The World Transformed book final draft for Carey

DESIGN CHALLENGE

Jamie Ford’s novel, set in Seattle’s Chinatown/Japantown from the 1940’s to
the early 2000’s, tells the story of a Chinese-American boy who falls in love with
a Japanese-American girl at the beginning of World War II. The girl’s family is
sent to an internment camp, and though the boy and girl are briefly reunited, their
lives diverge after that. Only later in life do they meet again in a reunion that is
both bitter and sweet. The play moves fluidly between scenes in Seattle and the
internment camp.
The performance venue for the world premiere was the Center House
Theatre in the basement of Seattle Center’s Armory. The space is very intimate
with low ceilings, two large pillars flanking the playing space, and no place for
scenery storage. Generally, all scenic pieces used for a production are visible to
the audience as they enter the venue. Internal scene changes during a show need
to be quick, elegant, and coherent.

Set model for Chinatown/Japantown scenes. Photo by Carey Wong.

HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET 47

Separated by a barbed wire fence, Henry (Jose Abaoag) and Keiko (Stephanie Kim) have a brief visit at the internment camp.
Photo by Alan Alabastro.

PRODUCTION CONCEPT

Much of the story takes place in and around Seattle’s Chinatown and Nihonmachi
during the 1940’s. Because these locations are familiar to Book-It Theatre’s Seattle
audience, the director and I felt that a set composed of vintage tinted photographs
would capture a palpable sense of time and place so important for this play.

48 THE WORLD TRANSFORMED

Scale model for the internment camp. Photo by Carey Wong.

DESIGN SOLUTION/TRANSFORMATION

Seattle’s Wing Luke Museum has an extensive archive of historic photographs
documenting the city’s International District (encompassing its Chinatown and
Japantown) from the late 19th century to the present. It proved an invaluable
resource for this project, and the result was a series of evocative picturescapes
of Seattle’s International District and an unidentified internment camp housing
Japanese-Americans.
Because of the compact nature of Center House Theatre’s stage and the
lack of offstage storage space, I created a series of two-sided photographic panels
that were suspended from traveler tracks and could be easily rotated on pivot points
in the tracks. As a result, they could easily be placed in different positions and play
at any desired angle. Images of Japantown and Chinatown buildings were on one
side of these screens, while photographs of the internment camp’s barracks housing
Japanese-American families were on the other side. With a quick pivoting of these
panels that hung just slightly above the ground, the play’s set could shift from a
bustling cityscape to a desolate rural outpost instantaneously.

HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET 49

BOEING BOEING

by Mark Camoletti, translated by Beverly Cross

Seattle Repertory Theatre

April — May 2013

Allison Narver, stage director
Carey Wong, scenic designer
Frances Kenny, costume designer
L.B. Morse, lighting designer
Robertson Witmer, sound designer

ABOVE: Playboy Bernard (Richard Sloniker, at left) and his old friend from school Robert (Mark Bedard) relax in the sunken
living room featuring an aquarium coffee table/bar unit that retracts into the floor in the Seattle Repertory Theatre production.
Photo by Chris Bennion.

50 THE WORLD TR ANSFORMED

DESIGN CHALLENGE

Mark Camoletti’s classic comedy involves a Paris architect who is simultaneously
romancing three flight attendants who work for three different airlines. Initially, the
schedules of the flight attendants don’t overlap so Bernard is able to juggle these
alliances with ease, but a change in schedules leads to all three women arriving at his
apartment nearly at the same time, resulting in mayham and hilarity. As in any classic
farce, doors are the most important feature of the set, and this one requires seven
that somehow need to make architectural sense.

Scale model for the BOEING BOEING set at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. Photo by Carey Wong

PRODUCTION CONCEPT

Director Allison Narver wanted the set to reflect the playful optimism of the
swinging ‘60’s with its op art, globe chairs, and automated gadgetry. She also
wanted viewers to anticipate the giddy fun of the show as soon as they saw the set.

BOEING BOEING 51

DESIGN SOLUTION/TRANSFORMATION

When performed today, Mark Camoletti’s period romp needs to have a production
that places it firmly in the ‘60’s so that the character types, behaviors, and attitudes
depicted can be seen as a reflection of that period. I felt that Bernard’s swinging
bachelor pad needed to have a visual energy that almost felt like it was going to
levitate. The curved semicircular shape of the set — a rotunda — helped lend some
sense to the seven doors opening onto it, while the forced perspective stripes of the
wallpaper and raked (angled) floors gave the set greater dimensional impact. The
sunken sitting area at stage center provided a place closer to the audience where
more intimate scenes could take place, while the higher semicircular floor provided

52 THE WORLD TR ANSFORMED

German air hostess Gretchen (Cheyenne Casabier, at left)
argues with Robert (Mark Bedard) as he tries to prevent her
from entering rooms occupied by other air hostesses in the
Seattle production. Photo by Chris Bennion.

pathways for other characters to move from door to door without interrupting action
in the seating area. The director’s idea for a remote-controlled automated environ-
ment allowed us to create an aquarium coffee table/bar that rose up out of a zebra
rug in the sunken seating area and photos and artwork on the walls that changed
based on which flight attendant was visiting Bernard. The large ceiling light fixture in
the center had a vague resemblance to a space ship, and it and other built-in accent
and soffit lighting could be activated as part of this automated environment to give
the apartment the feeling of a period discotheque. Once the director decided what
kind of room each door led to, those room interiors were given a unique color and
furnished accordingly.

BOEING BOEING 53

THE IMPORTANCE OF
BEING EARNEST

– by Oscar Wilde

Seattle Repertory Theatre

April-May 2020

Casey Stangl, stage director
Carey Wong, scenic designer
Deb Trout, costume designer
Elisabeth Harper, lighting designer
C. Andrew Mayer, sound designer

ABOVE: Scale model of Act 2 — Garden of Jack Worthing’s manor house, Woolton. The garden lattice covering the façade
of this exterior is a direct borrowing from Elsie de Wolfe’s music pavilion at the Villa Trianon. Photo by Carey Wong.

54 THE WORLD TRANSFORMED

DESIGN CHALLENGE

Oscar Wilde’s most popular play is a marvel of witty dialogue and farcical elements
that satirize Victorian notions of marriage, gender roles, and class. Since its premiere
in 1895, this “trivial comedy for serious people” has delighted audiences by showing
us protagonists who adopt fictitious personae to escape burdensome social roles
and explore the taboos of adventurous double lives. The challenge of the play is
that it is a drawing room comedy relying almost entirely on the brilliance of its
writing for effect. The settings specified — Algernon’s flat in London, the garden of
Jack’s manor house in the country and the drawing room of that manor house
— lend context to the play without contributing much to the story. Is there a way in
which the settings can be designed to be as lively and effervescent as the repartee?
And is there a way in which the play’s three act structure can be presented with a
single intermission that doesn’t involve a lengthy scene change?

Scale model of Act 1 — Algernon Moncrieff’s London flat. Note the use of white and reflective surfaces that were a
hallmark of decorator Syrie Maugham’s style. Photo by Carey Wong.

