Design for living

>> Sarah Blumel maps out the scenery for local theatre
by AMY BARRATT

Since completing the Design program at Concordia last spring, and indeed, even before she graduated, Sarah Blumel has not stopped working. She ran lights for Black Theatre Workshop’s Stockholm(e), designed The Mary Project at the Infinite Space, helped create props for the Saidye’s Having Our Say, and painted scenery at Centaur. Then she designed and directed the Fringe hit This I Know. That show, which won a best text MECCA for playwright John Mounsteven, will be remounted at the end of January at the Infinite Space.
After doing The Mary Project, a sprawling show with a cast of eight, in the cramped space at Infini, Blumel says she didn’t think she’d ever choose to work there again. But she admits that in a way it’s perfect for This I Know.
“The idea when we did it at the Fringe was to make it feel like an ‘event,’” says Blumel, “like everybody in the audience is part of this meeting.” The play is about “a modern-day Joseph Smith” (the founder of the Mormons) who organizes a group to share their stories of growing up with religious fundamentalism. At the tiny Infini, it would be almost impossible for the audience—sitting on hard benches or cushions on the floor—not to feel part of the action. Blumel is looking forward to re-designing the show without the limitations imposed by having to rip it all down in 20 minutes every day at the Fringe.
In addition to theatre design, Blumel is also a visual artist. In a group show last June in St-Henri, she exhibited some collages she has done based on family snapshots. Using cut-up magazines, she recreates these palm-sized images of her own childhood as 16”x20” or 20”x24” pieces.
About the past year, Blumel says, “I found out that I could get work, but I would have to take everything and work all the time in order to support myself.” That’s why she has chosen to work full-time at a desk job for a few months. It
doesn’t leave her much time to herself either, but she hopes it will give her a little financial leeway to choose which projects to do in the new year. :