The Old Man and the Sea
Set and Prop Design – Theatre of Yugen, San Francisco CA
In collaboration with Theatre of Yugen, I designed and fabricated four original glass-based set and prop systems for their Noh/Kyogen adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Working closely with the director, actors, costume artist, puppeteer, and sound artist, my glass work was fully integrated into the choreography, lighting, and narrative structure of the production.
Mobile Wave Platform
I created a modular stage platform composed of puzzle-like wooden panels on casters, each embedded with hot-cast glass elements. The platforms gathered at center stage to form a unified mass, then dispersed toward the edges, allowing the stage itself to move like shifting waves.Dolphin Breath Props
At the actors’ request, I hand-blown lightweight, kidney-shaped glass forms with mirrored interiors. Each piece contained two openings—one for holding and one for blowing into—allowing two performers to slowly dance while breathing into the glass, evoking dolphins surfacing and exhaling in the moonlit ocean.Suspended Glass “Falling Stars”
Hundreds of glass raindrops with trailing glass lines were suspended above the audience risers. In a dimly lit environment, the droplets caught subtle theatrical color shifts, transforming the space into a field of falling stars across the night sea.The Marlin Projection
One of the most complex elements was the marlin. I arranged dichroic glass and glass shards on a mirrored surface mounted on a mobile base, allowing it to move in and out behind the curtain. When struck by a spotlight, the arranged glass fragments projected the image of a 10-foot marlin onto a white scrim as the old man encounters it.
Through these elements, glass functioned not as decoration, but as movement, light, breath, and transformation—supporting the meditative, symbolic language of Noh theatre. The production was featured on KQED SPARK: