Scenic Design

Into The Woods

University at Buffalo Center for the Arts, Drama Theatre, April 23rd – 26th 2026

Concept

Into The Woods subverts several Brothers Grimm fairytale characters happy endings, emphasizing that those who constantly wish for more will remain unhappy. The woods represent the unknown, what good they find and what bad they endure. My design of the woods uses typical tree shapes and colors in the foreground, gradually appearing mangled, dark, and entropic as the world unveils further upstage. This reflects the enticing and dangerous nature of wishing into the unknown.

Grounding Images

Line work reminescent of Edward Gorey combined with natural scenes of moss covered trees with a striking lack of leaves filled the foreground research images. The background was inspired by chaotic 2D line work, and the 3D fabric expressions of Chiharu Shiota.

Inital Sketches

Model Building

To achieve the organic nature of the set, physical models were built in order to communicate the world.

Realization

Myself and assistant set designer, Kay O’Sullivan, painted, sculpted and decorated much of the set. The sculpting in the foreground was completed using cardboard, aluminum netting, and paper mache.

Camo netting was painted and placed on the side of the hill as folliage. A long scultped piece of camo netting was created to represent the beanstalk. The element hid within the folliage, allowing it to grow in front of the audiences eyes once it was flown at the end of Act 1.

The creation of the upstage drops involved interpreting my draft into a series of tie line runs and draped duvetyne. The flying drop was done on the ground, while the linear upstage drop was manipulated in the air. Ten foot pipes were later placed vertically next to the upcenter stairs for the strips of duvytene to attatch to, allowing the upstage tangle to appear more 3D.

Paperwork