DESIGN A PLAY FROM A DIRECTOR/PRODUCER PERSPECTIVE

Below is a list of the order I will be presenting my information along with a short description of what will be occurring in each aspect of my renaissance festival.

Space: My Festival can take place in any location as long as enough space is available. The minimum required amount of space for my festival is about 3 acres.

Design: My festival will be movable therefore the overall design of the festival will be fluid to fill location space requirements. There is an overall design where places such as the food area will be separated from the animal locations so as to prevent unpleasant smells. The weapons tents will also be in close proximity and the other stores will be next to each other as well.

Audience Space: At my festival, the audience will be both moving and stationary. They will be moving to see the different attractions and performances occurring and stationary when they find a performance they want to watch or eat.

Performance Space: As a festival with a fluid design the performance spaces will be all over the location. Performers will be moving through the streets doing occasional parades and moving acts. There will also be performance space in the locations where the Jousting, Mud pit, Stage, and Sword and archery locations are.

Performers: Performers such as the Jousters, Mud pit actors, Wheel Of Death walker, and tent operators will be in their specified locations during their performance times throughout the day. When not performing the jousters and other costumed performers can walk around the festival spreading information about their shows and acting along the paths.

Costumes: Everyone working at my festival will have to be in some form of renaissance or medieval era clothing. Examples as to what will be permitted is shown in the slideshow.

Lighting: Because of my festival being located outdoors it will only run during the day time. Direct and indirect lighting will influence where stages are set up and when performances will be run.

Here is an example set up I drew up about a potential lay out for my festival depending on the space given to me. In this location it is partially forest and partially open space. This kind of location would be ideal as the forested area can be where my food, animals, and store tents are located. They would be under the shade as lighting is not as important as it would be for the performance areas which are located in the open areas for this location. This location is also good as there was extra empty space to allow for a parking space for my visitors.

Audience Space: Setting will be provided in the Food area location as well as the performance areas near the stage and the Jousting arena. Pathways will be created naturally from the layout of the tent stores if walk ways are not already present in the location my festival is being set up at.

Preferable the renaissance festival will be in a lightly forested area in order to provide shade, however it is not required and a large eating tent will be kept for use incase it cannot be located under the trees. The restaurants are going to be the only shops that are not strictly tents as wooden counters and

Simple seating around the jousting arena and stage will be provided by me for the visitors to sit on. They will be simple wooden benches like the two examples show so as to not ruin the renaissance/medieval era feel of the festival. Wooden picnic benches will be used in the eating area for the same reasons.

places to store the food will be needed. Eateries will be located near the edges of the festival so that generators used to power the shops can be hidden behind a fence. This kind of set up would be perfect for my festival, the buildings would need to be smaller though and preferably transportable.

Performance Space: The space for Performances will all be located in relatively close proximity to each other, and will also be located near the food area. I want it located near the food area because it provides a “bread and circuses” type feeling to the festival which will increase the overall experience of the visitors. It will also then provide more seating for the visitors if the stages are located near the eating areas for the visitors.

This kind of tent would be used to cover the eating area. It would be more colorful though and made of cloth to add to the renaissance atmosphere.

These were the example areas I thought of for performances to occur. The Stage and Mud Pit were separated for cleanliness and safety purposes. The archery range will be located near the edge of the festival for safety reasons as well. The Fencing pit will be a balloon fencing attraction for most of the festival where visitors can pay to fence and pop balloons off of the others fencing mask. I would also like to have a staged sword fight in the fencing pit between knights (possible the same knights as the ones doing the joust) The stage will have a main play that occurs three times during the day, once in the morning once in the afternoon and one before closing. That play will be a budget/comedy version of Robin hood. When that performance is not going on other performances like juggling, sword swallowing, and fire breathing will be performed on the stage.

A simple stage like the one show here will be used. I like this one however the background would be painted to look like a forest as Robin hood will be the main show performed on the stage. This design is good I would add an entrance in the background though covered with a green cloth to make it look like my performers come out of a bush. My stage does have to be small like this though as it needs to be transported when my festival moves to a different location. My stage would also have more of a thrust design as the back of the stage would be at the edge of the festival area where a fence is located so my actors can go behind that to change and rest as needed. The thrust design will also allow for more seating and angles to sit at when outside depending on where the stage is set up and what time of day it is so the sun is not in your eyes (if you get good seating)

Live music performances can also occur on the stage and visitors who can play renaissance era instruments can do so in the performance and food area locations. Other sections will be split up and set aside depending on location (as I want this festival to be able to fit into any location that can hold it my design is flexible) and will be separated from each other. The festival will have music playing at all time and so there will be sections for live music and speaker music. Live music sections

will be in the Food and theatre/performance area. Speaker music will be along all the store pathways and will be played from speaker rocks as to not ruin the immersion aspect of the festival

The music that will be played from the rocks will be from this youtube mix of renaissance era music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SvEttR6HTY&list=RD5SvEttR6HTY#t=2

It will be played on repeat after the first playthrough is done. More music could be added however the speaker rock music is more for ambience and not intended to be a main focus of the visitors.

Performers: For the Wheel of Death I will be hiring the performer know as Ichabon Wainwright. I will be hiring him specifically as his wheel is the only one made of wood instead of steel, which fits with the renaissance theme. He also is a great performer who adds sarcasm to his performance and is great with an audience.

