Designs for Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet keep us in the know

posted by Molly MacLagan, Literary and Dramaturgy Intern

City Theatre Company’s production of Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet, Tarrell Alvin McCraney’s coming of age tale, closes on Sunday.  Part of the same trilogy as City Theatre’s 2008 hit, The Brothers Size, the show follows the title character as he comes to terms with his sexuality and searches for meaning in the cryptic dreams he’s been having.  Marcus’s father, Elegba, also dreamed we’re told.  “I’m just confused,” Marcus says to the elderly soothsayer character, Elegua.  “I mean, why my daddy dreams made you sad?  What about my dreams make you get quiet.”  Marcus wonders if perhaps his father’s dreams are the key to understanding his own.   However, considering that Marcus lives in the fictional town of San Pere, Louisiana, whose name means “without father,” it’s no surprise that Elegba is nowhere to be found. 

In spite of the angst that Marcus and his friends experience, the world the playwright has created is also one of hilarity and humor.  Within moments of the play starting, Marcus’s friend Shaunta Iyun laments the heat of an August funeral in Louisiana, saying “Lord, I’m in hell and I ain’t even the one dead.”  Such lines act as signposts for costumer Ange Vesco, who says of the funeral “I’m not sure any of them actually cares that Shango is dead.  They’re here to be seen, and they’ll wear whatever the hell they want.”  That kind of information is important in establishing character, she explains. When Shun enters the scene in her sexiest out-on-the-town getup, the audience learns something about her.  She is a woman who isn’t defined by men, but also a woman who may not be the best example for her daughter, Osha.  When Vesco and director Robert O’Hara discussed Shun’s character and clothing, the word “inappropriate” came up repeatedly.  That’s something the costume needed to communicate clearly.  “What I do is I use clothes the characters wear as a way to instantly convey information about them to the audience.” 

Conveying information is a large part of what any theatrical design does.  Sound designer Joe Pino says that he feels a responsibility to provide information on an intellectual level, but also on an emotional level.  “Sound design is connected to the emotional life of the play, and the audience’s experience of that world,” he reflects.  His job can be to create literal sounds, such as thunder, or to create an abstract sound, such as sugar.  “[The story] at that moment is about the origin of the word ‘sweet.’  The words are already telling us what’s happening – the sound doesn’t need to tell us the same information again, so if it can be metaphoric it will help the audience to consider the deeper meanings and thoughts of the play instead of just illustrating the surface.” 

This concept naturally carries over into costuming.  The ensemble Vesco specifically created for Shua, the young man visiting from the North, was deliberately more urban than those of the other characters, and she describes the look as distinctly New York or North East.  On a deeper level, though, Vesco wanted to create a look that seemed out of place when compared to the other characters’ wardrobes.  She recalls “I wanted him to look like he didn’t belong.  He had to put your antenna up that nothing good is going to happen with this person.”

  Vesco points out that the characters in the play are larger than life.  The designs support the world of the play, which is written in a highly stylized way with actors speaking directly to the audience to describe the inner life of their characters, so naturalism isn’t necessarily a part of the design process.  Pino explains “The biggest challenge in a show like this is not getting too literal.  Having worked with Robert before, I know he’s not really interested in literal sounds.”

Having the opportunity to return to McCraney’s Brother/Sister Plays trilogy is another aspect of Marcus that both designers have enjoyed.  Pino and Vesco both worked with O’Hara (and scenic designer Tony Ferrieri) on City Theatre’s production of The Brothers Size, and being reunited has been an exciting experience for both designers.  Vesco says, “My favorite part about working on Marcus has been the chance to do another part of the trilogy.  I think this play is so beautiful, and I really love Tarrell’s writing!”  For Pino, working on another play from the trilogy presented some practical advantages, as well.  “The Brothers Size was recent enough that I remember the sorts of sounds that I used for it, but far enough away that I don’t remember the specifics,” Pino muses.  “So a lot of the sounds [in Marcus] are my memory of how that play sounded and how those textures would move out of the garage [where Ogun worked] and into the swamp [that surrounds San Pere].” 

