LORD OF THE FLIES

MFA Candidate Design | Carnegie Mellon University | 2015

Lord of the Flies Written by William Golding. Adapted by Nigel Williams. Performed and Filmed in the Philip Chosky Theatre, School of Drama, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania November, 2015 Director: Caden Manson Scenic Design: Caitlin Ayer Costume Design: Julianne D'Errico Lighting Design: David Arterberry Sound Design: Almeda Beynon Media Design: Kevin Ramser and Dan Sakamoto Film Edited by Almeda Beynon with Kevin Ramser

Director: Caden Manson Scenic Design: Caitlin Ayer Media Design: Kevin Ramser + Dan Sakamoto Lighting Design: David Arterberry Sound Design: Almeda Beynon

This adaptation of Lord of the Flies took the classic dystopian narrative and interpreted it through a modern, post-dramatic lens. We as the production team chose to speak on “islands” in contemporary culture- isolating spaces that can be the perfect environment for violence created from peer pressure and group-think psychology.

Much of my research as the Costume Designer (see below) consisted of understanding the psyche behind the glorification of violence and the disregard of consequence and moral that can be found in the basements of college frat houses or within social media spaces. This project was unique because of the video presence on stage; in that I was designing for both the camera as well as a proscenium stage. Another design challenge was that the characters needed to be unrecognizable by the end of the play, and it was important to the narrative that the actors never left the stage. To create this transformation, the actors were costumed in layers that could be shed and destroyed as they became increasingly more feral and overcome by survival instinct by the end of the show.