Candide
2020- Marymount Manhattan College- Design Collaboration Seminar
Scenic Designer- Doni Rotunno
Costume Designer- Larissa Castilho
Lighting Designer- Max Stroeher
Candide is based on a book by the same name written by Voltaire in 1759. The book was a satire written to parody optimistic world
views and life styles. Voltaire achieves this by putting his characters in terrible positions contrasted by their excessively optimistic
worldview. This delta between their perception of the world and the reality of the world presents the shows full opportunity for humor.
In this pursuit it is of critical importance that the designs reinforce the optimistic view of the world throughout the show. In doing this
each element of the design must not cast judgement on the terrible things that happen and are mentioned on stage, instead opting to see
“the best of all possible worlds” in every situation presented to the audience. This will be done in the lighting design by using saturated
warm and cool light at the beginnings of scenes that can recede into starker and less vibrant colors as the realities of the world are
processed by the characters.
The design team for this production opted to portray the show through the concept of a phantasmal fever dream. This reading of
the show as a chaotic journey that we can only experience as passengers will give those seeing the show greater credence to accept the
changing realities of the world created by the playwrights. To achieve this the show will use stereotypical imagery and tonality to build
each location throughout the show. Doing this will require some departure from historical reality but should create a more comedic final
product.
