Properties Design by Laura Merrill

City Lights Theater Company (San José, CA) May 2024

Written by Lynn Nottage

Directed by Aldo Billingslea

Past the long line of truckers waiting outside, Clyde’s sandwich shop is more than just a greasy spoon. It serves up a chance at redemption for its formerly incarcerated kitchen staff. Owner Clyde may be a devil of a boss, but the workers discover purpose in their lives as they find themselves banding together – and sharing a quest to create the perfect sandwich.

This design concentrated on the reality of a truck stop kitchen. With the properties shopping list consisting mostly of bread and tomatoes this design really makes you feel like you’re in a cutthroat, fast paced kitchen.

Some notable pieces created for this production include:

• Several fake burger patties (one of the few fake foods) made with clay and latex paint.

  I used air-dry clay to make the burger patties and then I used a toothbrush to create the ground beef texture. I finished them up with a 2 tone paint base followed by highlights to make them look realistic.

• A “rotten fish” made of muslin and weighed down with sand in a plastic garbage bag.

  I sewed a piece of muslin into the general shape of a fish. Then I filled it about 1/4 of the way full with sand and the rest was filled with cotton to fill out the body of the fish fully. Finally I put it in a large garbage bag for the actors to carry it around in.