The Servant of Two Masters
A play by Carlo Goldoni Directed by Giovanni Solinas Stage manager: Laurel Greenway ASM: Ben Dupre Artistic consultant: Dayane Mousib Technical director: Liam Gardner Scenic designer: Julie Guilbeau (myself) Costume designer: Suellen Coelho Makeup designer: Mary Grace Viator Prop designer: Julie Guilbeau (myself) Lighting designer: Ray Selle Scenic art charge: Julie Guilbeau (myself) Carlo Goldoni's "The Servant of Two Masters" is a commedia dell'arte show from the 1700s. It follows the mischievous antics of hungry servant Arlecchino and the marriage of Sir Pantalone's daughter, Clarice. This production was my first ever experience as a scenic designer, a props designer, and a scenic charge artist; and I was tasked to tackle these firsts all at once. It was incredibly challenging for me, especially because I had not yet learned to use CAD and drafting softwares. On this page, I will walk you though my process with this show: first with scenic design and paining, and then with props design.
Final Shots
Official Production Shots by Paul Kieu














Final Shots (unofficial)




My Process (Scenic)
Getting Started
I was tasked with being the scenic designer and charge artist for Servant relatively late in the production process, shortly after the first read of the script. This meant I had to learn to not only communicate my ideas to a team for the first time, but also to work on a tight schedule. This was a bit of a hurdle for me, but I was given lots of support and guidance from the shop staff and my carpentry and paint teams. Everyone involved in this build is so talented and I could not have asked for a better group of people to find my voice with. I started my process by meeting with director Giovanni Solinas and stage manager Laurel Greenway to discuss what key elements we wanted to see in the design. I always like to start my design process by asking the director what their goals are for the impact of the design and its function. Giovanni actually had a very specific and detailed idea of what he wanted the set to look like. He made my job very easy. My main challenge was adding my personal flair to this piece without impacting the integrity of the historically accurate design. Solinas gave me a rough groundplan he had drawn up as a shape reference. It was very important to him as an Italian director and theatre history instructor that the design represented a classic commedia dell'arte set. He also requested that I include two sets of stairs with a gradual incline (he mentioned having bad experiences navigating steep stairs with a Commedia mask on), a backdrop curtain with a backstage space included as part of the platform, a space for footlights onstage, and an unclear time period. I took this information and began my research.

The groundplan example the director asked me to reference in my design
Research
I began my research process by creating a list of research goals. I like to use modern websites like Pinterest and Reddit in my research process in addition to articles and images from across the web. Pinterest uses an algorithm that shows a feed related to recent searches and saves, so I am able to easily find inspiration that aligns with my personal style, as well as related images I may not have thought to specifically search for. I also like to use forum websites like Reddit to read about other designers' experiences with similar shows and styles of sets. Here is some of the information I gathered from several sources that helped me create my design: About Commedia: Commedia dell'arte is a style of theatre that was popularized during the Italian renaissance. It was intended to be viewed by the common man and was performed in the street on a simple wooden platform with some sort of curtain or tent to divide the platform into both a stage and a backstage. These shows are highly interactive due to the nature of theatre at the time. the audience is expected to talk back and interact with the characters. The sets are typically raised in order to allow a crowd to gather around in the street and be able to see what is happening. What makes Commedia so unique is its use of stock characters, which correspond to masks that the actors would wear. These characters could be found in all sorts of different plays, but they would always be the same character archetypes. Some examples of Commedia stock characters include Arlecchino or Truffaldino, the hungry servant, Sir Pantalone, the grumpy old man, Brighella, the butler/inkeeper, and Zanni, the jester-like servant. Commedia was most popular during a time when theatre design was not really practiced, so modern commedia designers, especially lighting and scenic designers, have to get creative with their work. About Servant: "The Servant of Two Masters" was written in the 1700s by Carlo Goldoni as an attempt to revive and repopularize the dying art of commedia dell'arte. The show includes a cast of half stock characters and half original characters, and features highly progressive themes for its time, such as criticism of the treatment of servants and women. By the time Servant was written, women were allowed to act onstage. The play features strong themes of female empowerment that still deliver a strong impact to this day. My direction: The first thing I noticed about traditional Commedia sets was that they reminded me of the stage in Esmerelda's dance scene in Disney's "Hunchback of Notre Dame." I ended up including stills from the movie in my reference images. I also noticed an opportunity to utilize my knowledge of painting wood grain. My school had not had a scenic painting class in several years, so most of my classmates had never had experience with it. I wanted to be able to share my painting knowledge through this process in hopes to push for more paint-heavy designs in the future. I also decided to include some personal flair in this design in the form of a decorative front piece to hide the footlights, and three giant flats with an Italian street painted on them to frame the set. I wanted the audience to feel like they were being transported to an Italian street in the renaissance period, seeing a Commedia show during its peak. The director requested that I include powerlines in the backdrop flats in order to tie the show back to the modern era, creating an unclear time period and making the show more applicable to the audience. We agreed that we wanted to avoid the fourth wall that historical plays such as Shakespeare's work tend to create between the audience and the characters. I find that old plays tend to be polarizing because not everyone in the audience understands the language and dynamic of the time period. Solinas and the design team aimed to blend the historical significance of this show with small elements of modern flair to fully capture the audience for the full duration of the show.






Color Research
The director had a color scheme in mind when I asked him if he had any elements in mind he would like to see. He wanted to see rich, dark, warm tones in the set. I ended up taking inspiration from Italian renaissance painters such as Caravaggio and Artemisia. I pulled colors directly from paintings using the eyedrop tool in Procreate. I decided to focus on colors like dark yellowish green, blood red, gold, and warm browns. I also made a note that black and white were used very sparingly in these paintings. Instead, they used light tans and very dark browns. I made sure my use of black and white was minimal. I also wanted to use metallic gold in my design. After seeing the costume renderings at the design presentation, I decided to soften and lighten my colors slightly in order to avoid clashing. I also added a soft sky blue to my color palette to tie in the pastel color palette of the young lovers' costumes.



