To most, the sight of the sun's departing rays shimmering red and golden across the lake is a sublime spectacle of nature.

Robert Mark Morgan appreciates the scene, and he also finds it a bit daunting.

The scenic designer for the 37th annual Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival has set the scene of 1940s wartime Italy and a vibrant Vienna during Mozart's time for concurrent productions of “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Measure for Measure.

“A designer cannot compete with the backdrop of the lake, but embrace it as an element,” he said.
Embracing with passion is what the Austin, Texas native has accomplished for his debut with the festival, which opens July 11 and runs until Aug. 23.

Soft light radiates from a flower-laden Tuscan balcony or illuminates an Austrian fortress' harsh stone. A basic set, sealed against the ravages of water, weather and blowing sand, serves both productions with moveable pillars, elevated walkways and staircases. Under a scattering of nighttime stars the lake's reality has been fashioned into a facsimile of the Mediterranean Sea.
Hailed from San Francisco to Prague for his evocative staging in productions ranging from Eugene O'Neill's “A Moon for the Misbegotten” to William Inge's “Bus Stop,” the 39-year-old designer relies heavily on pre-production research that allows transporting theater patrons into a land of make-believe.

Typically, six months is necessary to create the magic. Morgan uses a combination of tools to visualize in quarter-inch scale. Internet searches, hand sketches and travel photos — even an occasional National Geographic article – can provide the necessary inspiration. The recent Spike Lee film “Miracle at St. Anna” allowed a glimpse into an Italian setting fraught with frayed remainders of fascism.

With directors Carole Healey and Fontaine Syer and other technical crew members seldom in the same location simultaneously, the Internet and phones replaced face-to-face meetings. Morgan typically uploads and numbers more than 100 images and then writing a visual language that captures the director's vision and advances the play realistically.

He said his that his job is to “create a sandbox in which the director can play.”
As an associate professor at the University of Washington's school of drama, he frequently compares design concept to an onion: The core and inner layers need to support the play and its characters, while the outer membrane conveys the artistic essence of the piece.
The actual construction of his sets comes under the purview of technical director Matt McKinney. Built at the University of Nevada, Reno, rental trucks haul the pieces of a huge theatrical jigsaw puzzle down to the Sand Harbor site several weeks before opening night.

Working at the festival, Morgan jokes, the handiest tool in a stagehand's belt could be a bottle of sunscreen.

After the two opening nights, Morgan's work in Tahoe is finished. He leaves soon to begin set designs for the Cleveland Playhouse's winter production of Jane Austen's “Emma.”

Shakespeare once wrote, “All the world's a stage.”
Robert Mark Morgan finds continuous delight in bringing innovative stages to the world.