Joe Turner’s Come and Gone Set Design
Client: N/A
Location: Black Box Theater
Service: Theatre Stage Set
This stage set of August Wilson’s play, originally produced in 1986, is an analysis of the question: how does one find their individual identity and simultaneously, their place in society?
Taking place in 1911, the play zeroes in on a boardinghouse that is home to struggling Black men and women trying to adjust to life in Pittsburgh at the turn of the century.
Inspiration Art
Richard Linder’s The Gambler art piece feels like an object in space. The glass bottle is an invisible wall for the figure within, giving a false sense of freedom, much like the weight Joe Turner has on the character Loomis after he is freed from Joe Turner’s chain gang.
It is this invisible wall, along with the underlying theme of finding one’s voice— or “song” as the character Bynum puts it— that gives us the foundation of the stage set. It takes on the form of a birdcage constructed in standard 2x4 studs, mimicking a basic balloon frame house.
One side of the birdcage swings open, creating a second platform in the black box theatre. This platform lets the director play with the idea of which characters will “step out of the box” and who will use it as a safe haven?
The Antoni Berni collage reminds us that although we are individuals, we still co-exist within our communities with similarities that tie us all together, even if just by the basic fact that we are human.
This sentiment is reflected in the furniture set that is placed downstage and where most of the play takes place. It consists of a round dining table and a set of mismatched chairs. Each character has a chair that reflects their personality and the communion around the table establishes a sense of community within the boarding house.
“What we call the self is part of a larger matrix of relationship and society.”
