Maleah Miller

Theatre Company of Bryan-College Station

Director: Adrienne Dobson

Asst Director: Rodney Bettis

Set Design: Maleah Miller

Costume Design: Andi Scott

Lighting Design: Audrey Keough

Projection Design: Jing-Yun Chen

Scenic Charge: Maleah Miller

Production photos by Catherine Hervey

Annie was my set design debut! For this design, I was inspired by the two sides of NYC (and America) presented by the text: the haves (represented by Warbucks and his billionaire friends) and the have-nots (represented by Annie, the orphans, the Hoovervillites, and the Hannigan gang). I chose to present these two sides of the same coin (pun intended) through my primary set piece, a large rotating staircase at center stage. One side of the structure, pictured above, stands in for the grimy concrete walls of Miss Hannigan’s orphanage. The other side of the wagon, a grand marble staircase, is revealed during a set change into Warbucks’ manor, when Annie is invited to see the other side of NYC. Warbucks’ staircase is also flanked by 6 large marble columns, which up until this point in the show have been covered by dimensional recycled cardboard collages meant to represent Hoovervilles. In real life, Hooverville residents constructed their shelters out of wood, tin, and cardboard, but our structures needed to be movable, so we opted for the lightest possible material. The Hooverville stacks and marble columns occupy the same space on stage, contributing to the sense that all New Yorkers share the same city, though their experiences differ substantially. I drew inspiration for my set design from a famous photo of the Central Park Hoovervilles in which skyscrapers and 5th avenue mansions are visible in the background, throwing into stark relief the mere blocks separating the richest from the poorest.