bliss
MFA Candidate Design | Carnegie Mellon University | 2014
Bliss by Mikhail Bulgakov | Translation by Margo Gray | Carnegie Mellon University, 2014
Director: Margo Gray
Set Design: Pam Foco
Costume Design: Julianne D’Errico
Lighting Design: David Arterberry
Sound Design: Abigail Nover
Photos: Louis Stein
When the engineer Rein invents a time machine that accidentally transports her and two not-so-innocent bystanders from Soviet Russia 300 years into the future, they have difficulty adjusting to a world that seems, at first, very different from their own.
In order to update this forgotten satire, banned by Stalin before it could be staged, Gray translated the script and adapted it into a sleeker version with women at the helm. The design team created a confined, stifled world of Soviet Moscow that contrasts with the technologically-driven, ever-watchful world of Moscow in 2222. The similarities of the two worlds are revealed as motivations become clear, and characters from the past find ways to assimilate.
renderings + Production Photos
Selected Research + Early Sketches
