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 elements were fully integrated into the choreography, lighting, and narrative, becoming active participants in the story.

I created the Mobile Wave Platform, a modular stage 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.

For the performers, I designed Dolphin Breath Props: lightweight, hand-blown kidney-shaped glass forms with mirrored interiors and dual openings for holding and breathing. As actors danced, the gentle exhalation into the glass evoked dolphins surfacing under a moonlit ocean.

Above the audience risers, I suspended hundreds of glass “Falling Stars”, droplets trailing delicate glass lines. In the dimly lit theater, subtle shifts in color transformed the space into a luminous night sky scattered across the sea.

One of the most complex elements, Jumping Marlin, drew directly from my Reflection series. I arranged dichroic glass and shards on a mirrored surface mounted on a mobile base. As it moved behind the curtain and caught the spotlight, the fragments projected the image of a ten-foot marlin onto the scrim, appearing and vanishing as the old man encounters it.

Through these elements, glass became movement, light, breath, and transformation, supporting the meditative, symbolic language of Noh theater.

The production was featured on KQED SPARK: link (scroll down the page to find the video)