Friday Q & A - Janelle Regalbuto - Set and Costume Designer

Welcome to this week's edition of 'Friday Q &A'. (only one day late...oops!)

This week we've interviewed our lovely and talented Set and Costume Designer. Janelle was also our Scenic Artist - the person who paints the set.

Janelle - Hand painting our beautiful 

1. Where did you draw your inspiration for the set and costumes from? 

The inspiration came simply from The Beatles, and more specifically, the animated style of the film Yellow Submarine and the song: "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"  The Yellow Submarine style is universally appealing and recognizable to children and the young at heart. It is simple and colorful. Mr. Kite is all about the circus and the characters which make up the show. Circus' are colorful and magical, with acts of surprise and clowning. These themes seemed like a perfect foundation for the multiple stories told in Magical Mystery Munsch.

2. You worked with the director (Arne MacPherson) to help make his and your vision come to life onstage - how did you come up with the book-like set design? When we first met to discuss the design concept, we agreed immediately on the overall cartoon-circus look. We were both however perplexed over the portal which the playwright, Debbie Patterson has included repeatedly in the play. The portal is how the characters are transported through Robert Munsch's brain from one story to the next. It is an important part of the story. It is the mysterious element of the show and we knew it had to be something. Arne wanted the transition through the portal to really change the audiences environment or feeling of the setting, maybe even be a bit scary. Now, designing a tour has some challenges in terms of space and weight. After over-thinking many physical representations of portals, which would've all resulted in clunky heavy set pieces, I knew I had to think in a more simple way. I remember envisioning a circus curtain opening up to the reveal the wonders inside and playing with a piece of paper, folding it this way and that. Something clicked and I knew we could use the idea of parting pages to conceptualize books and the imagination they hold. The idea was simple, the actual engineering and building however became a bit of a mind bender. But with the talented people at PTE, we were able to realize the design and now it is simple again!

3. You also hand painted the entire set! How long did it take you?

It took approximately two and a half weeks or 100 hours. Sometimes I would be sitting in the middle of the pages on the floor and I felt like I was in a giant coloring book. It was hard work, but fun.

4. What is your favourite Robert Munsch book and why?

There's a story titled Purple, Green and Yellow. It is about a girl who wants all the latest colored markers. It reminds me of childhood and coveting those Mr. Sketch scented markers or smelly markers as we'd call them. They were big with chisel tips and vivid colors, everyone would inhale the

larger than life scents before actually putting them to paper. I loved watermelon! Of course in the story the girl gets into trouble coloring things she shouldn't.

I love you Forever is another favorite, it is just a sweet classic.

Thanks to our show, I also have a big soft spot for Mud Puddle. I love the adaptation Arne made of it and the performances are just wonderfully hilarious. I could watch the cast perform this over and over again.

Thanks Janelle! 

- Lisa, Stage Manager