by Joseph Kesselring
Northwestern University
October 2009
Directed by Frank Galati
Set design by Collette Pollard
Costume design by Virgil Johnson
Sound design by Joshua Horvath

Production photos

Research and renderings
This production of Arsenic and Old Lace was included in a celebration of the School of Communications at Northwestern University, and illustrious alumnus and emeritus professor Frank Galati agreed to direct.  The stage design of the play reflected Frank’s desire to capture the classic comedy of the script while bringing a new interest to the storytelling.  Inspired by the dark, but feminine, two sisters, and by architectural drawings of period homes, Collette Pollard’s set incorporated transparent lace, two-dimensional architectural detail, and pink set dressing.  Virgil Johnson’s costumes pitted the floral lavender sisters against the drab grays and browns of the frightening unexpected visitors.  The lighting design was challenged with keeping up with a story that begins in the evening, ends in the morning, with a night full of comedic escapades in between.  The entire color palette for the lighting design idea was found in a 1921 Robert Reid painting in the Brooklyn Museum’s collection, from the warm pinks and ambers used in the late evening and early morning, to the dappled lavenders of the nighttime scenes.