MEGAN CHANEY | Scenic Design

SCENIC DESIGN

Get Out Alive

January 2020

Scenic & Props Designer

Steppenwolf Look Out Series

Steppenwolf 1700 Theater

Dir. Roger Ellis

Asst. Dir. Rebecca Blaich

Costume Des. Ziare Paul-Emile

Lighting Des. Garrett Steinke

Projections Engineer Chris Owens

Get Out Alive is a multi-media performance event that deconstructs writer/performer Nikki Lynette's mental health journey. Through the lens of an afrogoth celebration of life service, this work revolves around themes of persistence and survival in the face of extraordinary odds.

For more information on the show, please visit http://nikkilynette.com/the-play

The 2020 iteration of Get Out Alive as a part of Steppenwolf's Look Out series was developed with the playwright and performer, Nikki Lynette. The production occurs within three distinct spaces: a memorial service/DJ booth, the performer's symbolic cluttered mental space, and her art studio. All three are presented onstage in a triptych split via hanging floral arrangements, so the delineations can exist while preserving the open dance space. All elements were pre-made and installed into the space over one install day, shared with tech rehearsals in the space.

Elevator Girl

January 2019

Scenic & Props Designer

Vanguard Arts Collective

The Edge Theatre

Dir. Adrienne Matzen

Projections Des. Erin Pleake

Lighting Des. Michael Goebel

Costume Des. LaVisa Willilams

Sound Des. Steve Labedz

Illustrator John Shane

Elevator Girl was never meant to be more than an urban legend, a sexual revenge fantasy created by Vanessa and her graphic illustrator boyfriend. But when the comic superhero unleashes her boyfriend’s darkest fantasies, as well as a flesh-and-blood copycat, Vanessa must stop EG in her tracks—with the truth.

"First and foremost: Megan Chaney’s scenic design for “Elevator Girl,” a comic-book panel-inspired set with a functioning elevator door, immediately conveys a sense of the universe that we’re stepping into for the evening in a playful and exciting manner." - Ben Kaye for New City Stage

The characters of Elevator Girl are 3D people navigating a 2D world, provided by the relatively flat and minimized black and white world behind them. The props and people of Urbanville stand boldly against the cartoon textures of the backdrops. Peter's apartment and Vanessa's office flank a sliding multi-use elevator door at the center of a life-size comic page. The top panels offer dynamic projection surfaces, separated by a violent slice through the center of the space. The build was executed with a budget below 500 dollars, and in a 3-day build window.

Colorado

July 2017

Scenic & Props Designer

Vanguard Arts Collective

The Edge Theatre

Dir. and Projections Des. Chris Owens

Lighting Des. Michael Goebel

Costume Des. Hanna Wisner

Sound Des. Joe Palermo

"Thank you all! Thank you for loving me so much." So ends the victory speech of 17-year old Tracey Ackhart upon her coronation as Miss Late Teen Colorado. The "loving," alas, soon ends. Days before the national pageant in Virginia Beach, Tracey disappears, hurling the rest of her family, whose lives until then had revolved around her, into disarray. Simultaneously satirical, witty, tender and unsettling, Colorado is a play about the dreams of a family, and the traps set to keep those dreams far, far away.

The scenery for Colorado is intended to give the characters each their own small pocket of existence to live in, isolated from each other. The backdrop pieces keep the mountain scenery of the titular state present in their world in a distant abstraction. The set was executed within a minimal budget, without existing scenic stock. All scenery was executed within a 3 day build window, and all walls and platforms were able to be removed from the space nightly to accommodate other productions in the space.

Whatever We Want

October 2014

Scenic Designer & Paint Charge

Vivarium Theatre Company

Bo-ho Theatre: The Heartland Studio

Dir. Megan Johns

Lighting Des. Oriana Dentici

Sound Des. Matt Beard

Whatever We Want follows two sisters over the course of 15 years as they're separated by their parents' divorce and struggle to maintain their relationship. The show deals with reconciling the reality of loved ones with the way they exist in our minds, and learning to meet the adults we loved as children. There're some laughs too!

The sisters' continuing questions are all based in their childhood memories, so the worlds visited through the play are all built on top of the remnants of the dock that they start in. The paint design for the floor and walls is an abstraction of that pond and woods that their best memories were made in. The scenery is all built out of cubes that are re-arranged to create 7 distinct locations. The design was executed with a minimal budget and to work around a lack of backstage storage space for scenic pieces.