THE IMPORTANCE OF B EING E ARNEST 55

Scale model of Act 3 - The manor house drawing room, Woolton. The footprint of this room is intentionally small so that
as more and more characters appear in the space, it starts to remind one of the increasingly crowded stateroom scene in
the Marx Brothers’ film A NIGHT AT THE OPERA. Photo by Carey Wong.

PRODUCTION CONCEPT

This subversive comedy has been endlessly reinterpreted for modern audiences.
For the Seattle Repertory Theatre’s highly anticipated 2020 production, director
Casey Stangl decided to give the work a decidedly contemporary reading. She
chose to set show in the 1920’s. Algernon and Jack became gay bachelors who
have reached a certain age and decided that marriage might suit them socially.
Gwendolyn and Cecily, completely aware of the men’s orientation, also want the
advantages that marriage to these men would confer on them — freedom to realize
their own potential while also being in a socially advantageous alliance that would
confer stability and appear conventional, even if their actions and desires are not.
It’s the women in the play who know what they want and are proactive; the men
react to meet the women’s demands and expectations. This all suggests the freer
spirit of the 1920’s (rather than the late Victorian era) — a time when women gained
greater agency and clothing styles assumed less restrictive silhouettes. The director
also felt that by placing the production in the 1920’s, the sets and costumes for the
show could also be “liberated” and infused with a color and panache that would
appeal more to a contemporary audience.

56 THE WORLD TRANSFORMED

DESIGN SOLUTION/TRANSFORMATION

Shifting the action of the play to the 1920’s gave the sets and costumes a visual
energy that supported the pyrotechnics of Wilde’s language. Completely different
architectural styles distinguished
Algernon’s “of-the-moment”
London digs and Jack’s more classic
country house. Algernon’s flat
evoked the fanciful Art Moderne/
International style sets that
appeared in Hollywood movies of
the 20’s and 30’s, while Jack’s
country estate reflected a more
classical Georgian spirit overlaid
with hints of Art Nouveau. In terms Paint elevation for show curtain. Photo by Carey Wong.
of interior decoration and detail, the
London flat carried touches of Syrie Maugham, a much sought-after designer of the
‘20’s and ‘30’s whose use of white and metallics was legendary, while Jack’s home
was inspired by Elsie de Wolfe, a decorator from the previous generation who is said
to have invented the profession of interior design. The music pavilion of her Villa
Trianon at Versailles was the inspiration for the exterior of Jack’s manor house. To
permit the play to have a single intermission, the Act 2 manor house garden set and
Act 3 drawing room were designed so that they could change quickly and smoothly
in front of the audience in an open or a vista scene change without the need for a
concealing curtain. The manor house exterior façade would fly out to reveal the
drawing room interior as it moved towards the audience, while garden trellis units
would simultaneously slide offstage.

POSTSCRIPT

This production was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although a good
deal of scenery had already been constructed.

THE IMPORTANCE OF B EING E ARNEST 57

THE LION, THE WITCH
AND THE WARDROBE

by Adrian Mitchell, music by Shaun Davey based on the book by C.S. Lewis

Seattle Children’s Theatre

November 2002 — January 2003
November 2003 — January 2004

Linda Hartzell, stage director
Carey Wong, scenic designer
Catherine Hunt, costume designer
Rick Paulsen, lighting designer
Christopher R. Walker, sound designer

ABOVE: Lucy encounters the lamppost in Narnia where it is always winter, never Christmas in the Seattle Children’s Theatre
production. Photo by Chris Bennion.

58 THE WORLD TRANSFORMED

Production photo of springtime Narnia where creatures dance near the Stone Table and Aslan in the background.
Photo by Jeffrey T. Miller.

DESIGN CHALLENGE

Any production of this C. S. Lewis work is challenging because the action moves
quickly between the country home of Professor Kirke, with whom the Pevensie
children are staying in wartime England, and the icy enchanted world of Narnia
ruled by the White Witch. The inquisitive children go back and forth between the
Professor’s home and Narnia multiple times via an old wardrobe that is the portal
between the two locations. The drama is further complicated by the need for various
moments of magic and the major transformation of Narnia from a wintery to
springtime landscape.

PRODUCTION CONCEPT

Director Linda Hartzell wanted a production that was as visually exciting and rich
as her company could create. Although the scenic and costume requirements were
demanding, she felt that the original illustrations for the first edition by Pauline
Baynes might be helpful.

THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE 59

Scale model of wintertime Narnia as the White Witch approaches Edmund in her sledge. Photo by Carey Wong.

DESIGN SOLUTION/TRANSFORMATION

The Pauline Baynes illustrations were useful in providing some visual details that
made their way into the production design. But because there were so many
locations required by the musical, it became clear the set had to be a combination
of two-dimensional elements and three-dimensional units that could move briskly
on and off stage. The front steps of the Professor’s country house, his study, the
attic where the wardrobe is discovered, Tumnus’ and the Beavers’ homes, the
White Witch’s lair, and the Stone Table were all three-dimensional environments.
But all of the other locations were created with flown two-dimensional cutouts,
the most important of these being the icy and springtime worlds of Narnia.
In order to unify the two-dimensional elements with the three-dimensional
scenery, I thought that a drawn, pen and ink technique akin to the Baynes illustra-
tions could work well on two-dimensional pieces. And in searching for a look that
would make Narnia visually intriguing, I was inspired by Ansel Adams’s 1948
photograph of one of his favorite subjects, a towering tree at the western fringe of
El Capitan Meadow. The photo is entitled “Oak Tree, Snowstorm.” Because white,

60 THE WORLD TRANSFORMED

not black, comes to represent evil and paralysis in Narna, I wondered what would
happen if I made a negative image of Adams’s photograph so that blacks became
white, and white became black. By manipulating the image in this way and then
taking details of some of the tree shapes and adding color to them, I was able to
create otherworldly panels of branches that could glide on and off stage in tracks
above. This made the transformation from winter to spring simple since the winter
panels could all slide offstage while the spring panels could slide onstage to
replace them. And the layering of these flat branch panels could create a three-
dimensionality that gave a wonderful airiness to the stage pictures.

A full-stage view of springtime Narnia from the Seattle Children’s Theatre production. Photo by Jeffery T. Miller..

POSTSCRIPT

In 2011, Linda Hartzell was asked to recreate her Seattle production for Syracuse
Stage. Because its stage was considerably smaller than Seattle’s, the production
needed to be edited and streamlined. Most of the two-dimensional elements of
the design were retained, but three-dimensional pieces needed to reduced or
completely rethought. The result was a production that felt sleeker and less
cumbersome. In 2016, the Seattle Children’s Theatre built a new version of the set
that was an expanded version of the Syracuse revision. It was presented that year
as the company’s holiday show and remains in the company’s repertoire for
future revivals.

THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE 61

SLEEPING BEAUTY

by Charles Way with songs by Chad Henry

Seattle Children’s Theatre

December 2004 — February 2005

Rita Giomi, stage director
Carey Wong, scenic designer
Catherine Hunt, costume designer
Rick Paulsen, lighting designer
Christopher R. Walker, sound designer

ABOVE: Prince Owain (M.J. Sieber) hacks through the brambles to reach the chamber where Briar Rose (Khanh Doan) sleeps.
Photo by Mike Hase.

