Designing a Restaurant

Ever give much thought into set design?  When you go to a show, whether it be at the Fox or the Muny or even Broadway, do you really examine the set and wonder what went into the construction?  I do.  OK, that may be a bit strange but I always want to know how something was built or how they get it to move magically across the stage or how they did those great lighting effects (and how large their budget is!)

When we produce a show locally we don’t have the advantage of a professional design staff (or a professional design budget).  It would be nice if the author provided a suggested stage layout, but that doesn’t happen.  We’re left to our own devices (which, in a way, is good because we get to really personalize our design).

Where to start?  The script.  Read through it a dozen times.  Who are your main characters?  How do they enter and exit the scene?  What are the most important moments of the show?  How many people need to be on the stage at one time? Are there any set pieces that are integral to the story?

Once you feel you’ve gotten into the head of the author, it’s time to start developing your concept.  Forget about the fine details; at this point you just want the basic layout.  This is scratch pad, napkin, legal pad time.  Sketch.  Crumble.  Sketch. Toss.  Sketch.  Hmmm, that’s a keeper.  Let’s try that. . . maybe.

Eventually you get to a design you like.  Time to pull out the tablet and get some hard dimensions and see if your ideas will really work.  Go back and re-read the script and see if you missed anything.  If you like it, you then move onto the next step – what does it look like?  You have a floorplan, time to add some depth.

FIRST DATE takes place in a restaurant. (Where else do you go on a first date?)  But what kind of restaurant?  Posh New York? Trendy Greenwich Village bistro?  Tacky pseudo-hip chain?  Local brewpub?

We decided on a factory converted into a restaurant. (It didn’t hurt that I work in an old factory building!)  Old brick walls, exposed utilities, factory-elements converted into restaurant-elements.  I’m sure you’ve been into a restaurant of this style (think Schlafly Tap Room in St. Louis or Sqwires in Lafayette Square).  That’s the look we’re going for.

Not being an artist, I resorted to a CAD drawing package to put these ideas into something I could turn over to my building team.  A few hours later, what was in my head, was now on the screen . . .

I think we’ve got it!

Will it work?  Will we succeed in transporting the audience to our FIRST DATE restaurant?   I guess you’ll have to come see the show to find out!

But in the meantime I have to go back and work on lighting design.

See you on opening night!