The sounds on that swamp in Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet are of a storm that’s looming.  Pino and O’Hara recognized the importance of what Pino calls the “sensual qualities” of the play, its events, and its characters, and how those qualities inform the way the show might sound.  “There’s sound under almost the entire show,” he says.  “It’s subtle, but it’s there.”  Pino’s designs help transform the set from place to place, discreetly providing a soundtrack for life in the projects and the world on the bayou.  The transformations facilitated by the costumes are more tangible, providing the means for actors to do triple-duty, since Starla Benford and Jaime Lincoln Smith both play three characters apiece.  The wigs in the show, provided by Penn Wigs, were a big help, but there are other ways to create distinctions between characters.  Vesco explains that accessories such as a pair of glasses or different shoes not only create a visual difference, but provide different information about the character.  Also, she says, “Luckily Jaime and Starla are both incredible actors, so my job was a little easier.” 

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Critic reviews of Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet

posted by Molly MacLagan, Literary and Dramaturgy Intern

Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet opened Friday to an enthusiastic City Theatre audience, laughing, gasping, and generally interacting with the characters in Tarell Alvin McCraney’s delightful play.  And now the critics have spoken as well.  The consensus?  See Marcus, it’s an experience you simply shouldn’t miss.

Post-Gazette Review by Bob Hoover
Tribune-Review Review by Alice T. Carter
WRCT Review by Gordon Spencer

Keep checking back for more information, reviews, audience accolades, and other features about the design for Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet.

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Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet designers bring life to dreams

posted by Molly MacLagan, Literary and Dramaturgy Intern

In Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet, the title character’s friend, Osha, asks him “Marcus, what’s the secret?”  He answers “Ain’t no secret.  I’m just dreaming.”  The questions that follow are telling.  “Like sweet dreams?” Osha asks.  “Or beautiful nightmares?” his friend Shaunta wants to know.  Dreams provide the background for the lyrical and poetic world through which Marcus must journey to learn about his father and, more significantly, about himself in McCraney’s coming of age and coming out tale, set in the projects of the fictional town of San Pere, Louisiana and the surrounding bayou.  The world the playwright created requires some innovative thinking from the set and lighting designers who have the hard job of making a dream world out of reality.  When asked what instruction he gave designers, director Robert O’Hara says he told them “It’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream on the bayou.  This is a mystical dream world.  But Marcus’s dream is a nightmare.”  Scenic designer Tony Ferrieri and lighting designer Andy Ostrowski took that idea and ran with it.  Both tried to incorporate a feel of mystery and magic (and sometimes a little something sinister) to exemplify the journey Marcus is making, resulting in the sense that one never knows what could be lurking just beneath the surface. 

Ferrieri strove for that sense of secrecy when using water in his set design.  Four pools of water dot the stage, separated by winding boardwalks that twist around each other before disappearing offstage or becoming part of other set pieces.  The pools are deliberately lined in black to obscure the depth of it.  To look at it, one can’t tell whether the water is one foot deep or nine feet deep, and that’s the way Ferrieri wants it – the darkness and depth of the water suggest the depth of the issues with which Marcus and other characters in the play wrestle.  Of course, the water presents practical problems, as well.  The weight could be an issue, but that doesn’t worry Ferrieri.  Laughing, he says “I’m just praying nothing leaks!”  The pools of water are right over the Gordon Lounge, but all the precautions have been taken and he doesn’t foresee any problems.  “We [the scenic crew] have been really careful to keep things like screws out of the pools.  We don’t even wear shoes around them so we won’t puncture the lining.”  That lining has created some challenges for Ostrowski’s lighting design, too.  He asks, “Do you know why the Caribbean looks so blue?  It’s not the water, it’s all the life that’s beneath the surface.”  Lighting water is as much about lighting what is in or behind the water as it is about lighting the surface of the water.  Ostrowski had to find a way to light the water without depriving it of its mystery. 

In addition, Ostrowski worked with his team to create a device that keeps the water moving.  “Moving, moving, moving,” he smiles at the thought.  “Always moving.”  The movement is appropriate, since there’s nothing calm about the upheaval in Marcus’s life.  Another way the designers have created a sense of instability with the water is through the use of rain; it adds to the motion of the water.  In a play where water features so prominently, having rain onstage is fitting and Ferrieri doesn’t disappoint: it can fall in all of the pools simultaneously or in individual pools.  The use of rain also allows the audience to see the dream that Marcus describes to other characters – a dream about rain. 

