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wilson chin · set design PRESS |
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by Richard Greenberg, Barrington Stage Company, MA; dir: Barry Edelstein Production starts out promising, with spacious, layered and detailed set design by Wilson Chin, smart period costumes that don't distract by Jessica Ford, and subtle lighting by Chris Lee that evoke a muted world, as if in a fading photograph from the play's time period, spring 1919. – Chris Newbound, Variety This production is a dream, starting with Wilson Chin's pop-up book set and Jessica Ford's period-perfect costumes. – Paul Lamar, Schenectady Gazette Wilson Chin has designed an amazing set, a slanted Collier Brothers rabbit warren of a 14th-floor office stacked high (and I mean high) with writer submissions in the first act and machine-produced pages in the second, with moveable wall-to-wall windows overlooking the cavernous streets of corporate New York. – Charles Kondek, The Independent by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, Ars Nova Theatre, NYC; dir: Alex Timbers Barbara is our guide for what appears to be a sort of theme-park installation portraying the end of civilization thousands of years earlier. She animates Jules and Jo by pulling levers and plays percussive accompaniment to the story's more dramatic moments, in a booth to the left of the 21st-century set. (Wilson Chin is the designer.) – Ben Brantley, New York Times The stage curtain immediately pulls back to reveal Wilson Chin's impeccably detailed set, a brightly lit basement laboratory/studio apartment, with a fish tank whose vast significance is only revealed in Boom's final inspired moments. – John Del Signore, Gothamist The visual aesthetic of the play is fantastic. It looks beautiful, and the effects employed to highlight major shifts in plot are right on the money, and fit entirely with Timber's concept of breaking the fourth wall throughout. Much credit should be given to set designer Wilson Chin and lighting designer Marcus Doshi for making that happen. – Matt Johnston, nytheatre.com The amazingly detailed set is by WIlson Chin. – Matthew Murray, talkinbroadway.com by William Shakespeare, The Shakespeare Theatre of NJ; dir: Stephen Fried With a charming set by Wilson Chin (and lighting by Charlie Morrison) – a quaint urban patchwork of balconied, two-story dwellings, marked with graffiti, plastered with barely legible flyers and strung with colorful clotheslines – this Comedy rocks to a contemporary Mediterranean-Latin-North African beat that resists grounding in any single culture, or even continent. – Naomi Siegel, New York Times Wilson Chin's fanciful set design offers a village square topped by colored banners and clothes lines, wth hot dog, balloon and newspaper vendors populating the dead-end row of comic book tenements. – Robert L. Daniels, Variety by Richard Greenberg, The Old Globe, CA; dir: Kim Rubinstein There's no carping at the environment... with Chris Rynne's lights investing the photographic realism of Wilson Chin's weed-infested garden (complete with symbolic dilapidated rowboat) with the magic of balmy summer days and starry nights. In a superbly conceived coda, set 10 years on in Eva's Manhattan mansion, setting and mood shift abruptly as Greenberg contrasts the anger and energy of an antiwar street rally with the spiritual emptiness of the inhabitants above. – Bob Verini, Variety It opens with a splashy little visual surprise, and closes with an exquisitely wistful image, like a bouquet of woe. That aquatic motif flows through the narrative – and through Wilson Chin's inviting and inventive set. – James Hebert, San Diego Union-Tribune by Ilan Hatsor, Daryl Roth Theatre, NYC; dir: Ami Dayan Thanks in part to the setting– a bloodstained, dirty-gray-on-dirty-gray butcher shop– the play puts you in mind of Reservoir Dogs. – Jeremy McCarter, New York Magazine Masked certainly benefits from an extremely effective design package. The set, by Wilson Chin and Ola Maslik, is a fine piece of hyperrealism, with its cement walls, meat hooks, cinder blocks and bloodstains. – David Barbour, Lighting and Sound America by Gian Carlo Menotti, Central City Opera, CO; dir: Catherine Malfitano Significantly boosting this production are the spectacular sets, surely some of the most elaborate ever in a Central City production. The corner restaurant in Act 2 looks completely convincing, as well as the sidewalk scene under an elevated railway, with Menotti's score and accompanying light effects simulating the passing trains. – Kyle MacMillan, Denver Post by Richard Greenberg, Studio Arena Theatre, Buffalo, NY; dir: Kathleen Gaffney At the Studio, it's no affront to the performers to talk first about Wilson Chin's set, which captures the vast authentic grunge of a disused Manhattan loft. Hints of better days lurk fuzzily behind a transparent drape. – The Buffalo Rocket Gaffney has delivered a smart production, handsomely designed by Wilson Chin with the obligatory high level of stagecraft expected by Studio Arena audiences. Chin’s lower Manhattan loft apartment, which undergoes a total transformation as the clock turns back a generation, is effectively illuminated and given marvelously expressive mood and contour by lighting designer Lynne M. Koscielniak. As the title promises, it even rains. – Anthony Chase, ArtVoice The cast has been well supported by the designers, particularly Wilson Chin as scenic designer. His rainmaker is a wonder, but the attractive loft elevates and punctuates the play without interrupting it. – Willy Rogue Donaldson, Night-Life Magazine by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Rattlestick Theatre, NYC; dir: Trip Cullman Keeping with the playwright's original vision of cosmic science fiction set in a living room, scenic