Marisol By Jose RIvera: Scenic Design

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to provide a record of the scenic design process for Marisol, produced by the Theatre Department and performed in the Kogod Theatre at the University of Maryland. The attached packet contains visual research used as inspiration for the design, preliminary models and sketches that track process, technical drafting, and photographs of the performance. Marisol is set in Spanish Harlem during the early nineteen nineties and transforms to a post apocalyptic environment and a world turned upside down. I created a space in the round that uses raw metals and concrete to symbolize the location through simple line and shape. The set is purely realistic at its core and dissipates into a surrealistic form on the outer edges. Through the form of magical realism the ground becomes the sky, a subway lamp becomes the moon, and a fire escape becomes the portal to the heavens.