62 THE WORLD TR ANSFORMED

DESIGN CHALLENGE

Charles Way’s telling of the Sleeping Beauty story remains one about good and
evil but recasts it in a more contemporary way. The good witch Branwen bestows
the infant Briar Rose to the childless King and Queen, but her evil sister Modron
casts a spell on Briar Rose so that the girl will die if she pricks her finger on a spin-
ning wheel spindle before her sixteenth birthday. Branwen is able to amend this so
that the young woman will not die, but sleep for 100 years during which she must be
awakened by the touch of a true love’s kiss. Way’s version features a feisty Briar Rose
who thinks for herself and has an imaginary friend who is half man and half dragon.
Her would-be savior, Prince Owain, is a lad who starts out not particularly good at
anything, but is able to grow in skill and confidence as he outdances fairies, answers
riddles of the deadly Spider King, defeats the evil witch Modron and hacks through
the brambles surrounding the castle to awaken Briar Rose.
The play moves between scenes in the castle, where Briar Rose’s parents keep
her confined to protect her, and the forest, where real life and its attendant dangers
lurk. The challenge was to design a set that easily transformed from location to
location without pause.

PRODUCTION CONCEPT

Scale model of the brambles surrounding the tower room in the castle where Briar Rose sleeps. Photo by Carey Wong.

SLEEPING BEAUTY 63

Good witch Branwen (Julie Briskman, at right) casts a spell over the sleeping Briar Rose (Khanh Doan) as the grieving
King and Queen (Hugh Hastings and Bobbi Kotula) watch. Photo by Chris Bennion.

PRODUCTION CONCEPT

Director Rita Giomi wanted a production that captured both the beautiful and sinister
aspects of a fairy tale and that would be filled with a sense of magic and surprise.

DESIGN SOLUTION/TRANSFORMATION

While letting the design possibilities percolate, I saw an exhibit at the Portland Art
Museum entitled “Waking Dreams” — a finely culled, surprisingly varied collection of
Pre-Raphaelite paintings, drawings, and crafts from the Delaware Art Museum.
Among the items included was a large-scale painting from Edward Burne-Jones's
Briar Rose series entitled “The Garden Court,” that showed a sleeping Briar Rose and
her attendants. It was in a large elaborate gilded frame that resembled a theatre
proscenium. I thought it might work to contain all of the castle scenes (courtyard,
church, and tower) in a large picture-framed toy theatre stage and then engineer this
to track downstage when the castle scenes played and remain upstage behind a
curtain for other scenes.
As a counter to all of the warm golden tones of the castle scenes, I decided to
use a dark wallpaper pattern of another late Pre-Raphaelite designer, William Morris,
for the forest scenes and employed this design on the floor, on flown panels, and even
side walls pierced by doorways that enclosed the sides of the stage. I also had a large
decorative clock face painted on the floor so that the theme of time passing would
also be a feature of the design.

64 THE WORLD TRANSFORMED

Production photo of the forest surround from the Seattle Children’s Theatre production. Photo by Chris Bennion.

THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE 65

The King (Hugh Hastings) and Queen (Bobbi Kotula) watch Briar Rose (Khanh Doan) picnicking with her companion Gryff (Allen Galli). Photo by Mike Hase.

A SINGLE SHARD

by Robert Schenkkan based on the novel by Linda Sue Park

Seattle Children’s Theatre

February — March 2012 (World Premiere)

Linda Hartzell, stage director
Carey Wong, scenic designer
Nanette Accosta, costume designer
Michelle Habeck, lighting designer
Christopher R. Walker, sound designer

ABOVE: Characters from the play watch a dancer (Richard Sloniker) perform a traditional crane dance to begin the show.
Photo by Chris Bennion.

66 THE WORLD TRANSFORMED

Crane-Man (Ho-Kwan Tse) tells Tree-Ear (Jason Ko) the story of the Rock of Falling Flowers that is enacted as a dumb
show behind them. Photo by Chris Bennion.

DESIGN CHALLENGE

During Linda Hartzell’s 32-year tenure as the Seattle Children’s Theatre’s Artistic
Director, the organization commissioned new plays from some of the most prominent
American playwrights of the time — David Henry Hwang, Oyamo, John Olive, Joe
Sutton, Finegan Kruckemeyer, Cheryl L. West, Y York, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul,
and Robert Schenkkan, to name a few.
Set in 12th-century Korea, A SINGLE SHARD tells the story of Tree-Ear,
an orphan living under a bridge with the disabled Crane-Man, who has cared for
him since he a baby. Tree-Ear becomes fascinated by the work of Min, a potter from
his village whose technique and celadon glazes are unrivaled. The boy becomes an
apprentice to Min and learns his master’s techniques, later earning Min a royal commis-
sion by merely showing a broken melon vase’s single shard to a court emissary.
The play required that the process of fashioning ceramics be shown, from digging
up clay in a riverbed, to shaping the clay, decorating and firing it. The play also needed
to show Tree-Ear’s journey from his small village to the royal court and provide an area
where the story of the Rock of Falling Flowers could be enacted as a dumb show.

A SINGLE SHARD 67

Scale model of the basic set for the Seattle Children’s Theatre production of A SINGLE SHARD. Photo by Carey Wong.

PRODUCTION CONCEPT

Since this play dealt with the beauty of craftsmanship from an artist’s hand, Linda
Hartzell wanted the environment to be simple, yet visually rich in its depiction of
Korean art and culture. She and I both felt that the story could best be told by having
a large area of the stage raked (angled) as it gave the audience a staging of greater
energy and depth.

DESIGN SOLUTION/TRANSFORMATION

I felt that because the single shard of pottery was such an important image in the
story, it could become the set for the play. That raked square shard was the set’s
central playing area, and it was joined by another angled ramp and steps to an even
higher platform at the back of the stage where the Rock of Falling Flowers story
could be enacted. The raked central playing area was elevated enough so that certain
parts of it could slide open to allow Tree-ear to dig clay from a river bed and drain it.
Because the celadon glaze color was a significant feature of the pottery that
Min and other Korean masters created in this period, I felt the color needed to be

68 THE WORLD TRANSFORMED

Tree-Ear (Jason Ko) mixes clay in the drain pits while pottery master Min (Scott Koh) looks on with Crane-Man (Ho-Kwan Tse).
Photo by Chris Bennion..

seen somewhere in the set. So I made the central platform look like it was floating
atop a pool of celadon-colored water. To further reinforce the sense of Korean artistry,
three large light boxes based on historic Korean landscape paintings backed the angled
stage and ramp. They were on tracks so that they could slide open to reveal more of
the upstage platform and stairs that were used for the cliff and royal palace scenes.

Tree-Ear (Jason Ko, foreground) and Crane-Man
(Ho-Kwan Tse) seen against one of the illuminated

painted screens. Photo by Chris Bennion.

