Miss Julie
by August Strindberg
Vassar College
Dec. 12, 13, 1969
Avery HallSet Designer: C. Otis Sweezey
Starring Meryl Streep (Undergraduate Student)
This was my first set design that I was paid to design. I graduated in 1969 from SUNY New Paltz and was hired to be the Ass't. Technical Director at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York. During my first semester there, I designed the set for Miss Julie. The lead character was played by Meryl Streep, who was an undergraduate student at the school. She was very talented, but little did I know that she would some day become the famous actress that she is today.
The set had a stove that worked. The sink had a pump that had real water. The play has a scene where the servant Jean takes Miss Julie's canary and chops its head off. I rigged a small trap door in the set's chopping block table and we used a live bird. When Jean pretended to chop off the canary's head, the bird went into the trap door and a fake bird popped into his hand. It was so realistic that we had audience members calling the ASPCA.
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Production photo and model for Miss Julie, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, December 1969.
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Meryl Streep starring in Miss Julie, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, December 1969.
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Meryl Streep starring in Miss Julie, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, December 1969.
Ground Plan, Miss Julie, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, December 1969
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Any corrections or responses, please sent to osweeze@siue.edu