Little Shop of Horrors
Directed by Elise Marinkovich
Francis Parker School
Winter 2016
Little Shop of Horrors was a tough show for me as a teacher, but an easy show for me as a designer. With students designing the set, sound, and lights, I only had to be the technical director and design the props and projections.
In terms of technical direction, this show required a lot of painting. Our biggest challenges were did the brickwork and a couple of signs, all of which turned out wonderfully. The most fun aspect was making things look dirty and grimy, as befitting the skid row setting.
For props, this show was of course dominated by plants and flowers. We rented the four main Twoie puppets, and then designed and built our own seedling versions for the flower seller flashback and the finale cuttings. I also needed to stock the flower shop during the height of their success, which called for a ton of flowers and vases.
Another unique twist was that we wanted to keep this show period, which meant that I needed to find or make some very particular props. The hardest one was the original cash register, which I rented. I also got to make a lot of ephemera props, from newspapers, to magazines, to boxes of plant food and rat poison.
Finally, I also designed the projections which we displayed before the show. The director really wanted this to feel like a B movie from the 50s, and the projections (and pre-show music) got the audience into that mood.
Francis Parker School
Winter 2016
Little Shop of Horrors was a tough show for me as a teacher, but an easy show for me as a designer. With students designing the set, sound, and lights, I only had to be the technical director and design the props and projections.
In terms of technical direction, this show required a lot of painting. Our biggest challenges were did the brickwork and a couple of signs, all of which turned out wonderfully. The most fun aspect was making things look dirty and grimy, as befitting the skid row setting.
For props, this show was of course dominated by plants and flowers. We rented the four main Twoie puppets, and then designed and built our own seedling versions for the flower seller flashback and the finale cuttings. I also needed to stock the flower shop during the height of their success, which called for a ton of flowers and vases.
Another unique twist was that we wanted to keep this show period, which meant that I needed to find or make some very particular props. The hardest one was the original cash register, which I rented. I also got to make a lot of ephemera props, from newspapers, to magazines, to boxes of plant food and rat poison.
Finally, I also designed the projections which we displayed before the show. The director really wanted this to feel like a B movie from the 50s, and the projections (and pre-show music) got the audience into that mood.
Scenic Painting
Props
Projections
Final Look