A SINGLE SHARD 69

THE JOURNAL OF BEN
UCHIDA: CITIZEN 13559

by Naomi Iizuka based on the novel by Barry Dennenberg

Seattle Children’s Theatre

February — March 2018

Desdemona Chiang, director
Carey Wong, scenic designer
Christine Tschirgi, costume designer
Matt Webb, lighting designer
Christopher R. Walker, sound designer

ABOVE: Ben (Mikko Juan, center) has an eerie dream about the events following the Pearl Harbor bombing in which the life of his
family is turned upside down. Cast, from left to right, includes Annie Yim, Ray Tagavilla, Conner Neddersen, Mi Kang, and Brenda
Joyner. Photo by Elise Bakketun.

70 THE WORLD TR ANSFORMED

Ben (Mikko Juan, center) recalls the night that his family (left to right, Annie Yim, Ray Tagavilla, and Mi Kang ) heard
about the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the radio. Photo by Elise Bakketun.

DESIGN CHALLENGE

Naomi Iizuka’s play traces the journey of Japanese-American Ben Uchida and his
family from their life in San Francisco’s Japantown in the 1940’s to an internment
camp where they endure the hardships of life there. While in the camp, his father
becomes so despondent that he commits suicide, and the rest of the family must
endure the aftermath of this tragedy. Ben keeps a journal of his life while in the
camp, which ultimately leads him to become a writer. The script specifies settings
in Japantown (Mr. Uchida’s optometry shop, the inside and outside of the Uchida
home, the street), at a train station, in a boxcar, and at the internment camp (barracks,
classroom, outdoors).
A further challenge for this project was the venue — the Eve Alvord Theatre
at SCT. It’s a compact stage that has no wing space so designers need to be creative
about concealing scenery that isn’t needed onstage until it is used.

PRODUCTION CONCEPT

Though the space was limited on the Eve Alvord stage, director Desdemona
Chiang felt that there had to be a way to create a greater sense of depth, perhaps
by layering panels of scenery that could open to reveal new places and vistas as the
play progressed.

THE JOURNAL OF BEN UCHIDA: CITIZEN 13559 71

The Uchida family in a boxcar riding to the interment camp.. Photo by Elise Bakketun.

DESIGN SOLUTION/TRANSFORMATION

To me, the play’s story revealed itself like the peeling of an onion — as layers were
removed, successive layers were revealed. And this was the way I designed the set
for the show. Wall panels with small furniture groupings played in front of other wall
panels showing Japanese businesses that formed the basis of the Japantown scenes.
A couple of these panels could pivot and were on overhead tracks (as was the case
with all of the scenic panels for HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND
SWEET) so they could be angled to create scenes that showed both indoor and
outdoor scenes simultaneously or the interior of a boxcar taking the Uchida family
to the camp.
When the family got to Mirror Lake, all of the Japantown panels were pushed
to their offstage positions to reveal the barren landscape and looming fence of the
internment camp topped with barbed wire. Beyond it was a stormy wintry sky seen
through a black scrim. Other panels with bits of set dressing were pushed on to
suggest the barracks and interiors in the camp. At the end of the show, those panels
were pushed offstage, and against a black void, a constellation of stars — small lights
actually hidden in the chain link of the camp fence — appeared with a promise of
hope for Ben, his sister, and his mother.

72 THE WORLD TRANSFORMED

Ben wanders through the internment camp during a snow storm as life gets harder and harder. Photo by Elise Bakketun.

Years later as a writer, Ben picks up the journal he wrote about his life in the camp and remarks about how important
memories are in all of our lives. Photo by Elise Bakketun.

THE JOURNAL OF BEN UCHIDA: CITIZEN 13559 73

AIDA

music by Elton John and Tim Rice, book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and
David Henry Hwang based on the opera by Giuseppe Verdi and Antonio Ghislanzoni

The Village Theatre

May — July 2008

Tim Symons, conductor
Steve Tomkins & Brian Yorkey, co-directors
Steve Tomkins, choreographer
Carey Wong, scenic designer
Karen Ledger, costume designer
Tom Sturge, lighting designer
Don Littrell, sound designer

ABOVE: Production photo of Nubian camp — “The gods love Nubia.” Photo courtesy of The Village Theatre.

74 T H E W O R L D T R A N SFO R M E D

DESIGN CHALLENGE

Elton John and Tim Rice’s AIDA took a number of years to develop before it saw its
Broadway debut in 2000. Since that time, however, it has been produced worldwide
and has found a devoted following for its canny combination of rock opera and
romantic melodrama.
The musical has two acts with 10 scenes each. It begins in a contemporary
museum when a garbed statue of Amneris comes to life to begin the story. It ends
with Aida and Radames being sealed together in a tomb — the tomb that museum
visitors were looking at in the first scene. Between the bookended museum scenes,
locations include a slave barge, the pharoah’s private banquet room, Amneris’s
dressing room, the Nubian slave camp, a prison, a war room, and Radames’s garden.
Many scenes are brief, so the scene changes need to be cinematic as the story
moves from place to place.

Scale model photograph of the show curtain — neon lettering atop a 19th-century David Roberts lithograph.
Photo by Carey Wong.

AIDA 75

Set model photo of Radames’s ship. Photo by Carey Wong.

PRODUCTION CONCEPT

Co-director Steve Tomkins wanted a production design that had a contemporary
feel to it but also a sensibility that captured the aesthetic of an austere ancient
Egypt softened by the romantic impossibility of a tragic love triangle.

DESIGN SOLUTION/TRANSFORMATION

I had seen production designer Bob Crowley’s exciting sets and costumes for
the original Broadway production of AIDA and was impressed by how he gave
the whole show a look that made it feel like a Vogue photo shoot — something
absolutely contemporary but with a nod to pharaonic Egypt. His use of geometric
shapes, bold colors, and tongue-in-chic imagery created memorable stage
pictures that matched the belted anthems and plangent ballads of the score.

76 T HE WO RL D T R A NSFO R MED

Set model photo of Amneris’s dressing room. Photo by Carey Wong.

In my set design, however, I wanted to investigate geometric shapes in a
slightly different way. Because Steve Tomkins had in mind a more lush and romantic
vision of the piece, I took historic images — lines of hieroglyphics, decorated pillars,
stylized palm trees, ancient maps, 19th-century lithographs by David Roberts — and
blended them with strong geometric shapes — square, circle, and triangle — to
create the hierarchic, rigid world of the Egyptians in the musical. The square shape
appears in Radames’s tent structure and the tomb in which Aida and Radames are
buried. The triangle is initially seen in the outline of the ropes and yardarm on
Radames’s boat and later the pyramid drawing outlining the tomb. And the circle
is used to define Amneris’s dressing room. By contrast, the Nubians’ environment
was defined by the organic shapes of the natural world with structures made
from branches.

AIDA 77

Set model photo of the museum.
Photo by Jeff Lee.

Set model photo of Radames’s tent.
Photo by Carey Wong.

Set model photo of Radames’s garden.
Photo by Carey Wong.

