One of the artistic goals for this production was to completely immerse the audience with this story. The centerpiece of this design is the deck stage extension. As designers we wanted this deck to be ambiguous enough to exist in both act’s one and two, while still allowing for the magic of the story to come through. In collaboration with the lighting designer, we designed the deck with the idea that light would shine through it from beneath whenever we needed to invoke a greater sense of magic. On the house floor and stairs we designed flats that represented the ocean. The script called for several moments in which a character was in water somehow, by making it off the stage and in the audience this one again allowed for a more immersive viewing experience. It’s important to note that our venue does not have a way to fly scenery/backdrops in and out. With that in mind, we needed a way to distinctly differentiate Act 1 (pirate Ship) and Act 2 (Mollusk Island). We decided on taking down the grand drape and mid stage traveler and displaced them with various items that correspond to the location they were supposed to be. We designed and created the various pirate items the would replace the grand as all of act one takes place in front of it. We also decided to implement a giant ladder that we use to hang/focus lights as a moving set piece. Most importantly., all of act one could be removed, turning the stage bare for “Swim On”. The new backdrop hanging on the grade traveler could be sent backstage, essentially functioning as a horizontal fly system. The ground set pieces were either on castors, or light enough to be artistically taken off. The sails were designed in mid to fall during the shipwreck so they could also be taken off. Sail drop was rehearsed in the preshow check to ensure it functioned during every run of the show. Then act two could be set up to be completely different from act one. The final scenic device was the giant tarp we hung behind the midstage. This plastic tarp allowed the lighting designer to fill in any remaining gaps the set couldn’t reach. This tarp functioned as a cyclorama with more texture. On top of that the actors could also move it side to side (waves during swim on) and up and down (mr grin in act two).