A familiar postwar American backyard became the starting point for All My Sons at Stephens College. A modest house, open porch, and carefully maintained exterior created a world that first reads as stable, domestic, and complete.

As the play unfolds, that openness starts to work against the family. Private decisions and moral conflicts are placed in full view, so the realism of the setting becomes part of the pressure. I wanted the Keller home to feel ordinary enough that its unraveling felt more unsettling.

The design stayed understated on purpose. By avoiding overt symbolism, the backyard could hold the American Dream on the surface while quietly exposing the denial, grief, and accountability underneath it.

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