PJSchroeder.com - Assassins

ASSASSINS :

Carnival of Presidential Carnage :
What If We Never Left the Midway ?

Introduction

I began searching for a show to design for my thesis project during the Winter
Break of 2011-2012. The first and foremost requirement was more practical than artistic.
The show had to be large enough to warrant a study of this kind. There had to be at
least 20 costumes as well as there needed to be at least three sets. For this reason I
looked to musical theater and opera for the libretto and music that would carry me
through to this point- the point of penning my defense.

I have studied the Italian language and I have an unsated passion for the culture
of the Italian people and their art. It was only natural then, to choose an Italian opera. I
listened to many Italian operas. To mention only a few of those and to give a general
scope of the operas that I considered: I listened to Giuseppe Verdi's - Rigoletto, Giacomo
Puccini's - "Tosca". I listened to and read Amiliare Ponchielli's - "La Gioconda" ,
Gioachino Rossini's - "Il Barbiere di Savigila", and was very near choosing Giuseppe
Verdi's – "Otello". I was moved by the darkness of "Otello", the atmosphere you could cut
with a knife, the growing tension as Iago's vengeful plan unfolds. Though the power of
these feelings were strong, I was moved mostly by the deep love that drives Otello's
suspicion and rage. So it was decided. I would design Verdi's - "Otello".

At this point I thought, just to be sure, I would ask for suggestions from the faculty.
Perhaps there was a show out there I hadn't heard about. It wasn't a last ditch effort
to find my show, I felt I had already found it, but wanted their thoughts since they were
aware of my work and style. I also thought I might get a suggestion that I hadn't
considered, a new contender. Which is what ultimately happened.

"Assassins" by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman was suggested. Italian it
was not. But I liked it. The darkness was there, and that atmosphere of growing despair.
Spattered with humor that cut like a spinning shard of shrapnel. While listening to the
soundtrack for the first time, many images flooded my “Italian opera coated” mind. I
listened to it again. And yet again. And I started modeling. That was how I chose
"Assassins" for my thesis project. I just kept listening to it and working.

What didn't I do ? I did not look at past productions during this process. I did
everything I could to avoid seeing how the show had been mounted in the past. I do this
for all of my work. I really don't want to be influenced by what everyone else has done.
And for this reason, this design is truly my own. It is not taken from anywhere but the
music and the images it evoked on those early January mornings in the new year of
2012.

Because of this method of working, I will not be citing past productions as
references or points of incite. I also must say that during the process of developing the
designs for "Assassins" I found myself fighting against the proud descriptions that litter
the libretto from shows past. Even though I have avoided looking at past productions,
they still wanted to influence me. I found myself trying to look through them, beyond them, to see what else is out there to discover. Perhaps what was originally intended.

SCENIC DESIGN PROCESS

What If We Never Left the Midway ?

A few words about my process. Earlier I mentioned that I began “modeling” the
show once I began listening to the music. I think it is important to discuss what I mean
by “modeling”. I typically will make a series of very simple pencil sketches to flesh out
the idea. Here is an early one :

Once I have a sense of the world of the play, the space and the action that needs
to take place there, I move to working in 3 dimensions. The computer application that I
use for modeling scenically is Cinema 4D. I have been using it long enough that I feel a
bit limited when drawing two dimensionally. I model the scenic structures, based on my
original sketch, in 3 dimensions. Within this format I am able to easily re-size, rotate,
shift elements as I go. I know that once I get the space as it will be, I can then use these
modeled pieces to generate working drawings and elevations. I can also generate my
lighting storyboards through the use of the powerful and accurate light rendering engines
within the 3D application.

When I began “modeling” the show I was working from one perspective. The perspective of the music. I had several soundtracks, the Original Cast Recording and the
Broadway Cast Recording. I found I was most influenced by the Broadway version. It
feels rawer to me. A bit more dangerous. I also had the music score and lyrics. I began
searching for the libretto to go along with it. I searched libraries, the KU library copy had
gone missing, the copy in the script library within the Theatre Department had gone
missing, the copy at the public library near my home, had, you guessed it, gone missing.
It seemed to be a popular show. So I ordered it from Amazon. I continued working
from the perspective of the music and the musical score.