designer Wilson Chin and lighting designer Matthew Richards have used the relatively capacious Rattlestick Theatre stage to advantage, dreaming up the perfect backdrop for this flawless production. – Randy Kandel, Show Business Weekly Wilson Chin's wonderfully detailed set, Matt Richards's disturbingly atmospheric lights, and Shane Rettig's sweat-inducing sound design enhance the proceedings. – Michael Criscuolo, nytheatre.com Michael is a one-book author, reduced to delivering milk in the rural mountain town in Virginia where the family has recently relocated from Washington. His ambivalent feelings about the move are plainly visible in the contrasting details of Wilson Chin's set design for a living room with an ample desk, comfortable window seats and well-stocked bookcases -- as well as stacks of unopened boxes containing personal effects. – Marilyn Stasio, Variety by Dan O'Brien, Soho Playhouse, NYC; dir: Randy Baruh Fogler is such a joy to watch as he commands the stage, a beautifully bizarre ship's interior designed by Wilson Chin, replete with an ark-load of props. – Jerry Portwood, Backstage by Theresa Rebeck, Indiana Repertory Theatre, dir: James Still If you've ever visited an early 1900's vintage New York apartment, scenic designer Wilson Chin may make you feel as if you're back there, because he provides wonderful architectural details, down to the transom in Walker's bedroom. – Whitney Smith, The Indianapolis Star by Rob Nash, Ars Nova Theater, NYC; dir: Jeff Calhoun Top Ten Theatre Event of 2005 – David Cote, TimeOut Magazine On Wilson Chin's delightful set (the stage is backed by a three-dimensional aerial view of the boy's homeroom, complete with wadded papers on the linoleum floor), director Jeff Calhoun keeps Nash in a constant state of energy-filled motion. – Andy Propst, Backstage Wilson Chin's scenic design provides an exquisite aerial view of a classroom that is rendered in lifelike detail, but is set at a skewed angle to suggest an off-kilter viewpoint appropriate to the show as a whole. – Dan Bacalzo, theatermania.com Even the show's design (by Wilson Chin) contributes to the evening's breathless feel: Nash performs in front of a three-dimensional backdrop of a classroom, complete with student and teacher desks, that in their disheveled and precarious appearance practically announces that comedy is just waiting to happen. – Matthew Murray, talkinbroadway.com by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Hangar Theatre, Ithaca, NY; dir: Kevin Moriarty There is plenty to be done on the excellent set from designer Wilson Chin, with its multiple levels and painted backdrop of The Tempest a constant reminder of this play's roots. – David Cameron, Ithaca Journal Wilson Chin's scenic design both encapsulates the New York experience and the mythic underpinnings of the tale. – Chuck Klaus, Syracuse Post-Standard by Dan O'Brien, Second Stage Theatre Uptown, dir: Michael John Garces As we soon discover, when the lighting shifts on Wilson Chin's excellent re-creation of Flanagan's book-lined office, this has been an imagined monologue; one that Flanagan would never actually utter, but meant to give the audience a clue into his inner fire. – Brian Scott Lipton, theatermania.com The piece has been fluidly staged by Michael John Garcés, using Wilson Chin's library set ingeniously to fit the various locales. – Michael Feingold, The Village Voice adapted by Jo Roets, Weston Playhouse, VT; dir: Stephanie Gilman Wilson Chin's innovative set conveyed a sense of playfulness, constructed from cast-off materials and full of quirky, anachronistic props. Wooden pallets were the primary building blocks of a half-round wall that established the main space. By simply changing a banner or flag, the wall became the inside of Ragueneau's patisserie or an exterior battlefield rampart. A row of paint cans converted into footlights lined the front of the stage. – Elisabeth Crean, Seven Days Vermont by Kia Corthron, Yale Repertory Theatre, CT; dir: Michael John Garces The audience is instantly hurled into the din of the mean dark streets in the Bronx. The wire fence enclosing a street corner suggests a deserted playground where dangerous after-hours games are played. – Alvin Klein, New York Times Set designer Wilson Chin and lighting designer Torkel Skjaerven provide realistic and shadowy acting spaces for this capable ensemble. There's an empty lot with a chain-link fence, Prix's bedroom and her prison cell– and all seem just right. – Tom Isler, Yale Daily News by Tennessee Williams, Yale School of Drama, CT; dir: Trip Cullman The fantastic sets, sound effects, and deft direction by Trip Cullman all complement Flanery's performance perfectly. The atmosphere of a run-down city apartment is replicated realistically, with flashing lights and streetcar noises used to great effect during important moments in the plot. The meat hanging from the ceiling adds an interesting touch, a touch open to interpretation. Is it meant to evoke a working-man atmosphere reminiscent of the Chicago meat-packing industries? Or is it symbolic of how humans are nothing more than slabs of meat? – Bridget Kelly, Yale Daily News by John Fisher, Actors' Playhouse, NYC; dir: Ben Rimalower There's something about an evening view of a bridge with a city skyline in the background and stars twinkling above that insures the clever urban banter and quirky sexiness of romantic comedy. Happily, set designer Wilson Chin provides a dreamy representation of such a bridge for the backdrop of John Fisher's funny and charming romantic comedy, Joy. – Michael Dale, broadwayworld.com Scenic designer Wilson Chin’s idealized silhouette of the Golden Gate bridge creates the perfect backdrop for John Fisher’s new play, Joy. – Andy Propst, American Theater Web
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