MOLLIE R. WEST
Blues For An Alabama Sky
D E S I G N P R O C E S S
Set in 1930's Harlem, New York. We observe a group of individuals striving to thrive in a society that's coming upon the Great Depression.
Angel was a night club singer, now fired by her ex-lover. Guy dreams of running off to Paris to work for Josephine Baker. Delia works with Margaret Sanger to help develop Planned Parenthood in Harlem. Sam, known as Doc, works long hours at the hospital delivering the future children of Harlem.
Life moves along casually until "Alabama", Leland Cunningham, crosses paths with Angel and is introduced to the ways of life in Harlem.
Themes of Sexism, Discrimination, Economic Hardships, Sexuality, and Self-Motivation are explored through this relatable story.
Mood Board
To start our process, the team gather inspirational images individually. Then we came together to create a mood board from our images, and ended up with these twelve images!
We gathered these based on motifs, themes, emotions, and words that we pulled from the script. The golden specks within the blue referred to the glimmer of hope we saw, We felt the fields expressed the tranquility Leland felt in Alabama compared to the hustle and bustle of Harlem that is expressed in the two bottom right photos. The resistance on the women's faces related to how citizens of Harlem had a determination that cannot be broken.
Along with The Man, we felt he showed on his face the hardships they've all faced. The photos to the bottom left represent the weight they carry, the denial of dreams, and the feeling of fading into the background. The image bottom center left reflected the grime of Harlem, while the night club to its right reflected the hustle and bustle, as well as, the glitz of night life.
Finally, we felt the central image capitulated the Harlem spirit of being free-spirited and a connected family regardless of the hard economic time.
Ground Plans
After the inspirational meetings, I immediately began sketching out ground plans. As a team, we discussed how as humans we get caught up in cycles, which led to my ground plan going to a circular platform. The main apartment would be housed on this platform as it symbolized the center of the cycle we were observing.
Final GP created in VectorWorks
Flooring
First Reactions
Working Final
For the floor treatment, I wanted the audience to feel like they were being pulled into Angel's cycle, yet not feel the destructive powers for it. To the right, I pulled a two inspiration images for the feeling that I wanted and that corresponded with our mood board.
The director and I felt that the Blue/Green cyclone reflected the problems Angel was facing while not screaming destruction. The greens represented the money, greed, and jealousy of Angel, while the blues represented the ambition, dreams, and inspirations of Guy.
At the bottom left, I worked the Blue/Green cyclone further and added the brown tones to come out from under the main platform to connect the two pieces. The red streaks were requested and represented the blood ties that the Harlem community felt with each other.
This image shows the final elevation of the flooring. As you can tell, it has been lightened up by quite a bit from the first working elevations.
White Model
I quickly worked the white model into colors, and a tall wall was added behind the main wall of the apartment. With that, I had to collaborate with the director on what we wanted it to look like.
Wall Elevation
For the added wall, I created a few options, but in the end the director wanted the wall to have the look of a wheat field. The inspirational image used to create this came from the mood board. It represented the way we humans look up to the sky when we dream or think of the future. The characters often have moments in the script were they would look out the apartment window and dream of a better life.
Color Model
Show Photos
Show Credits
Production
Director: Amanda Washington
Scenic Design: Mollie West
Lighting Design: Katy T. Baronich
Sound Design:
Costume Design: MacKenzie Dunn
Hair & Make-Up: Katarina Kristensen