She Kills Monsters Set Design
In my Scene Design class, we designed sets for the play She Kills Monsters. We sketched out storyboards for the major scenes of the play, drafted groundplans and section views in AutoCad, and created partial paint elevations.
Concept Storyboard
She Kills Monsters takes place in the 90s, switching back and forth between the real world and the Dungeons and Dragons game the main character plays. I designed my set to create a separation between the two worlds for the actors to move between. In this storyboard, I showed the beginning of the show, the introduction to the game, the bubble the real-world scenes would take place in, the final battle with a giant puppeteered dragon, and the dramatic ending to the show.
Stage Concept
My idea for this set was a three-tiered structure with a "bubble" in the center to make the real-world scenes feel small compared to the game world like they do to the main character. Trap doors and regular doors behind either tree on the sides in addition to stairs in the back would let actors appear "out of nowhere" on the set and allow for fast transitions. A projection screen on top of the proscenium would display video-game-like messages and the bubble would lower to reveal a ladder for the main character to climb at the end of the show.
Groundplan
I created a groundplan of my design in AutoCAD using a layout of the theatre. Here you can see the stairs in the back for actors to access the top platforms and the doors and trapdoors available.
Section View
I created a section view in AutoCAD to show the layers of the structure. This view also includes two side scrims, two side curtains, and a top curtain to fly in. The scrims are used to show video game statistics for each of the characters when they're introduced and the curtains mask the Dungeons and Dragons world before the audience is initially taken into it.
Paint Elevation
This project was also the first time I created a paint elevation. Trying to keep to a 90s' video game aesthetic, I wanted most of the Dungeons and Dragons world to look cartoony, using mostly flat bright colors. Aside from that, I used light stone texture on the gray parts to make it more visually interesting.
