Is working on details the fun part of the set designers job?
AL: Details tell you something about the characters in the play. You can do something generic for the big picture, but then make it specific to the characters in the play. It’s important to think about their history, their stories you capture a particular time on stage that embodies a lot of their history. Playbill.com: Is the layering of details something you do with the director, or do you come into a meeting with a design that’s packed with as much detail as possible? AL: I think it’s a combination. It just so happens that Jason Moore directed both [Steel Magnolias and Avenue Q]. Jason and I talked a lot about, in Magnolias, how important it was that [the beauty shop] was not a “slick” place. The place was about Truvy. It’s an extension of her house, her husband built the beauty parlor from the carport. We went down to Louisiana and drove around the neighborhood where [playwright] Bob Harling’s mom used to get her hair done. We wanted to get a real sense of the place. Playbill.com:
