By some measures (sheer sweat, say) a fully realistic set is the easiest thinkin' but hardest labor for a set designer... at least for one without a scenic painter and a set dresser.
Five Women Wearing the Same Dress is set in a the bedroom of a young, wealthy, Southern woman in the late '80s/early '90s during the garden wedding reception of her sister. The theater - once a church - has a handsome arch on-stage and, using this, her bedroom becomes even grander. I imagine that this nouveau riche family restored an neoclassical house. To capture the house, period, and milieu, we're going all Laura Ashley florals, wood floors (painted), wallpaper, etc. Fun to find and assemble.
But all of which I (with help from the prop designer, thank goodness!) have to find, haul, place, paint, sew, staple... By Friday. Oh, and consult with the builder too, first thing today - then IKEA, Garden Ridge... Where are my paint clothes?
I feel hot and exhausted just thinking about it.
(BTW On Monday we pulled furniture from the Dallas Theater Center warehouse - thanks DTC! - it was 100 degrees F outside; inside it was so hot that carpenter's glue was melting and making chair legs wobbly.)
