Set Design for Grease

Theatrical set designer Derek McLane ’80 shows how his work progresses — from initial sketches on a yellow legal pad through the musical’s finished sets...

Theatrical set designer Derek McLane ’80 shows how his work progresses — from initial sketches on a yellow legal pad through the musical’s finished sets — and discusses some of his surprising, diverse sources of inspiration: the endless rows of lockers he remembers from high school; a Life magazine photograph of a drive-in movie theater; the colors in 1950s advertisements; and that era’s fascination with nuclear power.

For more on McLane, see "Storytelling Spaces," in this magazine's March-April issue.

 

Click here for the March-April 2008 issue table of contents

You might also like

Teaching Israel/Palestine at Harvard

Course probes the modern history of the Holy Land.

Harvard Education School Dean Appointed

Nonie K. Lesaux transitions from interim to permanent dean.

Harvard Goes Dancing

Crimson women’s basketball prepares for the NCAA tournament.

Most popular

Safe Streets

Working to curb road deaths

Bill Gates on AI and Innovation

At Harvard, the Microsoft co-founder discusses his biography—and artificial intelligence. 

Teaching Israel/Palestine at Harvard

Course probes the modern history of the Holy Land.

Explore More From Current Issue

Harvard's Tom Kane on Effective School Reforms

Tom Kane deploys data to help improve education.

Teen "Grind" Culture and Mental Health

Teens need better strategies to cope with lives lived partly online.

“AI Anxiety”

The Undergraduate on the uneasy collision of technology and writing