The Woolgatherer

A play by William Mastrosimone

About the play

• The Setting: An apartment owned by Rose that is particularly small and has a bit of furniture. The apartment is depicted as being closed off and lonely because the window is boarded up.

• Preferable theatre space to use: A black box theatre because it is the perfect size for a small apartment and would help the audience to capture the emotion of both characters throughout the play.

• Time: Present Day

• Place: South Philadelphia

• Printed: 1981

• Number of Acts: 2

About the play

• Two characters:

• Rose: An innocent and sensitive girl who is a candy store counter clerk. She suffers from hemophilia and is also a very nervous girl in general which may be attributed to her haunted past such as witnessing boys killing four cranes(which may be a metaphor for rape). She is depicted as being lonely and wanting to find true love.

• Cliff: A long-distance truck driver who meets Rose at the candy shop and is looking for a one night stand. He is depicted as a joker who constantly makes fun of Rose and wants to look tough, but is truly sympathetic deep down which can be seen towards the end of the play.

Summary of the play• The play is ultimately a love story that can be described as a

dark comedy. Cliff comes over to Rose’s apartment after meeting her at the candy shop and is pursuing a one night stand. While there, Rose tells him a couple of traumatizing experiences that she has heard or been a part of which consist of a girl’s’ suicide and boy’s killing four cranes that caused her to break down. Cliff commonly jokes about her stories and argues(as well as swears) with her about her apartment, her old neighbor, and questioning if she has another man. He soon finds out she has a couple of weird habits such as putting on perfume and a hair ribbon before heading off to bed. In the end, they both end up falling for each other regardless of clashing about almost everything and the story ends.

Themes in the play

• The search for love: A constant theme throughout the play is the search for love . Rose from the start is shown as wanting to find true love. “Rose dreamed of a prince of sorts, a kindred spirit who would one day walk into her life and liberate her from the imprisoning memory”. Cliff soon develops feelings for her after getting to know her towards the end of the play.

• Loneliness: Another theme is loneliness. Rose says “If you don’t mean something, don’t tell me, alright, because it makes me dream and one dream makes another, and I’m lost. . .” This shows Rose is very skeptical of anyone she meets which is why she shuts herself off from other people due to her nervous nature. Cliff is also lonely because he only has a radio on all his long hauls to keep him company

Ruling Metaphor(Visual Theme)

A boarded window interconnects both the themes of searching

for love and loneliness. Shutting herself off from the world,

Rose is unable to trust anybody because of her past

experiences which limits her search for true love.

Four design elements used in the play

• Director

• Light Designer

• Costume Designer

• Set Designer

DIRECTOR

Anthony Eshareturi

SPINE AND STYLE DEVELOPMENT

• This play is all about love; the need for everyone to feel loved, wanted, needed. It’s my

own personal twist of ROMEO and JULIET.

• Naturalism/Realism will be the ultimate goal. We spend the majority of our lives seeking

companionship and this is what this production will tap into. Anybody should be able to watch

this play and relate to it instantly.

CAST

ROSE: Sarah Silverman

To be Rose, Sarah would have to remove herself from her usual comical identity but her

personality is perfect for the role. She can be dark and outright delusional and can

definitely convey my vision of Rose.

CLIFF: Ryan HurstKnown for his ability to convey strong emotional messages in his acting, I am casting Ryan Hurst for this role. He does cynicism well and can skillfully appear superficial and unstable off the bat but beneath the layers, he can become the play.

Lighting

Baird Eutsler

Time and Place

● one setting, interior, small drab apartment, early eighties

● window is boarded up

○ lighting should feel artificial and give a sense of claustrophobia

○ place bare overhead incandescent onstage.

Themes

● Hopelessness, disgust with the world

○ give the impression that the whole room is lit by a single bulb, to reinforce how small and shabby the space is.

○ Light should not be flattering, things should look dull and dingy. Give everything a slight yellowish tint, using gels.

