Open Rehearsal: The Court Theatre Blog
August 20, 2009
John Culbert’s Scenic Design
I thought I’d add a few notes to those pictures of John’s set model I posted the other day.
The scenic design has three spaces: on the right side (stage left) is the recording studio proper, on stage right is the band room (located in the building’s basement), and above is the entrance to the building. The entrance is rarely depicted in most designs for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and here I think it gives the set a “third leg” that offsets and unfolds the space quite elegantly.
One of Ron’s goals for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is that the audience get a full-bodied sense of the 1920’s. For most people, it’s a difficult decade for the imagination to grasp beyond flapper girls and the Charleston. As John points out, most productions of Ma Rainey realize a set that resembles something close to a modern recording studio: a window separating the studio from the technician booth, an intercom, high-tech recording equipment, etc. In fact, the recording industry was so very young that many of its most recognizable conventions hadn’t been adopted yet. John’s idea is that the play’s recording studio is rather primitive and makeshift—the kind of operation that Sturdyvant, the producer, would put together with the cheapest materials possible.
In keeping with this concept, John and Ron’s idea is that the recording studio is built into a “found space.” Can you guess from the picture what kind of building it is?
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