Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo designers tackle a unique project by Deneia Washington Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, the Pulitzer Prize nominated drama by Rajiv Joseph about the early days of the Iraqi War, is set to hit the Adrienne Theater in Center City in September and all behind-the-scenes personnel, including graduate students John Eddy and Liz Phillips, have been hard at work formulating ideas that capture and enhance director David Girard’s vision for this production for months. The play's structure, the unique floor plan of the Adrienne Theater, and required scenic elements challenged the designers to think creatively and collaboratively.

Just weeks before the spring semester came to a close, scenic designer John Eddy had to scrap his design plans for a central Middle Eastern style gazebo or pergola that incorporated the existing support columns on the theater's playing space.  "This it seemed this version of the design would be the one we would use; however, after visiting the theater we quickly realized it was not going to work," say Eddy. Issues of difficult sight lines, a confined playing space, and the logistics of creating the large topiaries essential to the story made the original design impractical.

Going back to the drawing board, Eddy carried out strenuous visual research to come up with a more effective idea. He came across a photograph of a wall around the Green Zone, a zone in the center of the Iraqi capital that was the headquarters of Iraqi regimes, by journalist Carolyn Cole that gave him a spark of inspiration.

“Was the wall around the Green Zone to keep people out or in?” Eddy ponders.

In the spirit of collaboration, Eddy began to think more about the lighting after lighting designer Liz Phillips emailed Eddy a YouTube clip with a single question, "What if we could pull something like this off for the topiaries?" The video (below) of projection onto 3D surfaces, made his vision evermore clear.“Everything else started to fall in place – how to incorporate the existing architecture, how to give a flavor of Baghdad, how to provide flexibility for David while still keeping the magical quality we wanted,” explains Eddy. “By Monday, I had a new design that I shared with the team, and by that Friday a new final design that was agreed to by the production team.”

As a reflection of the director’s point of view for the script, Eddy drew design inspiration from historical and visual context.

“The scenic design helps to bring the vision of the playwright and director to life,” he says. “Design can and should suggest the style and tone of the production, create mood and atmosphere and ‘set the stage’ – crafting the world of the play for actor and audience.”

Phillips understands how lighting can directly affect the atmosphere of the performance and the audiences’ relationship with the characters. “The costumes support the character, the set supports the world, and the lighting can be the support for everything in-between,” says Phillips.

Working on Bengal Tiger is easy for Liz Phillips, as the play resonated with her. “Bengal Tiger, especially this production with David Girard's imagining of it, speaks both to my preferred visual aesthetics, and to my personal politics,” says Phillips.

Phillips wants the lighting to not only hone in on certain messages and themes of the play, she also hopes it will exemplify the intricacies of the costume designs.

“I have to decide if my initial color instincts will support, minimize or accentuate the colors in the costume, and how I need to change my choices based on those answers,” she explains. “If I know the costume designer has spent a lot of time finding or designing some specific detailing in a costume I will try to help accentuate that detailing too.” [caption id="attachment_721" align="alignleft" width="300"] A digital rendering of the set[/caption]

Eddy believes his clean design captures the essence of David Girard’s idea of magical realism, but enhanced. “My ideas are giving the design a sense of location without being too specific. We should get a flavor of Baghdad,” he says.

As she moves forward in her lighting process, Phillips hopes to get a clearer focus of matching light with mood. “The set is more minimal in that aspect so it's my goal right now in the process to figure out how to provide the specific location and set the emotional context or mood.”

Normally, theaters students get hands-on experience in the construction of the set, but not this time. An outside shop has been contracted for this task. Once the time comes for the set to be moved into the theater and rehearsals begin, designers will be able to see how well their designs pair together.

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph begins September 17 at the Adrienne Theater. This production is presented as part of the citywide FringeArts Festival.