the electric baby

BY STEFANIE ZADRAVEC

FORDHAM UNIVERSITY 2016

Directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh

Set Design: Reid Thompson

Costume Design: Becky Bodhurtha

Lighting Design: Cesca Wolos-Fonteno

Sound Design: Palmer Heffernan

Photographs: Reid Thompson

 

In Stefanie Zadravec's beautiful play a car wreck and its repercussions unite a group of strangers in modern day Pittsburgh. Two immigrants, one from Romania and one from Africa, bring the poetry and folk magic of thier heritages to America. A baby on life support glows like the moon. The lines between reality, folk magic and poetry blur and dissapear as the play continues. In this production at Fordham's Pope Theater we wanted to use a poetic space to bring together the real and mythical places evoked in the play. The baby in his bassinet is at the center of the space. A tree of sorts is made by the life support tubes and knitted yarn pieces made by his mother, who knits and waits and dispenses folk wisdom. Her room is a circular moon platform. The balance of the play took place in rotating orbit around her, with simple furniture pieces to indicate all the locations of the play. The floor is painted with stars, and a double yellow line road line in a circle. A curved surround of midnight blue brick is punctuated by windows evoking the hillsides of Pittsburgh.