With the upcoming theater production They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay! just around the corner, we asked guest artist Devin Petersen some questions about his work and creative process as a scenic designer.
Devin Petersen graduated from Whitman College in 2011 with a BA in Theater and has come back to help with many different projects at the Harper Joy Theatre, such as Four Chekhov Farces (2020), and the upcoming production of They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!
As a student, he worked on projects like Frenzy for Two, or More (2009) and The Government Inspector (2010). When asked about the biggest differences between those projects and the projects he came back to work on as a guest artist, Petersen noted that the biggest difference was he learned a lot more about what this job entailed. As a student, he recalls being very much unaware of the workload of a scenic designer. Now, he believes that he has the experience to head off problems before they arise and to have stronger communication with directors while being more involved with the core creation of a piece. As a student, he had also been a part of the scenic shop for all four years, giving him the tools and hands-on experience that helped him as a scenic designer.
When asked about his creative process as a scenic designer for They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!, Petersen stated that it all begins with his first read-through of the play and trying to make a connection with the piece. His main focus is asking himself and the director, “why is this relevant to the creative team and the audience?”
For this upcoming production, he states that “the relevance is so clear with it being about goods that have become unaffordable, that is a situation that many of us haven’t dealt with until very recently within the last 40 years.” After creating a form of personal connection with the piece, he assembles visual imagery ranging from architectural images and artwork to real world photography to emotionally connect with the piece through visual art, which helps him figure out what the play will look like.
This project has been several months in the making, the ground plan has been worked on to balance comedic staging and practicalities. In conjunction with all of this, one must also figure out how to manage the environment and atmosphere, where the space will be able to convey something about the play. In this sense, Petersen believes that the root of the challenge of scenic design is creating a marriage between all of these elements.
Petersen’s interest in scenic design began during his sophomore year when he took a course on scenic design. His interest in theater had developed long before this, and for a while, he believed that being a part of theater meant that you had to be an actor. He stated that the path of an actor just wasn’t for him for many reasons. The course in scenic design opened up a new way for him to communicate with the play. His love for scenic design only deepened his love for theater.
For this particular production, he primarily agreed to come on as a guest designer because the director, Christopher Petit, who asked him, was Petersen’s acting instructor at Whitman. Petersen had also been a stage manager for Petit, and although that experience was what convinced him he should never be a stage manager, he realized that Petit “knew how to always get the most out of his actors. The productions that he did always had this poignancy that I admired.” Petersen’s admiration for the director is why he wanted to work on this particular production. “It was an honor to be asked to work alongside Chris,” Petersen says.
To see Devin’s creative process come to life, join us for the upcoming theater production, They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay! Tickets are live now, and opening night is on Thursday, September 29th.