Miss Siagon
Dixie State College of Utah - Spring 2010
Black Box Theater
Director - Matt Neves
Dixie State College of Utah - Spring 2010
Black Box Theater
Director - Matt Neves
Concept
The Director did not want the standard proscenium theater musical. So we chose to do this production in the black box theater for a more intimate experience. Once that the venue was chosen, we decide to go with a tennis court seating arrangement:
Sketchup Rendering of Floorplan of Miss Saigon
Another idea was the issue of casting; since we had no Vietnamese in our theater program the director had the concept of masks. The director took a line from the play "never lose face," and used this important theme in the play, in that the members of the Vietnamese culture very much respect their families and never want to "lose face value or respect" of their the family.
The masks portrayed the element of being their culture, but when at times the mask came off, their inner desires were able to be exposed and sometime suppressed.
Knowing that the costume department was going to take on this challenge I wanted to press with it in the set. Given that the audience was going to face one another looking through the actors. I wanted the audience to be effected as much as the characters. I decided to put a scrim like wall behind each side of the audience with faces of the Vietnamese that at times actors could stand behind. Not only was the audience looking at the faces of the Vietnamese, but the faces were looking back. The Vietnamese had been Westernized to the point that the fantasy of the "American Dream" was real. The masks portrayed the element of being their culture, but when at times the mask came off, their inner desires were able to be exposed and sometime suppressed.
Sketchup rendering with bamboo reed wall behing audience with pictures of faces of Vietnamese people during the Vietnam War
The concept of the faces peering through a bamboo reed wall echos that of the bamboo curtain being placed on the south Vietnamese from the Vietcong and Ho Chi Minh. These images were my base references for the concept.
Getty Photo: These Images were the base reference for the concept
The scrim like wall behind each side of the audience with faces of the Vietnamese that at time actors could stand behind.
Fall of Saigon Scene
One of the first questions that is brought up when others find out that your program is doing Miss Saigon is "How are you going to do the helicopter?" Well both the director and I were more interested in the action that happened at the gates of the US embassy.
Getty Photo: Reference for concept
Sketchup Rendering of the Fall of Saigon Scene
Production Photo of the fall of Saigon scene. The ACL fixutes up in the cat walk represent the helicopter
Dreamland
The top of the show kicks off in a sleazy Saigon Go Go bar. Just having the audience this close to the action is enough to be intimate...
Production Photo of BackStage of DreamLand
Production Photo of Dream Land
Production Photo of Movie in My Mind
Production Photo: Kim tels her story. The use of projectors and putting up images were helpful on the white walls to go with the already existing bamboo wall images
