Lisa’ D’Amour’s 2010 play, “Detroit,” shows suburbia on the edge.  Chuck Erven asked me to create a set that was ultra-realistic at its core.    The show is a small 5 character play that was to be presented on Fresno City College’s main stage.  We hit on the concept of a film studio set — real at its center, surrounded by the detritus of production.  We exposed electrics, and even the back wall of the theatre as the audience came in.   Scene changes were fully lit in a harsh lighting.  Meanwhile two rotating houses complete with shingles, and roofs flanked either side of a pivoting fence, and grass.

Erven has some strong concepts in terms of staging the show, with Christopher R. Boltz’s innovative set – in which a backyard fence and the houses rotate to change perspectives – and first-rate lighting design adding some zip to the visuals. (Erven also opts for a sort of backstage feel for the show, with props stacked on either side of the stage in full view of the audience.)