Set model photo of the tomb interior.
Photo by Carey Wong.

Production photograph of the show curtain.
Photo courtesy of The Village Theatre.

Production photo of ship exterior —
“Fortune favors the brave.”

Photo courtesy of The Village Theatre.

Production photo of Amneris’s dressing
room — “My strongest suit.”
Photo courtesy of The Village Theatre.

Production photo of banquet hall.
Photo courtesy of The Village Theatre.

Production photo of tomb
interior with Aida (Marliss
Amiea) and Radames (Michael
Murnoch) inside. Photo courtesy
of The Village Theatre.

INSPIRATION

The bulletin board features cards and ephemera, people and things that have inspired
me during my career — opera singers, New Yorker cartoons, paper cutouts, filigree of all
sorts, Joseph Cornell boxes, Busby Berkeley movies, and artificial grottos and hell mouths.
The board also has pictures of my family — Tom Campbell (spouse), Audrey Leo (mother),
Gordon Wong (father), and Helen and Caryle Lee (maternal grandparents). And there’s a
photo of my actual work desk in my home studio with a pooja mandir in the corner loaded
with all manner of stuff.
I grew up with my mother’s family in an environment where creativity was encour-
aged. My grandfather was a self-taught cartoonist who drew for an Oregon lumber indus-
try newspaper. When I was about 8, he built me a small toy theatre so that I could create
miniature tableaux to share with my family. Helen and Caryle originally owned a grocery
store in Portland’s Old Chinatown and later had a business called Cottage Weavers
specializing in invisible reweaving. My mother, Audrey, was a child performer who sang,
danced, and played the accordion. She performed in variety shows supporting United
China Relief during World War II at the old Civic Auditorium and was known as “the
Chinese Shirley Temple.” I likely got the show business “bug” from her and from that toy
theatre of my youth.
My paternal grandparents, Norman and Mabel Wong, owned New China Laundry
in New Chinatown, and my father, Gordon, later oversaw its move to northeast Portland.

INSPIR ATION 81

CURRENT WORK

Pictured on the work desk are drawings, paint elevations, plans, and preliminary and
finished model pieces from shows I designed in 2022 - Gluck’s ORPHEUS AND
EURYDICE for Seattle Opera, the world premiere of Yusef El Guindi’s HOTTER
THAN EGYPT for ACT Theatre (a co-production with the Marin Theatre Company),
and the world premiere of Emily Kaczmarek and Zoe Sarnak’s musical AFTERWORDS
for Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre.

Production photo from
Seattle Opera’s ORPHEUS
AND EURYDICE.Photo by
Philip Newton

ACT Theatre’s HOTTER THAN EGYPT.
Photo by Hannah Delon.

The 5th Avenue’s Theatre’s AFTERWORDS.
Photo by Mark Kitaoka.

82 THE WORLD TR ANSFORMED

Photo by Jeff Lee.

BIOGRAPHY

Carey Wong has designed sets and/or costumes for over 300 operas, plays, ballets, and
themed environments in a career that has spanned nearly 50 years. Theatre credits include
the Seattle Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Arizona
Theatre Company, Center Stage Baltimore, Syracuse Stage, Intiman, Seattle Children’s
Theatre, The Village Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Marin
Theatre Company, Prince Music Theater, Hey City Theater and Spain’s Nearco
Producciones. He has been Resident Designer for Portland Opera, Opera Memphis, and
Wildwood Park for the Arts. Opera credits include Seattle Opera, Spoleto Festival USA,
New York’s Valhalla Wagnerfest, Pittsburgh Opera, Vancouver Opera, San Francisco Opera
Center, and the Beijing and Macao Music Festivals. Carey was exhibition designer for
BEYOND THE GATE: A TALE OF PORTLAND’S HISTORIC CHINATOWNS, the
permanent exhibit at the Portland Chinatown Museum. He received his BA from Yale
College as a Scholar of the House and attended the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.
Carey was born in Portland, Oregon, and he currently resides in Gig Harbor, Washington
with his spouse Tom Campbell.

BIOGRAPHY 83

LISTING OF SHOWS DESIGNED (1972 - 2023)

THEATRE DIRECTOR YEAR NOTES

SEATTLE REPERTORY THEATRE Casey Stangl 2020 Canceled/COVID-19*
Braden Abraham 2019 World premiere
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST Braden Abraham 2015
A DOLL’S HOUSE PART 2 Allison Narver 2013
THE COMPARABLES/ Laura Schellhardt Jerry Manning 2012
BOEING BOEING R. Hamilton Wright 2011
INSPECTING CAROL Chuck Smith 2007
SYLVIA Steven Dietz 2007
BIRDIE BLUE Aaron Posner 2005
MURDERERS
THE CHOSEN

ACT THEATRE (Seattle)

HOTTER THAN EGYPT/Yussef El Guindi John Langs 2022 World premiere
Co-prod. w/ Marin
Theatre Co.

World premiere
World premiere
KING OF THE YEES Desdemona Chiang 2017
World premiere
MURDER FOR TWO Daniel Knechtges 2017 West coast premiere

THE ROYALE Ameenah Kaplan 2016

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF Kurt Beattie 2015

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE Kurt Beattie 2014

BETHANY John Langs 2014

UNCLE HO TO UNCLE SAM/Trieu Tran Robert Egan 2012

THE PITMAN PAINTERS Kurt Beattie 2012

FIRST CLASS/David Wagoner Kurt Beattie 2007

THE UNDERPANTS Kurt Beattie 2006

A NUMBER John Kazanjian 2006

GOOD BOYS/Jane Martin Jon Jory 2004

GOING TO ST. IVES/Lee Blessing Leslie Swackhamer 1997

FISH HEAD SOUP Tim Bond 1994

HOLY GHOSTS/Romulus Linney Clayton Corzatte 1979

INTIMAN THEATRE Sheila Daniels 2009
Linda Hartzell 2005
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Jacqueline Moscou 2005
THE GRAPES OF WRATH Jacqueline Moscou 2004
INTIMATE APPAREL Margaret Booker 1978
CROWNS
THREE SISTERS

84 THE WORLD TRANSFORMED

THE VILLAGE THEATRE (Issaquah, Washington)

HELLO, DOLLY! Timothy Piggee 2023
HANSEL & GRETL & HEIDI & GUNTER
HAIRSPRAY Jerry Dixon 2020 World premiere/canceled*
A PROPER PLACE
Steve Tomkins/Timothy Piggee 2018
/Curtis Rhodes & Leslie Becker
MY HEART IS THE DRUM Jerry Dixon 2017 World premiere

/Jennie Redling, Phillip Palmer & Stacey Luftig Schele Williams 2016 World premiere
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU David Ira Goldstein 2015 West coast premiere
Jon Kretzu 2012
/Brian Hargrove and Barbara Anselmi
AIDA/Elton John Steve Tomkins/Brian Yorkey 2008
GIRL OF MY DREAMS
Steve Tomkins 2006 World premiere
/Peter Ekstrom, Steve Hayes & David DeBoys
THE SECRET GARDEN Brian Yorkey 2004
HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT Steve Tomkins 2004

