The Addams Family

The Addams Family

Plymouth State University
October 2019
Written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice
Music by Andrew Lippa
Directed by Paul Mroczka
Lighting design by Dan Hopper
Costume design by Danee Grillo
Technical Director: Bob Bruemmer

Scenic Design and Projections by Matt Kizer

Posted on by Kizer

Below is documentation of the set design for this show. If you are here specifically looking for the scenic projections, the rentable media can be viewed at this link.

The Addams family tree with iron gates in the graveyard.
This digital rendering shows the Addams family crypt. In our production, we did not include the moon until Uncle Fester’s flying scene, when we superimposed an actor’s face with full video onto the moon as it floated around interacting with him.
This is a rendering from the design package. The projection screen flew out to reveal the Addams family mansion interior. A revolve SR transformed curved stairs to other locales, and the stairs SL pivot into different positions.
Morticia examines yellow tulips with distaste. Behind her, we see the curved staircase and the edge of the revolve that can transform the mansion interior into other settings.
This animated model was created during the design process in July of 2019. In the finished renderings, you can see how the revolve and the moving staircase allowed the set to transform into the “playroom” as well as allowing the rear-projection screen / cyclorama to fly in for the exterior scenes.
This is Wednesday’s and Puglsey’s playroom. The revolve carried the torture-rack contraption into view. The lever that controlled it was located on the side of the pivoting stairs stage-left.
  • This is Pugsley’s torture device. It is partially suspended Pugsley in the air by the manacles. The manacles tightened whenever Wednesday pulled a lever on the side of the SL stairs.
The playroom device rotated onto the stage on the revolve stage-right.
Free-roaming trees moved among projected media. There were many different parts of Central Park represented in the show, with lampposts, moving trees, distant buildings, and fog effects.
Gomez’s grotto was built on a wagon that docked with the rest of the set, with library walls that folded in to make it more compact backstage. One of the ancestors stood in place inside a haunted portrait hanging on the wall.
The moon was played by an actress. We spherized her face (and later, Uncle Fester’s) and superimposed this video onto the moon. The lunar orbs roamed around the cyclorama, interacting with the live action going on at a given moment.
The exterior of the mansion, about to crumble under lightning strikes. This was represented with a combination of projections, flash pots, and lighting effects.

Clickable plates: