Appropriate

Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins was Illinois Wesleyan’s first show of the 2022-23 season. I had the honor of being the prop designer for this show!

Appropriate tells the story of a dysfunctional family who returns to the family homestead, uncovering dark historical secrets.

Director: Ashley H. White

Stage Manager: Jessica Krol

Scenic Designer: Celeste K. Bontumasi

Lighting Designer: Jesse Portillo

Costume Designer: Sky Graham

Sound Designer: Andy Taylor

Prop Designer: Eliana Spitler

Please note that the following images include recreations of lynching souvenirs.

Souvenir Jars

This was my first attempt for the souvenir jars. Rather than focusing on recreating specific objects, I went for trying suggest an idea of what these jars might have been from. I went to a Spirit Halloween and got the grossest things I could find and tinted the water in the jars with Diet Coke. Fun fact, the strips of skin and ear are from a cut up Freddy Kreuger mask! After conversation with the director, however, she wanted it to be clear that the jars are from lynchings.

Below is what I ended up with for my final take on the jars! I darkened the skin with a brown tint and covered them in a clear lacquer, which ended up giving the body parts a bloating effect when submerged in the water. I molded knuckle bones out of Friendly Plastic and again tinted the water with Diet Coke. I replaced the glass jars with plastic jars and went in with a watered down red and brown paint mixture to simulate rust and dirt. I found that watering down the mixture worked very well, because it danced across the plastic and took on a mind of its own, looking very natural.

The jars onstage. Photo by Megan Christofferson.

Photo Album

Under advice from the director and dramaturge, I went in the direction I initially took with the jars— suggestive of an idea, rather than confirming of one. I had to choose photos that when seen by the audience would appear to be similar to lynching photos, but would not traumatize the actors and were respectful of lynching victims. I dug through old photos on the internet, finding black and white pictures of trees and crowds of people.

I then aged the photos, crumpling them and ripping them to make them appear older and add some volume and filled the photo album in a random order.

Once we got into tech week, I noticed that actors kept putting the album down upside down, so I also painted a little gold label on the front.

The photo album on stage. Photos by Megan Christofferson.

Wet Pulp

I tested out how to best make them by soaking real photographs in water overnight. I discovered that the shiny surface of the photo separates from the paper backing. I ended up mixing the same photos I used for the photo album, real photographs, cardstock, pieces of the plastic pages in the photo album, and translucent vellum in a concoction of Diet Coke, water, and crushed Chex mix, letting it soak for several days. Curtis Trout, Illinois Wesleyan’s scenic professor, meanwhile, made the mud. During preshow, a member of the preshow crew would take a handful of the wet pulp mixture and mix it with the mud.

The wet pulp on stage. Photos by Megan Christofferson.

Mug of Tea

This prop, through small, is one of my favorites from Appropriate! In the script, there are two characters: one with a mug of coffee, one with a mug of tea. I felt that it was important for their characterizations to differentiate between the two.

I cut the tea bag part of a tea bag off, leaving only the thread and label on the end, and hot glued that to the inside of the mug.

The mugs on stage. Photo by Peter Guither.

Franz’s Letter

I typed up the letter specified in the script in a handwriting font that I thought fit the character. I printed out several copies in case of tear and folded them, trying to make it seem like the letter had been folded and unfolded over and over.

Text from Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

The letter on stage. Photo taken by Megan Christofferson.

Cigarette Box

Originally, I used an empty cigarette box with two prop cigarettes. After interacting with the prop, however, the actor requested to put more cigarettes in the box. I made a fake top for the box to look like it was filled with cigarettes, and I’m very proud of how it turned out!