McCraney often lets the audience witness Marcus’s internal world, and one of the most interesting dreams we’re privy to is the “Sun shower” dream.  In it, Marcus and his friends, Osha and Shaunta, perform a drag show to “Sun Shower” by Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band.  Osha and Shaunta are Marcus’s “bests,” his best friends and confidantes, and like teenaged girls everywhere, they often tell him what to do.  O’Hara likens Marcus to The Wizard of Oz, saying “The characters around Marcus are the interesting ones.  They’re the ones that drive the action forward, and Marcus kind of goes where they take him.  And Marcus is like Dorothy: we don’t really know if this is actually happening, or if it’s all in his head.”  Ferrieri acknowledges that the idea of The Wizard of Oz and of the other characters helping Marcus on his journey influenced the set design.  Wanting to create a magical world for the play, he incorporated the boardwalks after finding an image of a zig-zagging boardwalk through a misty forest.  “The imagery I looked at when I was researching for this play is just a dreamy world.  You never know what’s going to come out of there.  And it’s emblematic of Marcus’s journey,” he says of the image and the set he created in response. 

The boardwalks and the spaces between the wood were also designed so that Ostrowski could light effectively.  The two men have worked together often at City Theatre, and as Ferrieri scrolls through the research images he’s compiled on his computer he explains, “I wanted to consciously create a world that light plays a big role in.  I love working with Andy.  He’s very aware of lighting everything – not just the actors, but the set, too.”  Ostrowski had one thing to say about the set: “Fantastic.”  Since the set itself doesn’t change during the show, Ostrowski is excited by the possibility of creating new locations with just light.  “I looked at the set and I thought, ok, I can really transform this world.”

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The inside scoop on Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet

posted by Molly MacLagan, Literary and Dramaturgy Intern

With Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet opening tomorrow night, there’s already a lot of buzz around town, and in local papers.  Take a look at what some of the Burgh’s finest publications have to say about City Theatre’s current offering, and hear from some of the artists who are making it all happen:

Hear from director Robert O’Hara, returning to City Theatre after directing 2008 hit The Brothers Size in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11027/1120740-325.stm

Local actor Bria Walker and CMU grad Larry Powell talk about their work on Marcus in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/theater/s_719961.html

Playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney and City Theatre Artistic Director Tracy Brigden share their thoughts on Marcus with City Paper:
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid:90132

Reviews of Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet will be posted here, so keep checking back, and if you want to reserve tickets, just call 412-431-CITY (2489).

No Diving!

posted by Molly MacLagan, Literary and Dramaturgy Intern

City Theatre staff knows how to party!  The holidays and the Winter Classic have come and gone (as have the vast quantities of food and drink heartily enjoyed by all).  But as someone very wise once said, the show must go on.  Without wasting anytime, the company for Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet was hard at work in the rehearsal room, and the staff was hard at work putting into place the elements needed for our next production.

Marcus is part of McCraney’s Brother/Sister Plays which includes City Theatre’s 2008 hit The Brothers Size.  It’s customary for designers to make a presentation at the first rehearsal.  Because Marcus requires some unique scenic elements, designer Tony Ferrieri and his crew needed to hit the ground running.  Or it might be more accurate to say they needed to dive in headfirst.  What will eventually be four pools of water framed by meandering wooden catwalks looks more like an advertisement for Hefty bags at the moment, with the stage carefully protected by pool lining.  The crew walks on this liner without shoes to prevent damaging it, and a “no diving” sign jokingly warns against any actual diving.

Scattered about the theatre are pieces of the set – weathered wood planks and platforms that will eventually makeup the aforementioned catwalks.  The front row of the theatre is mere feet from the stage, ensuring that audience members will be up-close and personal with the action.  To see sketches and models of the set from the first day of rehearsal, as well as the progress made on the set so far, click on the photos below.

Scenic designer Tony Ferrieri presents the design of his set for Marcus.

A color-coded ground plan of the set design for Marcus.

These research images helped inspire the set for Marcus.

A model of Tony’s scenic design for Marcus.

Lighting designer Andy Ostrowski will create the moon by lighting this “moon-box.”

Pieces of the puzzle.

Tony and the scene shop guys discuss the build for Marcus.

The scenic crew, and the start of the Marcus set.

The beginnings of the build for Marcus.

Shoes on the pool lining are a no-no.

The action onstage will be very close to the audience!

Soon this will be a pool full of water.

Tony models with the satchel of “important information for the safe enjoyment” of the pools.

Shaggy enforces the strict no diving policy on the set of Marcus.

Seriously. No diving.

Want to see more more?  Check back soon for more information about scenic, lighting, sound, and costume designs for Marcus and interviews with the designers.