Gloria

I was so excited to design Gloria because I rarely get the chance to do realism. It is a style that is tough to pull off. It is expensive and it really depends on having the right stock, which has not always been possible in the places I have worked. So when the opportunity came at UCI, I knew I had to jump in. When I first read the play, what stood out to me was how the characters are so focused on their own goals that they lose awareness of the toxic environment they have created. That lack of awareness blinds them to the pain in the room until it is too late. This idea of awareness, of yourself, of others, and of how your energy shapes the space around you, became central to my design. That is why I chose the alley configuration: not just to highlight the intensity of the traumatic scene, but also so audiences can see each other, a reminder that this is theatre, not real life, while still experiencing it together.

At the same time, I found myself drawn to modern architecture and the way spaces can be transformed with just graphics and furniture. There is an old Jack in the Box near UCI that closed, and when they stripped away the branding and furniture, suddenly it looked like a chic new restaurant. That moment made me realize how powerful small details are in shaping how we see public spaces. For this show, I leaned into that idea, designing custom graphics and picking specific furniture to define each of the three locations. My hope is that the audience feels transported into three very different environments, while also noticing the underlying sameness, echoing Lori's final line: "Isn't it funny how these places are just sort of the same? Almost down to the same people. Why is that, you think?"