Set Designer John Wilson Talks Mimesophobia

John Wilson shares some thoughts (and sketches) from the experience of designing the set for Mimesophobia:

When Margot Bordelon and I first met to discuss the Mimesophobia scenic design she had a strong sense of what she wanted. I had worked with Theatre Seven before as the scenic designer for Killing Women, (also in Chicago Dramatists). Margot was interested in collaborating with me because my designs have abstract qualities about them and she felt that this was something she wanted to explore with this production. Mimesophobia is a nonlinear murder mystery with very few stage directions and no mention of expectations for scenic elements. This was a wonderful challenge as a designer: how could we create a set that best served the story and supported Carlos Murillo's vision of his play?



Margot had brought in pictures from Lars Von Trier's 2003 production of Dogville which came to be our diving board for the design. The film is set on a sound stage and has many borrowed elements from Wilder's Our Town. Minimalistic in approach, it has parts of scenery and even a painted ground plan instead of a full blown Hollywood extravaganza, allowing the audience to focus on the story instead of production costs. Like Dogville, we wanted our set to create a specific psychological space and only employ props and other elements that directly supported the plot.



Mimeophobia is a “reenactment”. All of the characters speak directly to the audience. They embrace the fact that they’re putting on a show. With this in mind, we decided to highlight the fact that we’re in a theater and to leave everything exposed. The design embraces Chicago Dramatist’s charm and quirks, using very little scenery, giving the actors room to play. The stage floor is covered with luan plywood cut to 6" and covering the entire floor. The floor will have a variety of stains all pieced together, much like a puzzle, and will be textured with paint, old spike tape and distressed marks to give it the feel of an old well worn rehearsal room. The footlights that I have added gives the company lighting designer, Justin Wardell, the opportunity to create interesting shadow play, while at the same time giving us, the audience, a sense of the presentational aspect of the story. There are a few units on casters that will move on stage that will illustrate different locations in the play. The walls of the space are painted with chalk board paint three quarters of the way up which blend into a textured earth tone treatment near the ceiling. Finally, chalk is used sparingly throughout the production to highlight different parts of the story.



With all these elements working together with costume, light, and sound design, I’m confident that this production will have a unique and striking feel to it. Something exciting is going to happen on that stage and I can't wait to experience it.