Scenic Design - Musical Theatre 
07
2024

Freaky Friday — Okoboji Summer Theatre

Stage set with yellow kitchen cabinets, a blue window, a woman with long curly hair in front, and a woman in a pink dress on the right side. 
Scenic Design Rendering created in Vectorworks.
A school play scene with seven students on stage, some holding frog puppets above their heads, in colorful costumes under vibrant lighting.

Design Notes

In Freaky Friday, produced by Okoboji Summer Theatre in 2024 and directed by Josh Walden, I set out to create a visually dynamic world that balances bold simplicity with a storytelling style inspired by the vibrant aesthetic of Archie Comics. The scenic design used clean lines, saturated colors, and stylized shapes to transform the stage into a playful, comic-book-like setting that amplified the musical’s humor, pace, and heart.

Set pieces were built as modular units—rotating boxes and layered platforms—that suggested multiple locations with a simple shift in position or palette. This approach allowed for fast transitions between scenes while maintaining a cohesive visual world. A bright palette of reds, yellows, and blues infused the stage with high energy and mirrored the emotional intensity of the characters.

The design supported the story’s themes of empathy, chaos, and connection by creating a visual rhythm across locations like the chaotic family home, the high school, and the wedding venue. Objects such as the wedding cake, the hourglass, and lockers were rendered with stylized clarity, offering just enough realism to ground the narrative while keeping the world slightly heightened.

Much like the characters’ emotional journey, the set oscillated between realism and fantasy. It was grounded in everyday spaces, yet rendered through a whimsical, animated lens that encouraged expressive staging and fast-paced movement.

This Freaky Friday scenic design embraced theatricality with a bright, contemporary visual language—welcoming audiences into a world where chaos leads to clarity and understanding unfolds through color, shape, and transformation.

Two women are on stage holding a large cutout of an hourglass. One woman has long, curly blonde hair and is wearing a camouflage jacket and distressed pants. The other woman has short, curly hair and is wearing a vintage-style beige dress. They are facing each other, appearing to be shouting or singing, with a colorful kitchen-themed backdrop behind them.

Creative Team

Music by Tom Kitt

Lyrics by Brian Yorkey

Book by Bridget Carpenter

Directed and Choreographed by Josh Walden

Scenic Design by Brandon PT Davis 

Costume Design by Zachary Phelps

Lighting Design by Savannah Bell

Sound Design by Kayla Slinger

Theater stage scene with actors in vintage clothing, some seated and some standing, during a dramatic moment in a play or musical.
Stage scene with a woman holding an hourglass prop and five people standing near a set piece labeled 'Mrs. Time' in background
Group of young actors on stage performing in a play, with a background sign reading 'Mrs. Time's'. The actors are dressed in various costumes, some punk-style, others casual, and one holds an hourglass prop.
Five young performers on stage, each holding a phone, with a dark blue background. The central performer is wearing a tank top with a red heart and has arms outstretched.
A scene from a stage performance featuring a young boy with a puppet, an actress leaning over a pink bench at a bus stop set with a yellow bus stop sign, suitcase, and dark blue background.
Stage performance with a woman and a boy behind a cardboard cutout of a red Ford car, with blue background.
Two women having a conversation on a stage while several people strike dance poses behind them.
A woman with curly red hair and a young boy standing in front of a blue set piece resembling a row of lockers. The woman appears to be scolding the boy, who is holding a blue furry object. The woman is dressed in a beige skirt and blouse, carrying a
Three actors on a theatrical stage with kitchen set, two actors are dancing together and one actor watching, set with bright yellow and blue colored kitchen cabinets and counter.
A group of young actors on stage performing a scene in a school setting, with colorful lockers and a green chalkboard backdrop.
Two women on stage holding a large cartoonish hourglass prop, with colorful background and kitchen-themed illustrations.
Group of people standing together on stage, including a young girl with a serious expression, a woman holding a blue puppet, and a boy smiling, behind them are others with varied facial expressions, all under stage lighting.