Woyzeck tells the story of a German soldier who is trying to provide for Marie, the mother of his child. He does this by completing odd jobs and agreeing to experiments conducted by the local doctor. As these experiments progress, Woyzeck’s sanity begins to slip. This combined with Marie’s wandering eye leads to her violent end.

Kyra wanted to use Woyzeck to explore violence against women. We discussed wanting a set that presents the abstract idea of structure rather than actual set pieces. I split the stage in half, Woyzeck taking stage right and Marie stage left. Woyzeck’s half was characterized by sharp angles and rough materials, including fraying rope. Marie’s employed softer shapes and materials of circles and chunky yarn.

For the backdrop, I was inspired by the 1920’s German film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. One theme the production team wanted to explore was how people can become bystanders to violence against women. I created the backdrop to be larger than life and give the appearance of the entire town bearing witness to the events on stage.