Projection rental package now available for Matilda The Musical

Matilda The Musical

Music & Lyrics by Tim Minchin | Book by Dennis Kelly

Based on the book Matilda by Roald Dahl

Cover media: Projected onto cyc: Crunchem Hall | School Song

Projected onto cyc: Vine Growth | When I Grow Up Animation

Creative Team

Logansport High School

McHale Performing Arts Center

November 22nd - 24th, 2024

Director: Anthony Kinney

Music Directors: Emily Pancake &

Angela Ticen

Choreographer: Sarah Fisher

Scenic Design: Jeff Szymanowski

Costume Design: Phyllis Handschu

Lighting Design: Aiden Snoeberger

Sound Design: Eric Garcia

Projection Design, Original Content,

& Programming: Colby Anderson

Projection Op: Betzayda Rosas Gonzalez

Photos: Benjamin Hopkins

About The Show

Inspired by the twisted genius of Roald Dahl, the Tony Award-winning Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical is the captivating masterpiece from the Royal Shakespeare Company that revels in the anarchy of childhood, the power of imagination and the inspiring story of a girl who dreams of a better life. With book by Dennis Kelly and original songs by Tim Minchin, Matilda has won 47 international awards and continues to thrill sold-out audiences of all ages around the world.

Matilda is a little girl with astonishing wit, intelligence and psychokinetic powers. She's unloved by her cruel parents but impresses her schoolteacher Miss Honey. During her first term at school, the two forge a bond as Miss Honey begins to recognize and appreciate Matilda's extraordinary personality. Matilda's school life isn't completely smooth sailing, however – the school's mean headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, hates children and just loves to punish those who don't abide by her rules. But Matilda has courage and cleverness in equal amounts, and could be the school pupils' saving grace!

Packed with high-energy dance numbers, catchy songs and an unforgettable star turn for a young actress, Matilda is a joyous girl power romp. Children and adults alike will be thrilled and delighted by the story of the special little girl with an extraordinary imagination.

Courtesy of Music Theatre International

Projected onto cyc: Letter Tiles | Miracle

Projected onto side walls: Neon Letter Blocks Animation

Design Concept

For being a show about a bunch of British children, Matilda The Musical certainly comes to embody more than it lets on. From the time each of us are born, we strive to be loved and appreciated. This is something that only without, we can see the true importance of. In this world of childhood wonder and imagination, it can be hard to see room for cruelty. Nonetheless, evil exists and here it manifests as Agatha Trunchbull and the Wormwood family, whose harshness is forced upon Matilda from a very young age. Their constant barrage of stupidity against her create a nightmarish environment for her to be raised in. The show very clearly builds towards an arc of rebellion on behalf of the children (and Miss Honey), something that it isn’t in any way ambiguous to an audience. A more subtle theme that we chose to highlight in our production was the effect(s) of trauma on children and consequently how they may see the world. This meant that every moment which was intended to be grandiose or spooky was to be amplified and mysticized. We chose to include elements that are indicative of children’s stories, both to emphasize the messages being performed by the actors, but also to enhance the belief that the world we were presenting was of the children’s mind, something which to the audience was likely to be simultaneously strange yet comforting.

Continued...

From the beginning of the design process, we knew we wanted to include letter tiles into our collective designs to act as symbols of the importance of learning and the constant battle between knowledge and stupidity that occurs throughout the show. Being that this isn’t anything new for this show, I wanted to go a different direction with this concept, focusing the projection design onto building that sense of childlike storytelling we felt the show so strongly required. Of course my design needed to coalesce with the set both aesthetically and practically, but I also wanted it to be something that could only be accomplished by the use of projections. In collaboration with the scenic designer and director, we chose to lean into what I’ll call “less than photorealistic, but not cartoonish illustration/animation”, at which point I began research. From there I chose to hand draw and animate all of the compositions, which gave me total creative freedom during the entire process (within our concept).

My overall style was largely influenced by a combination of (but not necessarily in the style of) impressionism and scenic painting techniques, done digitally of course. Several elements of my design were significantly influenced by various walks I took around campus; the composition of the Crunchem Hall is largely based on DOMA here at Ball State University and the vines in Act II were influenced by the landscapes around campus. To create a heightened sense of (almost cartoon like) horror, we played into Trunchbull being demonstrably evil. Crunchem Hall is drawn from the perspective of the children looking up at it in fear, and is nearly perfectly symmetrical to emphasize the importance of order within. Trunchbull’s Office was based on a frame from the movie adaptation of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”, which I chose to set in an actual basement with machinery (gears) all around. Similarly, the composition of the Classroom was based on pictures of old asylums, and presented in a very symmetrical way. There was a distinct difference in color and symmetry between places where Matilda and the children felt safe and welcomed in comparison to those where this wasn’t the case. The Library was much warmer and less symmetrical than almost every other location, for this very reason. Many of the illustrations in the Acrobat Stories were influenced by Quentin Blake, the illustrator for the source novel. By drawing, coloring, and animating all of these different scenes in similar ways, despite their varying compositions, I was able to create a cohesive design that not only took the audience to where the show was physically, but also emotionally.

Design Packet