Anna Louizos (b. 1957)
Set model for the Off Broadway production of In the Heights
Mixed media, 2007
Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
Set model for the Off Broadway production of In the Heights
Transcript below
Anna Deavere Smith: Through a vibrant mix of hip-hop, salsa, and merengue, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s breakout musical, In the Heights, recounts three days in the lives of residents in the predominantly Latino neighborhood of Washington Heights.
Anna Louizos: We had to find a way to evoke an entire neighborhood on the stage. And we wanted to be able to see the people throughout the story, throughout the show.
Anna Deavere Smith: That’s set designer Anna Louizos. She created this preparatory model for the 2007 Off Broadway production—later earning a Tony nomination for her work on the Broadway version.
Anna Louizos: And so I came up with this idea of basically showing the skeletal structure of the buildings, and then being able to do a second layer of buildings behind those buildings so that you could actually see through the buildings and see that there was more.
Anna Deavere Smith: Like the play itself, Louizos’s set captures a timeless aspect of the city.
Anna Louizos: You could take this Latino neighborhood from In the Heights and 40, 50 years ago it was German Jews that lived in that neighborhood, and then it was Irish people who populated that neighborhood. And In the Heights captures one moment in the history of New York, and it’s fleeting. It's a universal story—even though it's very specific to this culture, this particular demographic, it is universal.
Anna Deavere Smith: And the set needs to feel just as organic, just as real.
Anna Louizos: One of the most important aspects of designing for theater is that it is such a collaborative process. When it all does come together and you see it, it's as if this world has always existed.