The scenic designer and costume designer of The Merry Wives of Windsor discuss the fun of designing the show with a distinct aesthetic style.

When James Vásquez, our director, first came to me with this project, he had a very clear idea of how he wanted to present our production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, and he had a very tight concept that was easy to jump onto. His concept of setting Windsor in 1950s sitcom Southern California works brilliantly, and it opened up all sorts of opportunities to find inspiration. From “I Love Lucy” to “Happy Days,” and from Marlon Brando to Archie, I drew inspiration from several iconic midcentury shows and archetypes, and audiences will certainly recognize some classic TV icons and characters that inspired the aesthetics of our costumes.

Costumes are key to audience members accessing and understanding characters. Before an actor even speaks, we have to have a clear picture of who they are, where they come from, and, most importantly for this particular play, what their social status is. Because The Merry Wives of Windsor has so much unsaid backstory and so many intertwining subplots, it’s really important that the characters are clear and recognizable—there are so many shenanigans happening in the show that it’s easy to lose track of who is doing what. By creating tight palettes and silhouettes that subconsciously allow us to recognize and establish each character, we’re able to help the audiences along (particularly those who aren’t familiar with the show) by doing some of that background work for them.

Our design conversations began with honing in on the type of 1950s Americana we wanted to portray. We realized we wanted this design to feel American Graffiti but set in Southern California. So for us it’s Middle America but with an edge. California is forward thinking and progressive, and that was clear even in their design at that time in contrast to Milwaukee’s “Happy Days.”

From that we started to investigate 1950s Californian architecture, and that brought us the iconic Googie architecture that was geared to meet the needs of car culture and the possible demands of the future. Think upswept roofs, large sheet glass windows, freeform shapes, fancy fonts, and domes.

Our Windsor community is set in the 1950s as they prepare for their annual Halloween festival. This community epitomizes that sweet, picture-perfect, white picket fence little town, but under that veil is a town of gossipers, drunks, lovers, jealous tempers, and scheming. So: reality.
The set is focused on creating a porous design where you get this sense that you never know who is around the corner, behind the door, or through the window eavesdropping on your conversations.

As things unfold, the audience will see how imperfect this community actually is and realize the lives we curate through design, aesthetic, and fashion are only a mask or a costume, and the person on the inside is messy, full of emotions, and just a real human being filled with passion.