REALLY TRYING Steve Tomkins 2003
THE ARK/Michael McLean & Kevin Kelly Steve Tomkins 2002
LA CAGE AUX FOLLES

SEATTLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE

THE BOY WHO KISSED THE SKY/Idris Goodwin Tim Bond 2022 World premiere
Co-production with
Alliance Theatre
World premiere

BLACK BEAUTY/James Still Courtney Sale 2019 World premiere

THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD Courtney Sale 2019 World premiere
TULANE/Dwayne Hartford World premiere (rev. ed.)
World premiere
THE JOURNAL OF BEN UCHIDA: Desdemona Chiang 2018 World premiere
CITIZEN 13577/Naomi Izuka

THE LITTLE PRINCE Courtney Sale 2018

THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE Linda Hartzell 2016
/Adrian Mitchell

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG Linda Hartzell 2015

MWINDO/Cheryl West Linda Hartzell 2015

DICK WHITTINGTON AND HIS CAT Allison Narver 2014

/Jeff Church & Rich Gray

THE BOY AT THE EDGE OF EVERYTHING Jonathan Schmidt Chapman 2014

/Finnegan Kruckemeyer

JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH Linda Hartzell 2013

/Tim McDonald, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul

CRASH/Y York Rita Giomi 2013

A SINGLE SHARD/Robert Schenkkan Linda Hartzell 2012

THE BORROWERS/Charles Way Rita Giomi 2010

PETER PAN Linda Hartzell 2009

SHOW LISTINGS 85

A TALE OF TWO CITIES/Dwayne Hartford Rita Giomi 2009 World premiere
BLUENOSE/Emil Sher Allison Narver 2008 World premiere
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD/Lori Allen Ohm Linda Hartzell 2008
THE 100 DRESSES/Mary Hall Surface Allison Narver 2008
THE NEVERENDING STORY/David Craig David Bennett 2007
ADDY: AN AMERICAN GIRL STORY Linda Hartzell 2007

/Cheryl West Linda Hartzell 2006 World premiere
THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE
Rita Giomi 2005 World premiere
/Oyamo & Carman Moore Linda Hartzell 2004 World premiere
SLEEPING BEAUTY/Charles Way & Chad Henry Francesca Zambello 2004
THE MAGIC CITY/Joe Sutton
TIBET THROUGH THE RED BOX Rita Giomi 2003 World premiere

/David Henry Hwang Linda Hartzell 2002, 2003
THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF CHARLOTTE
Linda Hartzell 2002 World premiere
DOYLE/John Olive Greg Banks 2002
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE Rita Giomi 2001 World premiere
Linda Hartzell 2001 World premiere
/Adrian Mitchell Linda Hartzell 2000
HOLES/Louis Sachar
INTO THE WEST/Greg Banks Linda Hartzell 1999 World premiere
JOHNNY TREMAIN/John Olive Linda Hartzell 1998 World premiere
MASK OF THE UNICORN WARRIOR/Y York Linda Hartzell 1998 World premiere
PRINCE BRAT AND THE WHIPPING BOY Linda Hartzell 1997
Linda Hartzell 1995
/Sid Fleischman
TIME AGAIN IN OZ/Susan Zeder & Rich Gray
KENNY’S WINDOW/Todd Jefferson Moore
PINK AND SAY/Oyamo
THE ODYSSEY/Greg Falls & Kurt Beattie
NAOMI’S ROAD/Paula Wing

5TH AVENUE THEATRE Adrienne Campbell-Holt 2022 World premiere
Desdemona Chiang 2020 Canceled/COVID-19**
AFTERWORDS/Emily Kaczmarek & Zoe Sarnak
SHREK

SEATTLE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY Victor Pappas 2014

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE

HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET Annie Lareau 2012 World premiere
/Annie Lareau 2010 World premiere

THE RIVER WHY/Myra Platt Myra Platt

THE EMPTY SPACE THEATRE Rod Pilloud 1997 World premiere
Eddie Levi Lee 1997
BARRYMORE’S GHOST/Jason Miller
DRACULA/Steven Dietz

86 THE WORLD TRANSFORMED

SEATTLE GROUP THEATRE Tim Bond 1994
Tim Bond 1993 West coast premiere
TO BE YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK
TOD, THE BOY, TOD/Talvin Wilks

ARTS WEST Annie Lareau 2015

CHINGLISH

BRIDGES STAGE COMPANY Aaron Clements-Levin 2023

WINGS/ Arthur Kopit

TACOMA ACTORS GUILD

PROOF Rita Giomi 2007

THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA Kent Phillips 2006

THE CURATE SHAKESPEARE AS YOU LIKE IT Pat Patton 2004

CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY Valerie Curtis-Newton 2003

MACBETH Pat Patton 2003

FORBIDDEN CHRISTMAS/Richard Gray Richard Gray 2002, 2003

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Pat Patton 2002

THE SUNSHINE BOYS Brian Humphrey 2001

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR Pat Patton 2001

DAS BARBECU Richard Gray 2000

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Pat Patton 1999

DUET FOR ONE Pat Patton 1998

TWELFTH NIGHT Pat Patton 1998

MISS JULIE Kamella Tate 1997

CHAPS! Pat Patton 1997, 2004

THE GLASS MENAGERIE M. Burke Walker 1996

A DOLL HOUSE Bruce K. Sevy 1995

THE QUICK-CHANGE ROOM/Nagle Jackson Bruce K. Sevy 1995 West coast premiere

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND Stephen Terrell 1995

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS Bruce K. Sevy 1994

THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP Michael Olich 1994 Design shared with
Nearco Producciones, Spain


I HATE HAMLET Bruce K. Sevy 1992

STRAIGHT ARROWS/Colleen Dodson John Monteith 1991 West coast premiere

LEND ME A TENOR Bruce K. Sevy 1991

A CHRISTMAS CAROL Bruce K. Sevy 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994

BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE Albert Takazauckas 1988

WHAT THE BUTLER SAW

SHOW LISTINGS 87

PORTLAND CENTER STAGE Marissa Wolf 2023
Dennis Bigelow 1989 Inaugural season
MS. HOLMES & MS. WATSON — APT. 2B
/Kate Hamill 2011

THE MISER 2018

SYRACUSE STAGE Linda Hartzell 2018
2014
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
/Adrian Mitchell 2023

CENTER STAGE BALTIMORE Desdemona Chiang 2014

KING OF THE YEES 1986

ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY Jane Jones 1985
David Saar
NATIVE GARDENS 1996
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
2013
INDIANA REPERTORY THEATRE James Still 2012
2012
OEDIPUS/David Daniel 2012
2011
MIXED BLOOD THEATRE 2011
2010
THE SUN SERPENT/Jose Cruz Gonzalez Rachel Bowditch



IFCC CULTURAL CENTER (Portland, Oregon)

SOUND AND BEAUTY/David Henry Hwang Rita Giomi

PORTLAND REPERTORY THEATRE Ghita Hager

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

OREGON CHILDREN’S THEATRE COMPANY

A WRINKLE IN TIME Greg Tamblyn


PHOENIX THEATRE (Phoenix, Arizona)