Themes, cont’d

● Confinement

○ light should be concentrated in the middle of the space and taper out around the edges, as from bare overhead light.

○ makes space feel small, enclosed, isolated.

Characters

● only two characters, Rose and Cliff

○ both actors should be lit by a single soft edged spot.

○ spot will move and adjust aperture to match action onstage, but

encompass both actors whenever possible.

■ The idea is to tie both characters to single spot to reinforce sense

of confinement.

Central Metaphor

● Boarded Window

○ light from behind so the outline is clearly visible

■ draws attention to the window

■ also reminds audience that the apartment is shut off from the outside world

COSTUME DESIGNER

Eduardo Angel

COSTUME FOR CLIFF

• Actor: Preferably big with a bit of being overweight. Slicked back brown hair with a long

beard.

• Top: Black undershirt covered by a jean jacket with cut off sleeves.

• Bottom: Jeans with brown boots

• No accessories, wigs, masks, or makeup.

• The choice for this costume for Cliff can be attributed to the fact that he is someone who

constantly jokes around and is a truck-driver. This portrays an image of someone

slightly overweight who dresses exactly like most truck drivers do. The reason for no

makeup is because the style of the production is realism so I want the characters to look

as real as possible. He should portray someone who is on the road and lot and has

gained a bit of aging on his face so covering up wrinkles should not be on the to do list.

The material, color, and fabric show him as someone with a slightly obnoxious

attitude(in the form of joking around).

COSTUME FOR ROSE

• Actor: Small to medium sized woman who will be smaller than Cliff.

• Top: Sweater that is slightly bigger than her frame.

• Bottom: Jeans with brown shoes

• Hair ribbon before she goes to sleep

• No makeup, wig, or masks

• The choice for this costume shows Rose as being vulnerable. The

sweater that is bigger than her can picture her as insecure, afraid, and

someone who wants to keep to herself. The jeans are to show her as

conservative which she is and no makeup or wigs are needed to enhance

the realism of this production. Overall, this wardrobe will show her as

someone sensitive and looking for love which she is desperately looking

for.

HOW COSTUMES ATTRIBUTE TO REALISM

• These costumes play a huge part in showing the production to be shown as realism to the

audience. They portray the characters in the realest way possible and as ordinary people

which they are. They are average day people who have struggles of their own that many of us

have (searching for love and loneliness). No makeup enhances this because they are not

covering any part of their flaws.

VISUAL

• When I first read the play, this is close to how I had portrayed the characters and

thought this was excellent costume design that I felt was right. It shows Rose as being

vulnerable and Cliff as someone who is trying to take advantage of her but soon grows

fond of her.

SET DESIGNER

Juan Castilla

THE ENVIRONMENT SETTING THE MOOD AND STYLE

AND DISTINGUISHING REALISM

•The aim is to set the feel of a late 90’s efficiency apartment, which is a one room apartment

that contains all necessities of everyday life. The setting will be small, to get the idea that

someone is confined to a small room, isolated.

•The area will consist of all furniture that complements the lighting as well as the actors who

will be performing. We want to avoid modern furniture or anything extravagant, therefore

something old and worn but still functional. The furniture includes the small table and chair.• There will be a door in place that leads to the hallway, and on another side there will be a

closet area. There will also be a boarded up window, covered by old curtains that helps aid in the confinement theme of the play. The lighting designer will complement this theme.

LOCALE AND PERIOD

• The play is relatively modern and recent, but set around a desperate and isolated environment.

• As previously mentioned, we want to avoid a set that reminds the audience of the 1800’s or anything that looks too modern (technology that wasn’t around 30 years ago).

• The set is in Rose’s apartment, and throughout the play we get the idea that she may be mentally unstable. Not only do we want the set to contain relatively old things and a dim lighting but it is important to make this small apartment feel like a loner lives there, asylum-like, while at the same time looking like a home. It should be difficult to accommodate two people, but not impossible.

• This takes place in South Philadelphia, the image below gives the general idea of the locale

around the play’s setting