Oklahoma!

The guiding question for this design was: What if the people in this town, at this time, had built the set themselves?

That question shaped every part of the visual world. Rather than importing painted scenery or hiding the construction behind theatrical finishes, I embraced wood as the language of the show. The house, fences, sun, windmill, hills, structural details, and scenic textures all used wood or…

The guiding question for this design was: What if the people in this town, at this time, had built the set themselves?

That question shaped every part of the visual world. Rather than importing painted scenery or hiding the construction behind theatrical finishes, I embraced wood as the language of the show. The house, fences, sun, windmill, hills, structural details, and scenic textures all used wood or wood-like construction, with the natural variety of different species and finishes creating much of the colour palette.

The central farmhouse was intentionally skeletal, allowing the architecture to suggest a working rural home without becoming heavy or overly realistic. It gave the audience enough structure to understand the place while leaving the stage open for movement, ensemble scenes, and the wide feeling of the prairie.

One of the most distinctive elements was the landscape. Instead of painted rolling hills, I created curved rolling fence units that could move across the stage at different depths. These custom fence pieces established perspective and the feeling of open country while remaining consistent with the overall wooden construction language.

The sun, which rose at the beginning of the show and remained present for daytime scenes, was built from wood slats. It became both a visual landmark and a symbolic extension of the show’s handmade world. The windmill, fences, porch, and other familiar Oklahoma! elements all followed the same rule: everything needed to feel built, useful, and rooted in the community.

Small details helped make the architecture feel particularly satisfying. The farmhouse porch included a flip-down step that created the visual break in the porch edge while remaining fully integrated into the structure. Moments like that allowed the set to feel both stylized and genuinely constructed.

The final design was warm, playful, and deeply unified. It used a limited material palette to create an entire world, and the approach was recognized with the THEA Award for Best Set at ACT-CO.