     According to the score, and the libretto once it arrived, the show is to jump from one location and time to another. Here is a list of scenes, times and the assassin of import for
each:

     Sc 1 – A Shooting Gallery in a fairground; All Assassins
     Sc 2 – 1865- Rural Virginia in a barn; John Wilkes Booth
     Sc 3 - A turn of the century saloon; Assassins
     Sc 4 – 1933- Miamis Bayfront Park; Giuseppe Zangara
     Sc 5 – 1901- Anarchist rally in Chicago; Leon Czolgosz
     Sc 6- 1975- A public park; Lynette Squeaky Fromme
     Sc 7- Gun song- No specified place; All Assassins
     Sc 8- 1901- Temple of Music Pavillion at the Pan American Exposition, Buffalo, NY.;
               Leon Czolgosz
     Sc 9- 1974- A park bench; Sam Byck
     Sc 10- An apartment interior; John Hinckley
     Sc 11- Target practice- Sara Jane Moore
     Sc 12- Gallows; Charles Guiteau
     Sc 13- Inside a '67 Buick; Sam Byck
     Sc 14- I Did It; No specified location
     Sc 15- A storeroom on the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository

     But that is not the way the music spoke to me. What if we never left the midway
at all ? What if the entire arc of the play exists solely in the fairground in which the first
scene begins? The assassins are stuck here retelling their stories in this Carnival of
Presidential Carnage, if you will. It was a place to celebrate their deeds unlike they were
celebrated, as they had originally hoped, in life. They relive their stories, a bit like street
shows in an amusement park, or perhaps more like insidious residual hauntings. This is
an amusement park of their making and they do have some assistance. To help them
pull off their stories are the carny workers. They play the extra parts,

including the presidents,
but they aren't always happy about it. They too are stuck in this twisted loop.

For whom are they performing is the next question? This particular show is for
one special patron. Lee Harvey Oswald. We see Lee lurking in the background in all
scenes, always watching. The audience should wonder who he is and why he is watching.
It is only in the end that his true identity is revealed and the true purpose of the carnival
is realized. For the Assassins to be able to leave this carnivalian prison they must
convince Lee to take the final fatal shot that we have been told he took. Only then will
their achievements be realized as a whole, anarchy will rein supreme, and they will be
free at last to revel in it.

So this is the direction I took. We never actually travel through time to different
places, but the places and times are created within the backdrop of this fairground, by
the assassins and their carny workers all to induce Lee Harvey Oswald to take that shot
and to free them.

(A) Notice Lee Lurking in the Background USR.
(B) President Lincoln on the trap/lift to be dropped out of sight when shot by Booth.
(C) The Lucky Shot Spinning Wheel lights up and spins on each assassination.

One scenic detail to note is where the assassination re-enactments take place
during the show. The SR platform is a hydraulic lift/ trap. Each president is raised up
into position by the lift. When the assassin takes his/her shot, and it is a kill shot, the
roulette wheel above spins, lights flash and the president is dropped out of sight. I see
this happening as though it were a dunk booth at the fairground. Within the music score
there is a loud bell that goes off that will coincide with this action. During the Reagan attempt,
John Hinckley is shooting at him from a gondola on the ferris wheel. In this case
Reagan walks off waving. There is a buzzer within the score. No lights flash. It is clearly
a missed shot. Reagan is scripted to say: “....Where'd this kid learn to shoot ? The
Russian Army ? Missed again ! Missed again !! “ As Hinckley fires and misses over and
over as the ferris wheel revolves to upstage.

COSTUME DESIGN PROCESS

I typically start any costume design with hours of research. That was certainly the
case for "Assassin's". Since most of the characters I needed to create are historical in nature, I felt it was important to put them in clothes that were recognizable to them. I want
the audience to know immediately who John Wilkes Booth is when they first see him.
President Lincoln is clearly recognizable in his top hat and overcoat and beard. Although
I wanted to stay true to history I also wanted the characters to be original, theatrical.
This is a carnival after all.
I decided my through line with the assassin characters would be a costume
based on the clothing they were wearing at the time of their arrests or in some cases
deaths. I thought this would have been the most recognizable attire, assuming the assassin
was photographed and those photographs were published. It was probably the
last time they were seen in anything like real clothes.
The resources I found most informative were the actual mugshots taken upon their arrest.
For instance, Lynette “ Squeaky “ Fromme wore a dress with a holster strapped to
her calf with leather straps.

