Twelfth Night (Or What You WiIl) by William Shakespeare

Directed by Bethany Mangum-Oles

Stage Manager - Luke Harmon

ASM - Jessie Ferreira

Scenic Designer - Rachel Seabaugh

Lighting Designer - Alexa Wiljanen

Assistant Lighting Designer - Sierra Walker

Costume Designer - Sarah Slagle

Assistant Costume Designer - Caitlyn Kern

Technical Director - Kallen Eckert

Paint Charge - Eric Brockmeier

Props Master - Dave Doherty

Asst. Props Master - Rachel Seabaugh

The World is Your Stage

This show was not only my first fully realized production at NIU, it also functioned as my thesis for my degree. The director's concept for this show was that our cast of characters were actually in some sort of limbo that resembled a 1930's circus. By placing the show in such an abstract place, we were able to really play with the symbolism throughout the piece. When first looking at this play, I was really drawn to the more spiritual side of the circus with things like tarot and mysticism. My original design for the show involved these "finger" walls that would reveal a number of constellations when lit from behind.

We didn't end up going in this direction because of budget and hiring limitations, so we shifted the playing space into the round rather than in the thrust formation. I included these large poles in the corners of the space that could allude to the shipwreck-death that our characters have experienced, and also as a place for the tarot cards I created. When looking at this play thru the lens of tarot, almost all of the characters fit the stereotypes within the cards. Because of that, I decided it would be a good idea to create tarot cards for each character within the play (18 total). Here are a couple of those. I was also able to use these tarot cards within the lobby display. It was a wonderful opportunity to bring the action of the play out into the world, and it also worked as a marketing tool.

Below, I have my final renderings for this show, created in 3DS Max, along with some more of the final production photos, and the final lobby display.