Dollhouse Rebecca Gilman

The University of Houston’s Production

Presented by: Michelle Liverman, Alicia Perkins, Omolola Areago, Kiera Duffie

Costume Design• In our production of Dollhouse , I want the characters to be dressed modernly. I envisioned Nora as a modern

housewife, but I also want to throw in elements of black into Nora’s wardrobe to show her mischievous secretive side. I also want to highlight Nora’s greed with elements of green in her wardrobe. Nora has a two sides to her personality. She is the good housewife who cares for her husband, Terry, but she also likes to shop and has secrets of her own that she has to cover up. I want to show this character’s personality through her wardrobe and makeup. I would also have price tags hanging from Nora’s arms, and sticking out of her pockets to further show her shopping tendencies.

DirectorCast: Marta – Drew Barrymore

Pete – Tom Cruise

Raj Patel – Robert De Niro

Iris – Jessica Beil

Kristine – Gillian Anderson

Nora – Anne Hathaway

Terry – Matt Damon

Max - Parris Mosteller

Skyler - Emily Grace Reaves

Macey - Isabella Acres

Theme:“Destruction of Perfection”as the skeletons come out of the closet for Nora, we start to see that she is not as perfect as we thought.

Directorial Concept:Nora seems to have it all: a successful husband, three children, and a beautiful home. But what appears like the picture-perfect life is distressingly incomplete, upheld up by unpleasant betrayals and dark secrets. Her husband, Terry, persistently rises with his career while Nora’s obsessive shopping and conniving ways drives her ever further from self-determination and self-fulfillment. Their life is built upon increasingly developing lies so Nora comes to realize the true cost of what she thinks she has always wanted. The audience should be able to figure out what it is Nora is expected to feel about her own self-awareness.

DirectorSpine of the play:

“Things Are Not As They Seem”Even though Nora is seen to be the perfect wife and mother, further in the play we learn that she has many skeletons in her closet that in this case will not make her a saint as she is seen to be.

Style:NaturalismAs Nora’s Portraying her life on stage with a close attention to detail, she reveals her inner thoughts and secrets based on observation of real life.

Costume Design• As I mentioned in the previous slide, I want the characters to be dressed modernly. I

want their wardrobe to business casual and to show a little wealth. For their wardrobe I would have the characters dressed in grey and black and white, very dull colors. Each of the characters in this play have some hidden secrets and I wanted to portray that with the characters by dressing them in grey monotone clothing.

• In our play I envision modern, intimate lighting to capture one of the main characters, Nora, personal flair. I wanted to choose lighting that would match some of her erratic actions in the play, especially the scene where she is dancing to the soundtrack of Flash dance dressed as Madonna in front of Pete and Terry. I see the lighting to include unique shapes/patterns and the brightness that can contribute to the overall feeling of the play

• I also want to capture the sometimes gloomy mood that came with the problems each character was having such as the blackmail between Nora and Raj, and the final scene where Nora and Terry have their heated scene. There are some scenes in the play where I envision much darker lighting to capture the rest of the moods throughout the play.

Light Design

Light Design

• To capture some of the darker moods I wanted to darken the lighting. Not only did I want to darken it a bit, I also wanted to add some dark blue hues. With the blue lighting, I think it allows the play to remain intimate but allows for the mystery and a sense of urgency the play possesses. The lighting will do a great job to help express the more draining moments in the play.

Set Design

Set Design