The Angry Brigade - James Graham

Wallis Theater, Northwestern University

Directed by Nate Cohen

Scenic Design by Irena Hadzi Dordevic

Costume Design by Drina Krlic

Lighting Design by Anthony Forchielli

Photography by Justin Barbin

Scenic Design Concept

The Angry Brigade is a play about two opposing groups of people, The Branch - government investigators and The Brigade - an anarchist group that consists of young idealists. Structured in two distinct parts, the text acts as a mirror where the first part starts from a strict, structured world and breaks down and the second part which starts disorganized, anarchistic.

Rooted in the inspirations from real-life environments of bleak but clean basement office spaces, we are creating an off-white gridded world of suspended ceiling that is providing exaggerated structure extending out of sight in the Steppenwolf version or enveloping the space on the Wallis stage.

Ultimately, by the end we discover that no matter how much you try to break the system the bones of it will still remain, in the extremes in behavior, the opponents will start to look and act alike, revealing the true nature of a broken system of the society that prevails.