tie. I whiten my temples and paint spirit gum on my lip to affix a mustache. Finally, I make my way to The Power of Children exhibition where, as Anne Frank’s father, I give a performance about the holocaust.
My case is not an isolated one. There are nine full-time actors here at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, and most have similar stories — a theatrical interest nurtured in high school, pursued into undergraduate studies, but with post-graduate jobs suddenly veering far from that path: brokerage assistant, coffee-shop barista, ballroom dance choreographer. Why weren’t we all actively pursuing careers in theatre, when it was clearly something we all loved?
