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Set design is a crucial element of theatre. Often it is the first thing the audience will see, even before the actors. It will help the audience suspend their disbelief. The set gives actors a space to bring to life a character. So in order to create this space whereby the audience and actors enter another world, the set designer must have imagination. He or she must be able to picture what this thing is going to look like. Once the set designer imagines it, he or she must create it.Below is my creative process for any art work (I think of the set as an extended piece of art work):
When creating the set, you must know the play - the problem becomes "What is this play going to look like?" You imagination thinks of possible ideas and then you commit some of them to sketches. Once you have your sketches, you do some visual research. For example, the play calls for a bench in a park. You would research various park benches to match what you had imagined in your thumbnails. Next, you would build a maquette (or model) of the set to show the director and get his or her input.
Below is a plan of our stage...
