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Cendrillon
written by Pauline Viardot
set design concept by Jade Lo
venue: Bucks County Playhouse

Set Design I, Fall 2022
In designing Viardot’s 1903 chamber opera adaptation of Cinderella, I sought to balance more subversive notions of class and disguise as presented in the story, while also preserving the whimsicality of the original fairytale. To explore the evolution of social hierarchy throughout the arc of the piece, I used the architectural metaphor of a staircase, concealed during Act I, to define an “upstairs” palace and a “downstairs” home. The set cracks open during Act II to reveal this point of connection and a Magritte-inspired surrealist world beyond, in which the rest of the opera unfolds.

1/4” white massing model
rendered in Procreate & Photoshop
A drafting plate of the apple carriage, based on Magritte’s painting The Son of Man (1946).


© 2024 Jade K. Lo
New York, NY