Setting the Stage: Designing "Snow White"

Perhaps more than any other, theater is a collaborative art form. Once a show is chosen, the director meets with the production staff, including the designers, and makes clear his or her specific needs. The designers can also give suggestions or present alternatives, if any of the director’s requests cannot be accomplished due to budgetary, time, or other constraints.

One important area of production is scenery.  This is essential when the director wants to create a certain mood, suggest a location, or evoke a completely different time and place.  

The scenic design for Snow White was created by Gerry Dzuiblinski, theater faculty member and technical director, which means that he supervises all of the show’s technical aspects. Dzuiblinski began his undergraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before transferring to Antioch College in Ohio. He spent his senior year in London, England, where he studied at the Cockpit Theatre. After graduating, he started his own production company and toured several states before earning a Master’s degree and coming to teach at HFCC.

“I feel the key to a strong design is discovering a core concept that works for me, the show and the director,” Dzuiblinski said, when asked about his process. “Usually I choose a look based on the overall mood and themes of the show. By creating a visual metaphor, I have a starting point for the design.” (A visual metaphor is a central image around which the rest of the design is created.)  He added that he often conducts research to help him along, examining books, paintings, drawings, photographs, and the world around him.

“As I’m researching, I create sketches, in pencil or color of the major scenic looks, trying to capture the essential mood and functional elements of a scene,” Dzuiblinski added. These sketches are continually refined until he is satisfied he has the look, elements and spacing for the scene.

“For Snow White, the major looks are stone and wood,” Dzuiblinski explained. “The stone is cool, since it is in the queen’s castle. The forest is both warm and cold, and the dwarfs’ dwelling is rustic, but finely crafted. The director and dramaturg also contribute research, and we blend our ideas and inspirations into a final look that we are happy with.”

Dzuiblinski hopes that the finished work will transport the audience into a medieval fantasy world. “This adaptation was written by the director, and emphasizes the beauty of giving,” he said. “I hope to show the tension between the selfish, jealous world of the queen and the beneficent, though imperfect world of those whose lives are more generous.” Snow White is scheduled to open in Adray Auditorium on November 15.