Pride and Prejudice was the first show I worked on in college. It was within a group called Off the Lake Productions and it was a completely student run performance. Students designed, directed, acted, and produced the show. I was one of the lighting operators and a set designer for the performance. Below are the brainstormed designs and the final photos of the set. The entire performance was set up and completed in a large classroom, so there were extra challenges in making the set. It had to be transportable while also being large enough to cover the entire backstage, as the actors could not hide behind curtains.
There were three main parts that I was asked to design: sliding doors, a garden gate, and windows that opened. The window was the easiest one, as I just needed to add a place for a curtain to go behind the actor to hide the backstage. The garden gate was just a curtain in a doorway and a gate with vines to cover it (number 4).
The sliding door was the hardest part. While pulleys would be easy to do, there was a very small budget and lots of scrap wood. That led me to create an interlocking v joint (3). To ensure smooth sliding, the v was sanded and then painted to minimize the amount of friction that would be created. To create the v I did end up using two pieces of wood and attaching them together.
Pictured below is the center of the stage. The sliding doors are in the center of the stage.
Below is the stage right side of the set. While only the right window opened, the entire set was there to cover backstage.
This was the stage left side of the set. As with the other side, it was larger than needed to cover the backstage. This side was to represent the garden so it was created to look overgrown. The patch of pink flowers and vines cover a wrought iron gate that opens to lead backstage.