OUR TOWN Pasha Yamotahari
S’WONDERFUL Robert Kolby Harper
THE QUILTMAKER’S GIFT Robert Kolby Harper
THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES Robert Kolby Harper
NINE Michael Barnard
NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY Richard Roland
GLORIOUS! David Schay

88 THE WORLD TRANSFORMED

CHILDSPLAY (Tempe, Arizona)

THE YELLOW BOAT Dwayne Hartford 2017
2016
PETE OR THE RETURN OF PETER PAN David Saar World premiere
/Dwayne Hartford

THE SUN SERPENT/Jose Cruz Gonzales Rachel Bowditch 2011 World premiere
2011 World premiere
THE BORROWERS Dwayne Hartford 2009

JUNIE B. IN “JINGLE BELLS, BATMAN David Saar
SMELLS”/Allison Gregory

BUSYTOWN Dwayne Hartford 2009
2008 World premiere
A TALE OF TWO CITIES/Dwayne Hartford David Saar 2006
2004, 2010
THE SECRET GARDEN Adam Burke 2003, 2011

THE BFG David Saar

LILLY’S PURPLE PLASTIC PURSE Linda Hartzell/David Saar



HEY CITY THEATER (Minneapolis, Minnesota)

TONY AND TINA’S WEDDING/Salt Lake City Ross Young 2002
SMOKEY JOE’S CAFÉ/Minneapolis Sandy Hey 2001
TONY AND TINA’S WEDDING/Cleveland Ross Young 2000
TONY AND TINA’S WEDDING/Baltimore Ross Young 1999
TONY AND TINA’S WEDDING/Portland Sandy Hey 1997

THE MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY (Portland, Oregon)

NO NO NANETTE Ron Daum 2001 Commissioned design, not produced
KISS ME KATE Dan Murphy 1999
SWEET CHARITY Stan Foote 1999
MY FAIR LADY Dan Murphy 1999
CABARET Stan Foote 1999
SHE LOVES ME Bill Dobson 1998
FUNNY GIRL Greg Tamblyn 1998
THE SOUND OF MUSIC Bill Dobson 1998
THE MIKADO Dan Murphy 1998
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF Glenn Gauer 1997
THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN Jon Kretzu 1997
GUYS AND DOLLS Jon Kretzu 1997
OF THEE I SING Bill Dobson 1996
GIGI Jon Kretzu 1996
BIG RIVER Michael Jones 1995
BABES IN TOYLAND Karen Boettcher-Tate 1994
H.M.S. PINAFORE Karen Boettcher-Tate 1994
BRIGADOON Michael Jones 1993
THE GYPSY BARON Jon Kretzu 1993
THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE Karen Boettcher-Tate 1993
SOUTH PACIFIC Bill Dobson 1993

SHOW LISTINGS 89

THE DESERT SONG Karen Boettcher-Tate 1992
THE THREEPENNY OPERA Manuel Zarate 1992
CYRANO DE BERGERAC Ghita Hager 1990 Commissioned design, not produced
KISMET Steve Smith 1989
THE BOYFRIEND Karen Boettcher-Tate 1988
DARK OF THE MOON Ghita Hager 1988
OKLAHOMA! Jack Featheringill 1987
THE MIKADO Ghita Hager 1987

OPERA

SEATTLE OPERA Chía Patiño 2022
Patrick Bakman 1989 Commissioned design, not produced
ORFEO ED EURIDICE Ken Cazan 1989
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO
MADAMA BUTTERFLY

TACOMA OPERA Benjamin Smith 2011
David Bartholomew 2001
PAGLIACCI & TROUBLE IN TAHITI David Bartholomew 2000
DON GIOVANNI David Bartholomew 2000
DON PASQUALE David Bartholomew 1999
RIGOLETTO David Bartholomew 1999
COSÌ FAN TUTTE David Bartholomew 1996
MADAMA BUTTERFLY David Bartholomew 1995, 2002
ROMÉO ET JULIETTE David Bartholomew 1993
LA TRAVIATA Nancy Simon 1991
CARMEN
DIE FLEDERMAUS

OPERA SOUTHWEST David Bartholomew 2022 American stage premiere
David Bartholomew 2014
PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE David Bartholomew 2013
AMLETO/Franco Faccio David Bartholomew 2013
DON GIOVANNI David Bartholomew 2012
MADAMA BUTTERFLY David Bartholomew 2011
OTELLO/Gioacchino Rossini
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA

ORLANDO OPERA

DON GIOVANNI Robert Swedberg 2007

THE MAGIC FLUTE Robert Swedberg 2003 Co-production with
Macao and Beijing
Internatl. Music Festivals



90 THE WORLD TRANSFORMED

DES MOINES METRO OPERA Robert L. Larsen 2005
Robert L. Larsen 2005
GLORIANA/Benjamin Britten Robert L. Larsen 2003
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR
FAUST

SUGAR CREEK SYMPHONY AND SONG (Watseka, Illinois)

ROMÉO ET JULIETTE Gina Lapinski 2004

EUGENE OPERA James Toland 1992 Commissioned design, not produced
James Toland 1986
THE MAGIC FLUTE Ghita Hager 1983
MADAMA BUTTERFLY David Ostwald 1983
THE MAGIC FLUTE
DON PASQUALE

ANCHORAGE OPERA Ken Cazan 1992 Commissioned design, not produced

CANDIDE Patrick Bakman/Joshua Major 1991
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO
RIGOLETTO Grethe Barrett Holby 1989
IL TROVATORE
RIGOLETTO Albert Takazauckas 1986
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR
Patrick Tavernia 1980

Irving Guttman 1979

VALHALLA WAGNERFEST (Port Chester, New York)

SIEGFRIED Roger Franklin 1989

KNOXVILLE OPERA David Morelock 1989 World premiere

RACHEL/Kenton Coe

CALGARY OPERA & EDMONTON OPERA

DON GIOVANNI Malcolm Fraser 1987 Co-production

OPERA CAROLINA & SHREVEPORT OPERA

WILLIE STARK/Carlisle Floyd Carlisle Floyd 1985 Co-production

KENTUCKY OPERA, AUGUSTA OPERA & PIEDMONT OPERA THEATRE

THE TALES OF HOFFMANN Whitfield Lloyd 1980 Consortium production

PITTSBURGH OPERA, OPERA OMAHA & KENTUCKY OPERA

DIE FLEDERMAUS James de Blasis 1979 Consortium production

SHOW LISTINGS 91

OPERA MEMPHIS Rosalind Elias 1983 Commissioned design, not produced
Anne A. Randolph 1983
HANSEL AND GRETEL Patrick Bakman 1982
DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL
SUSANNAH 1982

