Gloria: A Life

Set Design

1. Seating

Humans are communal animals.
We're meant to be sitting around campfires telling our stories, learning from each other.
We've been doing it for millennia.

So, Gloria Steinem’s opening plea is for a circle.

Some theaters have that modular moveable seating. You could set it up in a circle like this production did at the McCarter. Or you could achieve an almost circle by putting some bleachers on the stage, like at A.R.T.

Set Designer Amy Rubin, Playwright Emily Mann, Director Diane Paulus and the teams at the two theaters create a non-hierarchical seating arrangement. A talking circle set up.

Most rooms are capable of hosting a great talking circle. A small class of 12-24 students + 1 teacher, perhaps in a room that is 24’x24’, or another rectangle with similar square footage, would be able to achieve three levels of seating and maintain sightlines:

1. Folks leaning against the wall in the back, or sitting on a desk

2. Chair sitters

3. Floor sitters…ideally on a cushion, or in a semi-recline. I can’t think of how they could l…