Comments (0) BEST STAGE DESIGN - 2010

Joel Sass, the Jungle Theater

The Jungle has always been a home for great stage design, often from the fertile minds of founder Bain Boehlke and John Donohue. Joel Sass took the reigns of the theater in 2009 while Boehlke was away on sabbatical and showed that his own considerable talents stretched to design as well. His work through the season proved that past efforts (including beautiful work on Shining City, K-2, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch) were not flukes. Sets ranged from the natural realism of Mary's Wedding to the multi-tiered design for Hitchcock Blonde. It culminated at season's end with The Seafarer, when the messy, dirty, and grungy basement of a desperate Dublin house was realized so clearly you swore you could smell the intense funk of unwashed bodies, overcooked food, and faulty toilet.