Giuseppe Zangara was arrested wearing an oddly patterned white shirt and what
looks to be cream pinstriped pants.

Lee Harvey Oswald is well recognized in the clothes he wore when he uttered
these famous words, “ I'm just a Patsy!”, at a press conference the night of his arrest.

I did; however, follow the suggestion in the script to clothe Sam Byck in a Santa
suit. He had been known for protesting in a Santa suit and the contrast between his
abrasive demeanor and the Santa disguise has it's humorous qualities. The sign he carries and the writing on it are his own.

Once I have determined, through my research, how exactly I want the character
to be dressed. I begin the search for the fabrics that best suit the clothing article, the
character, and the feel of the world of the play. An example is the character of
Charles Guiteau. Charles is famous for shooting President Garfield
at the Baltimore & Potomac Train Station in 1881.

A staunchly religious man, I chose to clothe him in stiff fabrics with a heavy texture.
Something that looks to be uncomfortable and rigid. Due to the fact that he was
later hung for his crime I carried the high necked collar into the garment as well.

If the characters of the assassins are historically based. The characters of the
carnival workers too were based on imagery gleaned from old photographs of carnivals
and factory workers. I wanted to give them a touch of "clown-ness" as well. They are a reflection of how the assassins see the world and the people that live in it.

This also is evident in the presidents that we see. Their coats are imprinted with the flags that once draped their coffins. They too have a clown quality about them. Remember they are only carny workers dressed to play the commanders in chief.

LIGHTING DESIGN PROCESS

     When I approach a lighting project I usually do so using the tried and true approach
developed by Stanley McCandless, who in 1932, introduced a systematic
method of dividing the playing area of the stage into acting areas to be lit. The next
step, he then went on to suggest, is to light those areas first for visibility and second for
mood and atmosphere.
     This is the avenue I have taken with Assassins. I have made sure that each area
has a neutral diffused frontal “ face light “ with a warm left and cool right key light. This
will allow for ultimate control with endless possibilities for each area. I have then added
several different colors of back light for each area. I have taken the liberty to add side
lights and up lights to the areas that need it for atmospheric and emotional effect. Lastly
I have added pools of light in the background to add depth to each scene
I have also allowed individual control of all decorative bulbs that line most of the
scenic elements. This is also true of the lightboxes of the false Proscenium and SL and
SR Banners, for each is assigned it’s own dimmer.
     Because of the nature of the 3D environment in which I have already modeled
the set, I am allowed to truly play with the lights and the myriad of lighting effects that
come with them. This gives me the freedom to create lighting storyboards unlike any
other illustrative lighting method I have yet to see. The best aspect of this method is that
these dramatic results can be duplicated in a real life scenario on stage. What you see
is truly what you get.

CONCLUSION

     After working on the scenography for "Assassin's" for the last 31/2 months I see
strengths in the work as well as weaknesses.
     Part of the challenge in this project was time management. I think I have managed
the time quite efficiently. I have modeled the show 3 dimensionally, and then built
a physical 1/2” scale model of all scenic elements. I have designed 23 costumes after
completing many hours of research and incorporated all of the costumes into the 3 dimensional
world I had already fabricated. I have drafted all of the scenic elements and
created Ground Plans and Section Views for 15 scenes. I have generated lighting storyboards
for all scenes, created the light plot , instrument schedule, and gel cut list. I
have developed over 50 signs, banners, and flags ( many unused ). The Assassins file
on my hard drive has grown to 52 gigabytes. All within a 14 week period. Now with a little
over a week before my defense and only a little touch up, I realize I time managed
that pretty well.
     The weakness is that I know that further development needed to take place. I feel
like I only scratched the surface of the world in some specific areas on the set, but knew
that the development phase was over. I needed to move on to other aspects of the
whole if I were to get it all done in time. So there wasn't any real time to explore new
things. I really had to commit to one concept early in the process to make it all happen.

Thanks for coming along !

Phillip Schroeder

Scenic Design

Scenic Sketches / Lighting Storyboard