Water by the Spoonful Design

    Water by the Spoonful is a play about the recovery process of an addict.  Although these people are sober they must fight through the temptations everyday. While forming bonds with one another they learn the true value of togetherness and moving on with your life.  Through the relationship of the actors, costume, and design of the stage the audience will capture the feel of everyday life as a recovering addict and the importance of others in our everyday lives.

http://www.dlafuelcells.org/why-hydrogen/water-into-hydrogen-fuel/attachment/spoon-water/

(http://www.feedbooks.com/item/323209/water-by-the-spoonful)

     For the theatrical space I chose the Edgemar Center for the Arts, Theatre A, located in Los Angeles.  I chose Los Angeles because I feel there is a high drug rate in larger cities.  Therefore the audience would benefit more and appreciate the play more if they are or know someone going though the process of recovery.  In this theatre space it seats 99 people.  The stage is set up in the form of a proscenium stage where the audience faces a slightly raised stage.This, I feel, is a great number of people because it is not too many people that you lose the sense of togetherness that I would want the audience to feel, so keeping the audience in lower numbers would benefit this.

(http://www.localresearch.com/listings/edgemar-center-for-the-arts/)

     My target audience would be people of the lower age group, probably from 17-40 years old.  I feel Water by the Spoonful is targeted to that audience and that population because that is the age of the actors going through the problems that some audience members can relate to.  I think that many young people would learn from this play and people going through the recovery process would also feel a sense of not being the only one who struggles with staying sober.  With recovering addicts, the feeling that they have someone to talk to when times get difficult is a huge part in staying sober.

For the scenic design I would break it up and have the stage set up in multiple sections. I would want the chat room world to be represented with the characters sitting at their computers at different parts of the stage.  I would want the scenic design to represent the early 1990's and it to be a busy city, in a less fancy part of town.  The props would resemble things we see in everyday life and would be very simple looking.  The restaurant scene would have a table and two chairs, and drinks on the table.  It would be very simple to show the simpleness of their everyday life style. The chat room scenes would be on separate parts of the stage (different level platforms) and resemble someone's computer space in an office or home.  The backdrop of the set would be extremely important because it will let the audience know where the scene is taking place. Naturalism would be used therefore a visuals of the real world would be noted on stage, such as a person's house, a cafe, and even one's home.  For the relationship of the play with the audience I really liked how the Edgemar theatre set it up, because the seats are not that far away from the stage therefore the audience gets a feel for the theme of togetherness, and feeling apart of these people's lives.

(http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/office-space/images/3893771/title/office-space-screencap)

When reading Water by the Spoonful, I pictured the characters looking very average.  I did not picture them dressed up like they were living in luxury.  I would have them dressed very plain and very dull because I feel like that would best describe the lives they were living expressed when I was reading the play.  For example, I would have Elliot dressed in plain jeans and a t-shirt.  I would have his mother  Odessa dressed in jeans and a simple shirt.  Yaz, would be wearing a suit not fitted to her body, because she was very business attired yet was not rich.  Costumes are a way to define characters and the parts they play.  I feel like these costumes would be very fitting to the lifestyle I imagined when reading this play.  The characters would not be wearing masks or a lot of makeup.  The presence of little makeup will show the average-ness of the characters.  These characters would remind you of someone you would see walking the streets any normal day.

https://marketplace.asos.com/listing/t-shirts/vintage-90s-fluro-print-t-shirt/777433

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22373654)

For lighting I would have dull lighting, bringing a since of betrayal and upset feelings between the characters.  As the play furthered on, I would increase the lighting to show more brightness as the characters are trying to live for the future and not live in the past.  I think that the dim lighting would show a since of coldness and as the play moved on it would get lighter catching a happier feeling because everyone has someone to turn to at the end of the play. I would use lamp lighting for the dim light because lamps are not very bright. Also for lighting I thought it would be really neat if during the scenes when they are on the chat room, if words were put up on the wall.  This lighting effect took place in the play at Lynchburg College, Dead Man's Cell Phone.  I also saw this happen at the concert held at the college, but instead of words, shapes were displayed on the walls and ceilings.  I would also have a dim spotlight on who was reading what they are typing in the chat room, therefore it will direct the audience to look at that person.

http://www.wellsphere.com/depression-article/light-at-night-can-lead-to-depression/1282929

(Took  this picture myself at the concert for my idea of lighting the words on the walls and all around the audience.) 

 For sound I was thinking of special things I would want in the play to have city noises playing in the background at certain moments.  I also think that I would want the conversations that take place online read out loud by the actors and actresses, just like if they were reading them in their heads. All of the actors and actresses would need to be heard, so there would need to be speaks and microphones used as well to make sure the audience can hear what is going on. I would also have the actors and actresses raise their voices when they are arguing or angry to express frustration to the audience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGBVOTaiytI

    The relationship between the design the play, the characters, the lighting and the sound all play an extremely important part in theatre.  Without the audience connecting with these characters and the scenic design there would be no importance to theatre.  I feel this production incorporates the way I felt when reading the play and therefore that is how I would produce it.