About the Set

On this mythical island in the French Antilles (West Indies) there are two social classes and two dimensions of existence: the peasants and the beaux hommes; the eternal gods and the mortals. The impoverished and oppressed peasant mortals sincerely believe in the spiritual realm and the gods that dwell in it. The French assimilated beaux hommes practice Roman Catholicism while the many shades of peasants practice Vodun, the blending of voodoo and Catholicism. As the blood of two classes mingle, so do spiritual beliefs and superstitions. The beaux hommes give coins to the peasants to ensure their own prosperity, while the peasants send their supplications to the gods of earth, love, water and death.

Spiritual scriptures from all belief systems refer to the “veil” between the living and the dead and the finite and infinite. This veil is parted by birth, death and for a lucky few, by the revelations of spiritual epiphanies.

In this production of Once on This Island, designed by James Yeara, the veil between dimensions is made from yards of shimmering , delicate fabric and a carefully planned lighting scheme. Blue fabric creates the tropical sky and the undulating seas; gold fabric the streaming sunlight of the Caribbean.  As in the experience  of our souls’ journeys, the veil can be opaque and concealing, or it can be translucent and revealing.  The altars for the gods, carefully constructed by William Morrison, student tech director Katie Schmidt, and her student crew, are concealed, obscured and revealed by the veil between dimensions, as are the gods themselves. The gods are invisible when the mortals cry out in supplication and shadows when the power of love, death, earth and water are sensed by mortals as distant joys and menace. Then the gods step through the veil and the mortals come face to face with their greatest desires, terrors and sorrows. 

The masks of the gods, created by Ms. Kate Hahn’s art students (Miranda Espinoza, Nathaniel Edgar, Courtney Holsapple, Anna Papile ), hang suspended in the sunlight, sometimes colorful and bright, sometimes shadowed and menacing.  The thrust stage that brings the color and life closer to the audience was designed and constructed by Tom Karpowitz, parent volunteers,  and the student tech crew.

Finally, the musicians in the shadows must be noted. The concept of placing the orchestra on stage was inspired by musical director Jason Dashew and it allowed the production to be experienced more fully and clearly than in the past when the orchestra was placed in front of the stage. Jason and his fellow musicians performed their magic as silhouettes and small pools of light, partially concealed by their own mysterious veil, making them the unseen, yet all important, auditory dimension of this realm.

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plan for set (RTF)
set priorities(RTF)

master overview of all set pieces
possible opening set
possible variation #1
possible variation #2