Marina Nebro: Arts and Culture

I feel like I’m on Project Runway!

If you’re following my blog, you will know that I’m taking an Introduction to Theatre Design class my first semester here at Queens College. I’ve just completed my final assignment for the first play we’ve read: The Liar by Carlo Goldoni. For a brief synopsis of the play, there is a young man named Lelio who has come to Venice from Rome. He sees these two beautiful young women, Rosaura and Beatrice, atop a balcony and decides that he is going to make them fall for him. Through many mischievous lies, he gets both of the sister to fall in love with him. He takes credit for many gifts such as a serenade, lace, and a poem given to Rosaura by her secret admirer, Florindo who is too shy to let her know of his love. The entire play is fairly short and it’s entertaining to see the characters get fooled again and again by Lelio’s lies.

For my final project on Goldoni’s The Liar, we were split into groups of two to design costumes and sets for the play.

Project #1: The Liar by Carlo Goldoni (Collaboration and Analysis) due September 24th.

Groups of two – Costume and Scenic Designer

• Research for two different concepts of the play (some examples of a “concept” would be: Modern Dress production, Traditional Commedia, Futuristic, Non-Western Culture, or Parody of Current Events)
• Set Designer: 2 Sketches or collages depicting each concept’s environment (4-5 sketches total)
• Costume Designer: 2 Costume renderings for your assigned characters depicting him/her in each concept (4 sketches total)

Well, I chose costume designer for the main reason that I love clothes. My partner, though, unfortunately dropped out of class right after we paired up. No worries! I still only had to do costume design. The last addition to the project was that the costume designer had to draw influence from Pablo Picasso’s Woman With a Hairnet in at least one of the costumes, and the set designers had to use the Queens College Amphitheater as at least one of the settings.

Concept 1:

Being a very traditional person myself, I thought it might be interesting to have my first concept be mid-18th century Venice, Italy – when and where the actual story takes place. I decided to design for Rosaura and Lelio.

 Notice the inclusion of lace within the design. I thought in an important addition as there is an important scene in the play when Rosaura receives lace from an anonymous source, Florindo. Of course, being a liar, Lelio takes the credit. I also used the color pink because I thought that it represented her innocence and girliness without showing true purity. I see Rosaura as sort of naive but not necessarily pure as snow. The stripes were influenced by some of my research and the shoes are directly taken from an historical image of shoes from that time period. I thought the bright colors were interesting. I also wanted to tie in Rosaura’s outfit in this concept with the one that I designed for her in my second concept.

Lelio. Taking inspiration from my emotional response mask of the wolf, I decided to line his coat in fur. The fur also is a symbol of the wealth and status that Lelio pretends to have. His shoes, however, and inspired by a pair of shoes I found in my research. These are the shoes of the common man, and although Lelio might pretend to be rich, he can’t escape his common roots. The green in his coat represents his greedy and deceitful nature while the purple represents the almost royalness that Lelio exudes. Notice, again, my inclusion of stripes in the coat, pants, and undervest. I very much like continuity within my works.

Concept 2:

For the second concept I wanted a very large contrast in time period. I decided to make the second concept a modern dress design. I set this play in Venice Beach, California, playing on the idea of the Venice in the original play. For this concept I decided to design for Rosaura, again, and Florindo.

There should be some obvious similarities already between the two Rosauras I designed. They have similar color schemes – blue and pink – and similar textures – lace appliqué on her socks and striped shorts. The main reason that I was drawn to the colorful shoes from the mid-18th century was that I thought they’d be great to use for Venice Beach roller skates as well. The colors just pop! I try to create a cute and not too experienced persona for Rosaura in this concept as well. Though wearing a bathing suit, I try to be as modest as possible as she covers her midriff. Though her long legs and almost knee-high socks can seem a little seductive, I tried my best to play down the seductive nature – the socks are again that light pink color that I tried to use for the other concept.

For Florindo’s costume I had to be a little bit more creative. I would first like to point out that I drew influence from Picasso’s Woman With a Hairnet in this design. I will explain this further once I explain his part in the modern adaptation of the story. Because this concept takes place in Venice Beach, I wanted to think of all the different types of people that would be walking up and down the streets. One thing popped into my head: STREET PERFORMERS! I thought this to be the perfect place for Florindo in modern times because he is shy and likes to be hidden. What better way than to wear a mask all the time? It seemed perfect. In the original play, Florindo is Rosaura’s father’s apprentice. He’s learning to be a doctor. Medical students need the dough to go to school – what better way of getting money than street performing? In his poem, Florindo writes “Oft in thy sight I lurk.” Where better to lurk than the side of the street where Rosaura roller skates daily? I take inspiration from Picasso’s work in the face – the white mask. I also take the idea of his bold lines and include them in his jacket. The hairnet is mimicked in his three-cornered hat.

And there you go! My first completed assignment in my first ever college class! How’s that for an accomplishment???