Julius Caesar + Macbeth
I was the props coordinator for the 2022 Sandbox (CU Boulder student season) production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The director (Jo Hoagland) chose to set the show in a very unique post apocalyptic scenario involving rifts in the fabric of reality. The acting studio space where the show was performed was transformed into a "safehouse" and I was given a lot of creative freedom when it came to set dressing. I worked with the director, who had done extensive amounts of world building, to transfer all of that into the physical world of the show. In next year's Sandbox season we did Macbeth (directed by Jude Stivers) as a sequel to that production of Caesar, set 100 years later.
"The Wall"
The post apocalyptic world of our Caesar was rife with mysteries and I turned the back wall of our acting studio (a small black box space) into a huge timeline/conspiracy board. I worked with the director and actors to flesh out the lore of our apocalypse and in the world of the show, the wall was a piece of research being managed by one of the characters and served as a piece of information that “new citizens of the Rome Safehouse” (audience members) could read in our pre-show. featured a timeline made of dyed fabrics, clippings from fake articles, printed out social media posts, pictures of suspicious occurences, a map, hand written notes, sticky notes with comments on the research, original art, and more. It was updated during the shows’ intermission to reflect the death of Julius Caesar and events surrounding it.
Conspiracy board wall during a show, seen here behind actors
Wall close ups featuring handwritten transcript of Mark Antony's speech, Caesar's will, Pro Cassius poster (drawn based on a picture of our Cassius actor), Portrait of Caesar (drawn based on a picture of our Caesar actor), Anti Caesar Propaganda, and more.
In World Articles, Photos, and More
For the conspiracy wall, a bulletin board, and a selection of hand props I created a lot of in-world paper props. Many of these were handwritten (by myself and friends) or hand drawn (by me) because of the nature of our apocalypse, but some were old print outs of pictures, articles, or screenshots of social media posts.
Three Rifts at recognizable locations. Very subtle edits done in Sketchbook Express.
Fabricated social media posts and text conversation screenshots.
"Candid" photo of woman experiencing a spell and example of a rift affected person's Marked thumb
Rift Safety Poster, made in Sketchbook Express
Macbeth Curio Cabinet
Our production of Macbeth was set in the same world as Caesar, 100 years later. It had minimal set dressing, but did feature a cabinet displaying "historical artifacts."
Initial Drawing
Painting of Caesar (Marisa Dinsmoor)
In world it is a scrap of a larger painting that was cut out of the canvas to save it after the painting was partially painting over by anti-Caesar individuals
Cabinet setup progress, pink sticky notes standing in for museum plaques to be added later