West Linn High School Performing Arts Dept.

The Diviners

Set and Lighting Design by Jon Ares.

March 2008.

Directed by Jessica Middleton Murray. Set and Lighting Design by Jon Ares, Costume Design by Barbara Murray.

Placed in Indiana farmland in the summer of 1932, my set echoed some of the elements the inhabitants of the mythical town of Zion lived with: dry, dusty farmland, greenery and the river, plus weathered but strong barn wood. Each platform carried some of this: the largest was reflective of the furrows of farmland, and painted with a nod to the WPA “art deco” murals of the time; the center platform was greens and browns, as it dipped into the river; and the last platform looked like weathered clapboard or barn siding.

The various angles of the platforms gave the director lots of variety for locations and staging. The audience sat on three sides, and there truly wasn’t a bad seat in the house.