Collegiate Times

Michael, played by Adam Ressa, teases his wife, Vera, portrayed by Sarah Wylie in the play "The Unveiling."

Lighting and scenic designer and props coordinator Kerri Friedman, senior theatre production/design and classical studies double major, said she noted the macabre aspects of the show immediately after reading it.

"I really took it as a freak show. This couple has this unbelievable dynamic ... It's not a good environment: it's scary, it's dark, it's the opposite of normal," Friedman said.

She wanted to pick "uncomfortable" colors for the set that were still a spectacle to go along with a "circus" theme for the show.

She ultimately decided on golden yellow, neutral tones and red.

The centerpieces of the set are two almost half circle-shaped yellow couches. She said she found the couches very unappealing and void of all tastes.

"I wanted this to be that hip couple that thinks they're in style, but in actuality they are not very in tune with what should go together and what shouldn't. I really wanted to get that vibe," Friedman said.

There's a carpet in the center of the set that Friedman placed there to represent the characters' different spaces.

"The carpet keeps with color palette, but also isolates Vera and Michael's area, isolates Vanek. The carpet to the wall is Michael and Vera. Vanek is isolated in the chair. There's strange objects that Michael and Vera collect not because they want them or appreciate them, it's because they can have them. They're in a place of status," Friedman said.

Friedman initially wanted to have a mirror on set to loom over the characters, but she settled on using chiming clocks to represent this idea instead.

"The Big Brother idea is in those clocks they're watching. Michael and Vera are under their control. They have a limited amount of time to reach their goal. It's just an interesting dynamic between them and the clock," Friedman said.

At the end of the play, Vanek eventually goes along with Michael and Vera's requests.

"It's comic, but it gets pretty frickin' dark at the end," director Malone said. "It's ultimately disturbing to me at the end, that he's come back into the room. I hope that pisses people off at the end a little bit. I hope that they go, 'Well, that's not me. I wouldn't do that,' and they really take that to heart."

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