Broadway By Design: Scott Pask Brings AMERICAN BUFFALO from Page to Stage

In Broadway by Design, BroadwayWorld is shining a spotlight on the stellar designs of this Broadway season, show by show. Today, we continue the series with Tony nominee Scott Pask, who acted as scenic designer for American Buffalo.

This season, Scott also designed Mr. Saturday Night on Broadway (currently running at the Nederlander Theatre) and 1776 at the A.R.T. Next up, he will design the Broadway-bound Some Like It Hot.

In American Buffalo, three small time hustlers want a bigger cut of the American dream. David Mamet's classic about loyalty and greed returns to Broadway more explosive and pointed than ever, exposing a timely American truth: crime and business are two sides of the same coin.

Where did Scott's design process begin? "The inspiration for my design of American Buffalo originates in the play's specified location - A Chicago area junk shop - circa 1970's- and, in an approach unique to Broadway theatres, attempting to isolate that onstage space in an extreme thrust configuration, while immersing the audience within the terrain of the shop's setting.

"Additional wedges of audience seating were installed in the auditorium - along with additional rows of seats, to further surround the playing space so that the audience can share the actor's onstage space. The audience nearly surrounds the entire playing area of Don's shop, with its front door providing the only entrance into the space for the actors. An elaborate timber ceiling construction built of old reclaimed lumber, heavily encrusted with the weight of detritus of the past, add to the claustrophobic feel and match the character and footprint of the scattered, junk filled geography of the shop floor below."

Pask also faced challenges in bringing his design to life. "The Circle in the Square is extremely unique in that it is a completely subterranean theatre, the only Broadway theatre of its kind. This initial challenge is what became the most interesting and gratifying direction for the course of the design. I wanted the setting for the play to feel just as dynamic and singular by placing the shop and its players, low grade petty criminals, within a below grade locale so that they, with their small scale ambitions, appear equally submerged in their furtive meeting place.

"To accomplish this, I created an eyelevel sidewalk and terrain beyond the shopfront's entrance facade- all visible to the audience, complete with fire hydrant, lamppost, requisite trashcans, and an old bicycle locked to the iron fencing out front, with concrete steps down to the shop front of Don's Resale Store. This level change presented dynamic opportunities throughout the course of the play, creating energetic entrances and exits to the shop, with headlights of passing cars further enhancing the shadows and movement of the characters within this below grade habitat."

American Buffalo is currently running on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre.