The Set of High - by Tony Award-winning set designer David Gallo

In High, a tough-talking and formerly hard-drinking nun reluctantly agrees to sponsor a defiant drug user in her church-sponsored rehab center.

High: What does it mean?

I suppose that can mean a lot of things to many different people.

Personally, I have always been turned on by the possibilities of new work in the theater. To some, it may not seem as interesting as having a heavy drug problem but the “high” is there none the less. I have also gotten my “high” during my journey through show business by a form of time travel. By that I mean one of the great things about being a working designer is my ability to constantly reconnect with so many valued collaborators from year to year, decade to decade.

When our director Rob first contacted me about the assignment of creating sets for this production, the first thing that jumped out to me was his saying that the show would have it’s pre-Broadway tryout at two of my most favored regional theaters: The Cincinnati Playhouse and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Here was a great new play, a director that was a new collaborator and chance to travel through time to return to valued houses that I adore and yet had not spent time with in several years.

Ed Stern (artistic director of The Cincinnati Playhouse) and Steve Woolf (artistic director of The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis) have always been visionaries to me. The theaters that they run and the seasons that they produce are remarkable. Hosting both this play and my designs gave me an incredible “high.”  Add to that, the chance to work with noted production managers such as Edward Coffield and Phil Rundle, crews that included old friends from my MUNY days in St Louis, and you could say I was more than a bit “high” to work on this show.

But of course, as every HIGH person realizes, there were certain realities to face. Face them or crash.  One “reality” was the unique nature of the different theaters. Although my last collaboration here in St. Louis went well (Sweeney Todd) I knew that the specific requirements of this play would call on an entirely new set of skills. The set for High was going to have to be more intimate. The playing space would require a finer touch than the one I brought to that vast Sondheim musical. Facing a large space with a tale about confinement was a harsh reality indeed. That’s where I decided to surround the space with a simple star field…a black void of universe that would allow the audience to feel “high”, while the harsh confines of the rehab center where the characters live are illustrated in tight reality. The confines faced by these characters would have to be real to them, while the open space would have to be real to the viewer.

My favorite scenic moment in High is the transition into the “street scene” where the harsh reality of addiction and abuse are illustrated by the tall brick walls that put our nun and patient into a final confrontation. As you will see, it is a confrontation that does not go well.

My contribution to this play, my reconnecting with valued collaborators (both old and new), and my love of new theater give me hope….  And hope is what being “high” is all about; especially when you don’t find it through drugs, but in quality theater.

Enjoy the play.

David Gallo
Set Designer, High

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