An Enemy of the People

For An Enemy of the People at Stephens College, I wanted the world to feel stripped down and confrontational. I kept the entire environment in grayscale, walls, architecture, and floor, treating the space almost like a three-dimensional drawing. The inspiration came from Tokyo’s 2D Cafe, where depth feels flattened and reality feels slightly unstable.

The backdrop included rough, sketch-like line work that suggested architecture without fully rendering it. It wasn’t about realism. It was about exposure. In a play centered on truth and public scrutiny, I didn’t want the room to provide comfort.

The only real color in the space comes from the red furniture, and those pieces puncture the monochrome world. Red becomes a visual interruption: pressure, danger, accusation. It makes the actors feel like they are standing inside an argument.

The minimal palette forces focus onto performance and language. There is nowhere to hide. The environment feels stark, almost clinical, but still theatrical, and the design works as a frame that amplifies the play’s themes of power, resistance, and the cost of speaking out.