Design Reviews

FOOL FOR LOVE

Mon, 3 Sep 2007 22:40:24 -0500

Chicago Tribune
Under the excellent direction of Ronan Marra, May and Eddie are feral animals - all instinct. Caged up in that ratty motel (Melania Lancy’s scenic design creates a terrific shoe box effect), the setting itself takes on larger metaphorical dimensions. A hotel room, in theatrical terms, is a trap. - Nina Metz
TimeOut Chicago
Melania Lancy’s ratty fleabag set - a narrow silver of a dump with audience members seated on either end - and Julie Ballard’s dusky lighting make into something intimate, haunting and, most crucially, harder to shake off...” - Christopher Piatt

Daily Herald
The latest occurs within the grey-green walls of set designer Melania Lancy’s appropriately confining cut-rate motel room whose faded curtains and threadbare rug fail to lighten the grim mood or remove the sense of entrapment Marra emphasizes by having the audience flank the stage, effectively boxing the characters. - Barbara Vitello

ChicagoCritic.com
I Aaron Snook is effective as the crazied stuntman, Eddie, who drives from Montana to the edge of the Mojave Desert to a seedy motel (terrific set design by Melania Lancy) to reunite with his long love May, played by Simone Roos. - Tom Williams
Windy City Times
Melania Lancy’s scenic design encapsulates shabby motor-court decor right down to the algae-green shower curtain; Anthony Ingram’s sound design resurrects such venerable careless-love classics as Why, Baby, Why?; Laura M. Dana’s costumes reflect the sun-baked textures of Shepard’s southwestern desrt regions; and Julie Ballard’s nimble split-second lighting effects hit every mark mandated by the enigmatic text. - Mary Shen Barnidge

Hamlet

Sat, 5 May 2007 15:09:54 -0500

ChicagoCritic.com
Signal Ensemble Theatre’s director Ronan Marra has mounted a superb Hamlet complete with a wonderful set (designed by Melania Lancy) and excellent period-perfect costumes (designed by Laura M. Dana) and featuring sixteen of the finest non-Equity actors in Chicagoland. - Tom Williams
Daily Herald
Melania Lancy’s foreboding castle, gloomily lit by Julie E. Ballard, makes a perfect backdrop, especially its grand staircases which fight choreographer Kevin Asselin uses so effectively in the sweeping sword fight that concludes the play. - Barbara Vitello

The Weir

Tue, 6 Mar 2007 00:47:27 -0600

Daily Herald
Anyone who has ever spent time in Ireland in a real pub - one of those well-worn, rural outposts with a sagging roof, scuffed floors and battered chairs bearing the marks of the generations who have occupied it - will recognize immediately the setting. Melania Lancy's comfortable and comforting bar, warmly lit by Julie E. Ballard, looks and feels genuine. It's the sort of place frequented by unassuming working men - unpretentious, decent men who share an easy camaraderie - whose jibes contain only a trace of venom, and whose quarrels flare and dissipate with a handshake and shot of whiskey.

ChicagoCritic.com
Set in a pub (terrific set design by Melania Lancy) in contemporary rural Ireland, The Weir, is an engaging drama that features several old-style Irish ghost stories in a setting where friendship and a sense of community reign. This is a brilliant production of a fantastic play with five outstanding performances that unfolds as one mesmerizing night at the theatre. This is one of the finest plays of the year! Signal Ensemble is emerging as a ‘must see’ group.

Windy City Times
...the cast, assembled by Christopher Prentice for this Signal Ensemble production, all but glows with the warmth and camaraderie of players thoroughly comfortable with one another, much as set designer Melania Lancy’s taproom ( with its meticulously-selected wall decoration) reflects the cozy insularity of regional trade dating back generations, if not centuries.

Gay Chicago Magazine - After Dark
Melania Lancy’s scenic design creates a believably detailed rustic Irish pub.

Time Out Chicago
Even the intimate setting by Melania Lancy becomes a collaborator—by the end of the evening we want nothing more than a pint of Guinness and the company of friends.

Chicago Reader
Christopher Prentice's staging for Signal Ensemble Theatre features a note-perfect set by Melania Lancy and subtle, unhurried performances that manage to avoid the script's occasional drunken-blarney cliches.

Closer

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600

Daily Herald
The play unfolds on Melania Lancy’s minimalist set, a stony-looking multilevel configuration that aptly represents modern romance’s scorched terrain.

ChicagoCritic.com
I was struck with the high quality of this production that uses video projections (by Julie E. Ballard) on Melania Lancy’s box set as well as stellar performances from Brandon Bruce and Aaron Snook with terrific support from Tammy Stackpoole and Georgann Charuhas.

A Devil Inside

Fri, 9 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Time Out Chicago
The design (Melania Lancy’s split laundromat/repair-shop set, Nathan Robbel’s unexpectedly rich sound scheme) is a couple of rungs higher than the standard stuff for $15-ticket shows."

She Stoops to Conquer

Sun, 2 Apr 2006 16:49:11 -0500

ChicagoCritic.com
Signal Ensemble’s production qualities speak to their growth as artists. Melania Lancy’s exquisite set---an English country manor, circa 18th Century complete with a centered fireplace; Julie E. Ballard’s lighting and Laura M. Dana’s period-perfect costumes included full dresses for the ladies and colorful waste coats and tricornered hats for the men with wigs and rich British accents flavored the production with grace and elegance. This is a polished production that deftly takes us back to the 18th Century for a romp with blind dates and clever deceptions in a country manor.

Chicago Reader
Every minute of Ronan Marra's revival honors Goldsmith's intention: the casting, pacing, accents, costumes, and set are nearly perfect.

Windy City Times
Kudos are also due Melania Lancy, whose scenic design allows plenty of room for cartoon-sized chases, both across the room and around the furniture.

Steadstyle Chicago
An old crumbling country mansion known as Liberty Hall sets the scene for a play that stylistically hovers somewhere between farce and comedy of manners. It's played large, over the top and strictly for laughs. But it has style to spare, beginning with Melania Lancy's grand and handsome setting, Laura M. Dana's splendid period costumes, and an assured sense of broad fun.

Landslide

Sat, 12 Mar 2005 18:33:13 -0600

Chicago Sun-Times
One of the best things about the production is Melania Lancy's metaphorically apt set design, which playfully deceives and then delights as the subtle hints revealing visual surprises unfold. First we're looking at Chris and Diane's childhood home. A family/dining room that now serves as Diane's sickroom has nothing but a blue La-Z-Boy to separate the two spaces. Then the dining room becomes the heart of Chris and Sarah's apartment, and the blue recliner marks the end of their world.

Catch 22

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 18:13:37 -0500

Chicago Tribune
Brandon Bruce's production - where nine emerging actors play more than 40 characters - is staged on one of the best off-Loop sets all year, from set designer Melania Lancy.

New City Chicago.com
It’s a solid production with some nice performances (Aris Tompulis and Meredith Bell play a number of funny, quite varied characters) and a vividly rendered set by Melania Lancy.

Chicago Critic Review
With a small set nicely decorated with World War II propaganda posters and depicting a bombed out building, set designer, Melania Lancy, creates a mood where satire abounds.