Here is a link to a youtube video showing one of his performances. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxCYYA61w-g

I want the wheel of death at my festival because it gives a great feeling of amazement and wonder. Crowds like shows that have a potential for disaster and what better chance of disaster than falling off a giant wooden wheel? This performance was great when I watched it and I would be hiring this performer to perform at my festival.

My renaissance festival will also include a mud pit show. I want to have the mud pit show relatively near the entrance and as the first performance area leading to my performance section. I want this because the mud pit is messy and funny and will attract people to it and move them further into the performance area.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSmH7jhZZTY

This is a youtube video showing the two people I would be hiring for my mud pit show. The humor of having a large man and a good looking man goes well with the humor of the show they perform. They also have an established show and include audience participation which will increase visitor enjoyment. The area show below will be slightly less complicated but still have the main tower for the

performers to jump off of. I don’t want as big a fence in the back though as it is more difficult to transport.

This would be the overall setup for the archery range, a covered roof area so people cannot shoot up and a straight shooting area towards a wall covered in hay

as it is easily transportable and will prevent rebounding arrows. I will decorate and add more renaissance themed targets though like wooden boards carved and painted like dragons and wolves and other beasts.

This would be the basic arrangment for the balloon fencing pit. Fences would be used to surround an area, I would make my area circular and slightly larger than this to give more space for the “fighters” who pay to battle in the area. I want to have this attraction in my festival because it is extremely fun and really gives a good feeling of sword fighting without anyone getting injured. Fencing masks and thick padded coats are worn to prevent injury. During the late afternoon a tournament will be held in this fencing pit where participants (10 minimum) will be able to sign up in a single elimination tournament. There will be an entry fee of 15 dollars for the tournament (regular fighting in the pit coasts 5$) and the winner of the tournament will be given a fencing sword (practice sword that costs around 45$) and named master swordsman of the festival for that day by the swordsman

who runs the fencing pit. (will be given a “scroll certificate”)

Stores in my festival will all be located within tents to make transport, setup, and takedown quick and easy.

Tents like the two show below will be the standard for stores selling items like clothing and souvenirs. I want to use tents so my Festival can be picked up and moved from place to place as I want it to be able to travel. These tents are the ones I want selling trinkets because they have a have nice bright and light colors which will attract more people to them and will give my festival a more cheerful look

The previous Renaissance Festivals I have been to have all had ridiculously expensive prices, I want my festival to have more affordable prices and allow people to buy memories from my festival. People who run the tents will not be

charged by me for selling their goods in my festival, I will also inspect all the stores to make sure none are selling faulty or trashy products. Artesian Products will still be expensive however I will set a limit of 800% as the limit to how much above production cost they can charge their goods.

Shops Selling Swords must have a Dark Colored Tent to give an appearance of smoot from the forges covering the tent, and to signify that what they sell are Dangerous items. Bow Shops can be Brown and Green as it gives a forest type of feel to it. The archery shop will also be located next to an archery shooting festival game for convenience, this will also hopefully persuade people who do good in the game to go buy a bow from the shop. The Sword shop(s) will be located next to a balloon fencing game for the same reason.

This tent In In black with maybe red layers alternating would be a good sword shop. This would also be the maximum size tent allowed as anything bigger would take up to much space and will make transport more difficult.

This tent show below with a bark brown where the white is and green where the red is would be nice for an archery store.

Costumes: Everyone employed at my renaissance festival will be required to wear a costume fitting of the theme. The Performers in the mud pit and on the Wheel Of Death already have costumes for their performances so you can see the youtube videos linked for those. People who run the stores will be in costumes that fit the theme of what their shop is selling.

This would be the costumes required of stores selling items like knives and weapons, or any other metal objects. This blacksmith costume with a leather front-guard and white loose undergarments is good because it gives an authentic feel that the person running the store created the weapons.

This is the costume design I want the people running the archery range as well as the archery store to be wearing.

A hooded brown and green costume gives a forest feel and gives them an almost robin hood like appearance.

This is the costume I want for the person playing the Master Swordsman, which is who is running the balloon fencing pit. This design or something else like a Cyrano de Bergerac or Three musketeer type appearance. It is a fencing pit so they must look nimble and quick. I would change the hat in this image with one that is leather or cloth instead of straw.

This will be the costume for my fire eating performer. I would like them to be shirtless and wearing red pants with a yellow or orange shirt wrapped around their waist. I want that to give them a more fiery appearance.

Costumes like these will be used for my jousters. I like the different colors each has to make them distinguishable so the audience will remember which of them does well and who doesn’t. It also gives them something to cheer for if the have a favorite looking knight.

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These costumes are just a general view as to what some of the store owners or other employees would be wearing. The two women are perfect examples as to the costumes I would like at the pubs or other eateries located in my renaissance festival. The other costumes are good as general basics for what any employees must be wearing at all times during the festival and are nothing less elaborate than these would be acceptable. (depending on character)

Lighting: My festival will be located outdoors and will run for 8 hours a day (depending on weather and forecasts) My festival will only be occurring daylight and will run during the summer and spring seasons. Only natural sunlight will be used and so the sun is our only source of light and it will be what we base performance times around.

These costumes would be good for operating my fortune teller tent or a gypsy tent. They give a witch like appearance and I would like more jewelry on them so they would make jingling sounds and seem more mysterious.