This was a new production of Cherylene Lee’s “The Legacy codes” which I had directed at the Hangar Theatre two years before. This production was notable for its set design. The Hangar production was designed by Eric Renschler, who had worked with me the year before at Pan Asian and was a terrific find, a talented, experienced, easy-to-work-with set designer, so I asked him to do the set for my Pan Asian production and, thankfully, he accepted. 

 That Hangar set was terrific but Eric outdid himself. The West End Theatre space was smaller than the Hangar thrust space and much shallower, but we came up with an enormous set that seemed deeper than it was and that was very tall. It was a beautiful, appropriate-to-the-play set, but the best thing about it was that, proportionally, it fit the space, and the play, perfectly. The set was big and dominating, as it needed to be, but the actors were never lost in it, they were always the focus, not the set.

It was interesting to me how working on the same play with the same designer resulted in a totally different set design. A different space was probably the most important factor, along with budget differences, but the work with Eric went differently as well. We were both excited to take ideas we had had in different directions and to push them further. The success of the design in the earlier show gave us a kind of confidence in our work together and that helped us take the next big step with the design of the new show.

How big a step?  Well, one of Pan Asian Rep’s Honorary Advisors, noted set designer and teacher Ming Cho Lee, was at the opening of “The Legacy Codes,” and he told me how impressed with the show he was, with the direction and the design especially, and he was actually smiling and happy, almost giddy.  In all the years I had known Ming and seen him at Pan Asian openings and shows, that was a first.  I took it to mean that the set had set a high standard for the show, and that standard was upheld by the rest of the show, by the actors, and by Pan Asian Rep itself.  High praise from a theatre great.  Thank you Ming.

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