STANDARDIZED TESTING: THE MUSICAL!!!!

Emerson Stage, November/December 2012

director: Stephen Terrell

costume designer: Haley Vigil

lighting designer: Emily Crochetiere

 

A new work by composer and lyricist Sam Wilmott, Standardized Testing: The Musical!!!! is the story of eight high school students taking a test in their high school's multi-purpose room. Similar in structure to 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, we first learn about each student's individual concerns and issues in the Multiple Choice section, move into a fifteen-minute break spoken in real time, and conclude with the Free Response section (where songs overlap and build on top of each other).

 

In this production, it was important for the scenery to be grounded in realism, allowing for lighting to take an imaginative and fantastical approach to the solos and dance numbers. Inspired by contemporary depictions of the American high school from the past twenty years (ranging from Freaks and Geeks and My So-Called Life to Friday Night Lights and Mean Girls), the final design, with its high, prison-like windows, institutional yellow walls, and Marshall High School Saxons spirit mural, grounded the realistic scenes at the beginning and end of the show, as well as the real-time break. The use of the actual industrial doors at the back of the theatre (which normally lead to the pass-through, freight elevator, and dressing rooms) as the multi-purpose room's entrance gave the space extra realism. Due to the extreme slope of the audience seating in this theatre, the floor treatment played an essential role in the design, leading to the choice of a high-gloss faux-linoleum checkered tile treatment. The use of practical fluorescent lighting also allowed for jarring transitions between reality and the students' daydreams. Finally, detailed and humorous set dressing, including graffiti on the walls and tables and a plethora of posters for student organizations, gave the room a truly lived-in feel.

 

all photos credited to Jacqueline Ziegler or Perspective Photo