PSU Theatre presents ‘A Doll’s House’

Wednesday through Friday, the Bicknell will be hosting the play “A Doll’s House,” directed by Joey Pogue, professor of communication, a story about a challenging the social standards of the nineteenth century. The play can be either interpreted as a feminist statement as well as about the equality or liberation for both men and women, from the heavily socially constructed world of the play.  

To truly get down the tone of the story it was important for the entire cast, crew, and directors to accomplish the tone of the play. Lisa Quinteros, costume designer and head of wardrobe for A Doll’s House, said the play’s costumes were made to be realistic as possible to truly get in the mood of the time and the design of it. 

“There’s a certain amount of this is a dollhouse and these are dolls clothes to it,” Quinteros said. “They definitely stand out, if you were going to dress a doll, they’re the kind of clothes that you would pick out so I tried to do that on purpose.” 

The costumes played a huge part in how it reflected the social status of the family, and characters.  

“The clothes for this show I’ve made the Homer household,” Quinteros said. “They’re not poor people, their definitely middle class people but they’re definitely moving up through the middle class to upper middle class. They’ve been concerned about not having money he was sick for a while. I think that they probably were better off, and then had a dip in their finances and tried to come back she says she’s trying to live very simply.” 

The costumes also would reflect the families social circumstances in comparison to family friends like Christine Linde, a character that has much less than Nora and her family,  

“ I’ve tried to kind of reflect on her clothes,” Quinteros said. “Her status position what she’s trying to project as her, the type of person that they want their family to be perceived as. So when she goes out to shop. When she has visitors in her home. She’s very dressy.” 

When it came to the scenic design, Linden Little, professor of communication and overseer of setting and lighting design for A Doll’s House, made sure to get that same tone of the time.  

“I think it’s important that the scenic environment, create a sense of confinement, entrapment, which is why we have the vertical lines of the wallpaper,” Little said. “They’re kind of like prison bars, in a paper doll world.” 

The use of historical correct colors of sage and burgundy was a part that Linden said was important in getting in the spirit of how Christmas was in that time.  

“I’m also hearkening to those Christmas type colors as well…it still gives it a postcard world feel,” Little said.  

The design would give also take the audience away from the reality a little, giving a true feel of a doll house. Little said this is what played into the structure of the walls and furniture of the scene. 

“The texture is flat, so like the Wayne’s code is just a brown paint a treatment rather than having too much paneling detail or too much molding detail to it,” Little said. “So, I tried to keep the walls flat, and then the furnishings detailed just like you would in A Doll’s House, you play with a miniature furniture that’s the exciting house, and the box that houses in a secondary. So, that’s why there’s a really flat wall treatment, and really detailed pieces of furniture in the concept for this design.”