Rocky Horror Show - Mannequin Proscenium
Assistant Technical director
Our Rocky Horror Show was a throwback to British pop punk, with bold colors and a Frank-N-Furter with a more-than-passing resemblance to David Bowie. Our director also wanted the sexual themes of the show incorporated into the design of the scenery. Our designer concocted a brilliant proscenium made out of mannequin body parts, and it was a ton of fun to build.
design
Our designer wanted to evoke an orgy, but had no true layout plans. it was up to us to assemble the proscenium in the spirit of the design. We had a contact at a Kohl’s warehouse who supplied us with nearly 40 mannequins in various condition as well as body type.
structure
We knew we wanted to have this almost never-ending trail of bodies interacting with each other. We spent a long time trying to lay it all out in ways that would make sense. What we ended up with was bodies interacting with one or more other bodies, and multiple arms and hands per torso. It was then mirrored on the opposite side.
final look
On the header, we took female upper torsos, and bisected them, and reattached male lower torsos to them. The director felt this was a good way to represent Frank in our proscenium. At center, a mannequin head was wreathed in a halo of mannequin hands as a centerpiece. Above the mannequins facing the audiences, holes were cut to let the chorus poke their heads out and appear as the mannequin’s heads to address the audience or sing off stage. This helped a lot, as the space for this show is quite small.
PRODUCTION PHOTO
Photo by Jodi Miller
Short North Stage, Fall 2018
Directed by Edward Carignan II
Scenic Design by Jason Bolen
Lighting Design by Bowen Moss
Costume Design by Edward Carignan II
Technical Direction by Rob Kuhn