Blind Mouth Singing (Scenic Designer, 2018)
Director: Nilo Cruz
Ring Theatre, Miami, FL
 
Synopsis: Blind Mouth Singing is a play written by Jorge Ignacio Cortinas, about a boy named Rederico who befriends another boy living at the bottom of a well outside his house. The tale unfolds like an allegory in a dreamscape domestic setting detached from any particular locale or time period.

Concept: Salvador Dali’s paintings inspired the feeling of the story’s stark Surrealist Dreamscape environment- an abstract world ruled by ‘twisted nature’ and scattered emotional debris. The setting is remote and rural, primitive, island-y, and subject to hurricanes. The design contained a central tree, distorted and naked of its leaves, surrounded by a decaying porch amidst a sea of sand. The representational design reinforces the story’s nebulous quality. Personal belongings buried in the sand hinted at the scattered aftermath of an ’emotional storm.’ A black scrim behind the tree projected various lighting effects to reinforce the mood and the presence of the storm.

Process: This design was communicated through a preliminary digital rendering and hand generated sketches, drafted plans with section and elevation views. Computer images were created in AutoCAD and Photoshop.