Extremities images
I'll be a long time forgetting this one. Under the old Town & Gown calendar, a Second Stage show got just one week in the playhouse, which meant there wasn't much percentage in trying to build a big set. Most of these productions devoted a couple of hours to hanging some draperies and placing a few pieces of furniture, then spent the rest of their scant time polishing the show.
This season (2004-5), the calendar allots more weeks to a couple of the Second Stage productions. Extremities got two weeks, so director Liz decided to give free rein to her scenic designer, Kelli. Strong choice: Kelli has good sense and a dependable eye, and she produced a design we could build for next to nothing (added time did not come with more funding). The photo below shows the set virtually complete.
The color selection was effective and the layout, though simple and based on stock furniture, worked well.
The reason I describe this show as memorable is that I tried to lift something I shouldn't have. Probably it was one of the Crimes of the Heart door and window units that were tightly wedged into a shed. Anyway, I seriously hurt my back (thought for a few days I'd cracked a rib) and couldn't sit up straight for more than a week.
Back in the 1980s, I think, Extremities was the beginning and end of Farrah Fawcett's dramatic career. She confined an intending rapist in the fireplace. In this production it was Joe who had to get inside there. Well, the story about how we got this fireplace unit is longer and duller than you would credit; I'll just say it was the reddest imaginable fireplace. Kelli treated it to get this "redecorated" look. Very nice, and we're using it in The Ladies of the Camellias too.
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Set photos