Sarah Edkins: Celebrating 10 Years of
Scenic Design at Ancram Center

In addition to the performers in our recent production of A Number, the show’s set and lighting design have also drawn considerable acclaim. Given the attention, we’re focusing the spotlight on our longtime scenic designer Sarah Edkins, who first collaborated with the Ancram Center on our premiere production, Kevin Dyer’s In Praise of Elephants, and many others in the years following.

“From the start,” says Jeffrey Mousseau, Ancram Center’s co-director who has frequently collaborated with Sarah, “we wanted to work with visionary artists who would bring their unique sensibilities to a shared creative process. Sarah has always done that as she thinks about a play in an expansive way, beyond just what the set should look like.”

To celebrate Sarah’s collaboration with Ancram Center, we asked her to offer insights about her approach for each show that she’s designed for us over the years. Here’s what she said:

2016: In Praise of Elephants by Kevin Dyer
A series of events upends a 60-year old man’s seemingly settled life, forcing him to question everything he thought once to be true.

Sarah: “This play felt like a warm invitation for the local community to step right into Aubrey’s kitchen. I wanted the story to unfold close to the audience rather than up on the existing proscenium stage, so guests sat around an added masonite floor treated to look like faded linoleum tiles. As Aubrey chatted with the audience and mixed cookie batter on a working stove, he later handed out freshly baked cookies. The set evoked a 1960s English kitchen, complete with a back wall painted to resemble period wallpaper that also transformed into a projection surface for the images of Aubrey’s imagination.”

2018: Homebody by Tony Kushner
Taking place just before 9/11, an inquisitive middle-aged British housewife grapples with Afghanistan’s turbulent, complex history.

“I had a very vivid image of this character and her home. She reminded me of my own mother, who easily could have stepped into this role. I based some of the furnishings and props on her bohemian, middle-class home. The set functioned on two levels: representing both her actual home and her imagined world beyond London. A low wall of books, flanked by two floor-to-ceiling columns, framed the hidden world of her imagined Afghanistan.”

2019: The Brothers Size by Tarell Alvin McCraney
A tale of two brothers that explores the tenuousness of freedom and the need to belong.

“I wanted the audience to be immersed in this remote rural Southern setting. Inspired by otherworldly references to Yoruba culture and the art of Thornton Dial, I envisioned older brother Ogun creating fantastical creatures and relief wall sculptures out of car parts. My assistant and I scoured local garages so I could bring these pieces to life.”

2019: The Snow Queen adapted by Barbara Wiechmann; music by Lisa Dove
A girl journeys barefoot through the world to rescue her best friend.

“My starting point was the art of paper cuts, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s masterful creations. The set continued to reference paper cuts, leaning into the concept of a wild snowstorm of swirling snowflakes transforming into giant, jagged white forms. The entire set was brilliant white, contrasted by a few pieces of dark furniture found in the room of an old man who shared the story with his younger self.”

2021: An Iliad by Lisa Peterson & Denis O’Hare
A modern-day retelling of Homer’s classic.

“To set the scene for this violent war story, Jeff and I imagined a sudden disturbance had disrupted the space: everyone had left in a hurry, with furniture strewn about and chairs upturned. The back wall was only half-painted, and a bucket of red paint had spilled across the floor. Everything was in disarray as our bard entered. Because this was Ancram Center’s first indoor production following the pandemic, we also wanted to subtly suggest that the theater itself had been abruptly abandoned when the world shut down.”

2022: Invasion! by Jonas Hassen Khemeri
Through a whirlwind of interconnected vignettes, this satirical comedy confronts prejudices about identity, race, and language.

“Invasion had a spirit of mischievous anarchy, as its young protagonists set out to throw us off balance. I designed all the levels and walls to slope at crazy angles. Taking my cue from the play’s graphic-novel-like structure, I gave the entire set a cartoony treatment.”

2022: Still Life by Emily Mann
Based upon interviews, this documentary play captures the personal impact of the Vietnam War on a vet, his wife and lover.

“The main protagonist relates his grim experiences in Vietnam, aided by photos projected onto a scrim onstage. I created a large black frame to house the images. Upstage, suspended broken shards of glass evoke the lingering violence he brings back home.”

2024: Constellations by Nick Payne
This non-linear narrative play tracks a couple’s relationship as it shifts across parallel universes.

“Given the nature of the theme, there were countless potential approaches for this play. We ultimately settled on the bare simplicity of an empty raked platform floating in space. Upstage, behind a scrim, floating abstract shapes evoked a sense of endless inner and outer space. With bold, abrupt lighting shifts, the actors could instantly convey an alternate reality.”

2026: A Number by Caryl Churchill
Existential questions propel this taut psychological thriller about a father and his three sons, two of whom are clones of the first.

“Through highly charged dialogue between two characters, a stripped-down story unfolds, leaving no room for superfluous props or decorative touches. I wanted to reinforce the slightly ominous, surreal quality of their encounters. The father sits perched in his armchair on a platform—a solitary fragment of domestic life—as he faces the consequences of his past decisions.”

Photos: B. Docktor