Lauren Ros - Cabaret

Myself and a group of Themed Experience Masters students worked with the Orlando Shakespeare Theater to design an experience based on the show Cabaret. The Themed Experience team was responsible for the creation, procurement, set up, and tear down of the experience. The entire project was highly collaborative but with a team of five people we often worked on several elements at once. I played a great part in prop staging and working out how the posters in the Voms would hand using the theater's hardware.

With this project we invited guests to an eccentric cabaret in Berlin Germany during the rise of Nazism. Through transforming the lower lobby and bar area, we asked visitors to face the ramifications of inaction and consider what they would do when met with the harsh reality of not only history but life. Rich colors and textures were used to create an intimate environment, however, through subtle details throughout the lobby a deeper story of hardship, ignorance, and oppression is revealed.

The Finished Experience

Experience Entrance

Down the Ramp into the Kit Kat Club

Bar Height Seating Area

General View into the Bar Area

The Bar

Lounge like Corner of the Bar

The Left Side of the Vom Connecting the Lower Lobby to the Theater

The Right Side of the Vom Connecting the Lower Lobby to the Theater

The Vom Poster System

The central focus of the project was a series of changing posters in the two Voms. These posters brought the narrative of Cabaret off of the stage, into the lobby, and home with the guests. As the guests enter the theater to take their seats they're met with posters about the performers at the Kit Kat club but when they leave the theater at intermission they must face Nazi propaganda posters covering up the show posters.

We had a tight budget for the project and just about squeezed it dry, so in order to save money we agreed to utilized the theater's existing metal rails and wires to hang the posters. However, we wanted the posters to look like they we're glued to the wall and not framed so we had to create a non-destructive way to attach the wire.

As the base of the changing posters, the Kit Kat Club Performer posters needed to be sturdy enough to support the added additional posters. Ultimately, I made a rough cardboard frame to support the paper and ensure the posters laid flat against the wall. On the top of the cardboard frame, I attached two pieces of curved cardboard with holes cut in them for the hooks attacked to the wires to slip into. It worked wonderfully and made it easy to take the posters down and adjust them when needed.

For the additional posters I developed a system of magnets to place them during the show and remove them after. Magnets were placed under the base posters and the propaganda posters to ensure that the connection was invisible to guests.