LONG BEACH OPERA Nicholas Muni 1978 Commissioned design, not produced

THE BARBER OF SEVILLE 1977, 1978

KENTUCKY OPERA James Lucas 1982 World premiere
1982
THE MAGIC FLUTE 1982 Seattle Opera co-prod.
1982
WESTERN OPERA THEATRE (San Francisco, California) 1981
1981
SUSANNAH Patrick Bakman 1980
1980 Seattle Opera co-prod.
PORTLAND OPERA Malcolm Fraser 1979
Ghita Hager 1977 Commissioned design, not produced
WUTHERING HEIGHTS/Bernard Herrmann Ghita Hager 1977
MANON LESCAUT Ghita Hager 1977 Seattle Opera co-prod.
DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL Ghita Hager 1976 Production presented at
THE FACE ON THE BARROOM FLOOR Ghita Hager
EUGENE ONEGIN Malcolm Fraser 1st Spoleto Festival USA;
RIGOLETTO Ghita Hager aired on PBS’ Great
DON GIOVANNI Ghita Hager Performances in 1978
FIDELIO Carlos Alexander 1975 American premiere
DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT James de Blasis 1974
ELEKTRA Ghita Hager
CARMEN Gian Carlo Menotti 2001
LA CENERENTOLA 2001
THE CONSUL 2001
2000
LIFE OF ORESTES/Ernst Krenek Ghita Hager 2000
DER FREISCHÜTZ Frans Boerlage 2000
1999
WILDWOOD PARK FOR THE ARTS Terry Sneed 1999
Terry Sneed
NOYE’S FLUDDE/Benjamin Britten Terry Sneed
DON PASQUALE Terry Sneed
LA BOHÈME Leslie Swackhamer
HANSEL AND GRETEL Terry Sneed
LA FINTA GIARDINIERA Terry Sneed
DIE FLEDERMAUS Terry Sneed
LA TRAVIATA
THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE

92 THE WORLD TR ANSFORMED

MADAMA BUTTERFLY Ann Chotard 1998 World premiere
H.M.S. PINAFORE Terry Sneed 1998 World premiere
COSÌ FAN TUTTE Albert Takazauckas 1997
THE MAGIC FLUTE Albert Takazauckas 1997
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO Albert Takazauckas 1996
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC Albert Takazauckas 1996
LA TRAGEDIE DE CARMEN Michael Jones 1995
THE BARBER OF SEVILLE Michael Jones 1995
MAN OF LA MANCHA Michael Jones 1995
PRECIOUS FEW/Terry Sneed Terry Sneed 1994
LA BOHÈME Terry Sneed 1994
THE MIKADO Terry Sneed 1994
THE TURN OF THE SCREW Albert Takazauckas 1993
THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE Terry Sneed 1993
MADAMA BUTTERFLY Adelaide Bishop 1993
TOSCA Albert Takazauckas 1992
DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT Terry Sneed 1992
DON PASQUALE Terry Sneed 1991
DON GIOVANNI Malcolm Fraser 1991
LA TRAVIATA Ann Chotard/Terry Sneed 1991
THE IMPRESARIO & GIANNI SCHICCHI Terry Sneed 1990
COSÌ FAN TUTTE Malcolm Fraser 1990
THE MAGIC FLUTE Whitfield Lloyd 1990
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR Malcolm Fraser 1989
POSTCARD FROM MOROCCO Patrick Bakman 1989
THE THREEPENNY OPERA Patrick Bakman 1989
SWEENEY TODD Ken Cazan 1988
ALBERT HERRING Albert Takazauckas 1988
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO Patrick Bakman 1987
THE BARBER OF SEVILLE Ann Chotard 1987
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC Ann Chotard 1986
RIGOLETTO Ann Chotard 1986
AS LONG AS A CHILD REMEMBERS Raymond Pannell 1986
/Raymond Pannell
TOSCA Ann Chotard 1985 World premiere
DIDO AND AENEAS Ann Chotard 1985
CLAIR DE LUNE/Libby Larsen Ann Chotard 1985
LA BOHÈME Ann Chotard 1984
THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO Ann Chotard 1984

SHOW LISTINGS 93

DANCE Ib Andersen 2006

BALLET ARIZONA Toni Pimble/Riley Grannan 1984

THE NUTCRACKER

EUGENE BALLET

THE NUTCRACKER

EXHIBITIONS

THE WORLD TRANSFORMED: SCENIC Portland Chinatown Museum 2022
DESIGNS BY CAREY WONG

BEYOND THE GATE: A TALE OF Portland Chinatown Museum 2018
PORTLAND’S HISTORIC CHINATOWNS

BEYOND THE GATE: A TALE OF Oregon Historical Society 2016
PORTLAND’S HISTORIC CHINATOWNS

RE-CREATED WORLDS: THE COLLABORATIVE Corvallis Arts Center 1994

VISION OF STAGE DESIGN Visual Arts Resources/NEA

CREATING WITHIN THE BLACK BOX American Institute of Architects Gallery — Portland 1981

PORTLAND OPERA:PANACHE GONE GRAND Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art 1976

DESIGNS FOR THE THEATRE Portland State University — White Gallery 1974


EDUCATIONAL AND COMMUNITY THEATRE

PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY David Ward/William Mouat 2022
– SCHOOL OF MUSIC David Ward 2019
Joshua Miller 2017
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR David Edwards 2014
LA FINTA GIARDINIERA Jon Kretzu 2013
SUOR ANGELICA & GIANNI SCHICCHI David Edwards 2012
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Bill Fabris 2011
LA RONDINE Tito Capobianco 2010
DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES Tito Capobianco 2009
STREET SCENE
THE MERRY WIDOW
FALSTAFF

94 THE WORLD TR ANSFORMED

COSÌ FAN TUTTE Tito Capobianco 2007
SUOR ANGELICA & GIANNI SCHICCHI Brenda Nuckton 2005
DON GIOVANNI Brenda Nuckton 2003
LA CENERENTOLA Brenda Nuckton 2002
REVEREND EVERYMAN/Salvador Brotons Lincoln Clark 1997
THE MAGIC FLUTE Patsy Maxson/Brenda Nuckton 1993, 2001

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY Michael McConnell 1995
– SCHOOL OF MUSIC Lincoln Clark 1995

HANSEL AND GRETEL

LE PAUVRE MATELOT & LES MAMELLES
DE TIRÉSIAS

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Risa Brainin 2019
SANTA BARBARA (LAUNCH PAD) Tom Haas 1973

THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM, 1963
/Cheryl West


YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA

THE BROTHERS (IDIOTS) KARAMAZOV
/Christopher Durang & Albert Innaurato

YALE SCHOOL OF MUSIC Alejandro Planchart 1973 Commissioned design,
not produced
ORFEO/Claudio Monteverdi

EARLY MUSIC CALLIOPE Timothy Swain 1972
(Portland, Oregon)

A CHRISTEMAS REVELS (sic)

YALE COLLEGE

NEWES FROM THE NEW WORLD Carey Wong 1972 American
premiere
DISCOVER’D IN THE MOONE/Ben Jonson

* Indicates productions that were designed and built (or partially built) but never seen by the general public.
** Indicates productions that were designed but not built due to the pandemic.



SHOW LISTINGS 95

96 THE WORLD TR ANSFORMED