Mefistofele

The Dream Factory

Cambridge, MA · 2025

Overview

This staging reinterprets Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele through the spiritual dilemmas of contemporary life. Faust is a tired man caught in routine who longs for freedom and meaning. Mefistofele becomes the desire and unease within him, while the Chorus gives physical form to social judgment and conformity.

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Stage design for Mefistofele with a suspended field of glowing blocks above a chessboard

Studio: The Dream Factory · Harvard Graduate School of Design · Fall 2025
Format: Individual work
Location: Cambridge, MA
Year: 2025

Contemporary interpretation of Arrigo Boito’s 1867 opera
Two acts structured as social cage and illusion
Transforming chessboard and suspended scenic grid
Stage movement tested through models and animation

01 / 16The Dream Factory

Design approach

Two acts transform the stage through a shared vocabulary of grids, cages, and chess pieces. Act I places Faust inside a rigid social field controlled by surrounding voices. Act II turns that field into a shifting game in which suspended blocks rise, fall, rotate, and project the characters’ moves at an architectural scale.

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Costume concept for Faust in pale layered fabric Costume concept for Mefistofele in dark sculptural fabric

02 / 16Faust · Costume study · Mefistofele · Costume study

Act I · Invisible cage

A cage-like chessboard establishes a world organized by routine. Faust moves as both a player and a piece, while the Chorus occupies the surrounding structure and reinforces the pressure to conform.

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Animated character study for Faust Animated character study for Mefistofele

03 / 16Faust · Character in motion · Mefistofele · Character in motion

Act II · Illusion

The grounded chessboard represents lived reality. Above it, an unstable field of suspended squares tracks desire, doubt, and manipulation. Their motion enlarges the contest between Faust and Mefistofele into a spectacle visible across the theater.

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Front stage view of Act I with a rigid black and white social field Axonometric view of the Act I stage and auditorium

04 / 16Act I · Invisible cage · Act I · Stage assembly

A stage in motion

Sliding panels, rotating elements, projected imagery, and a transforming overhead grid let the architecture perform with the characters. Physical models and animation test how each movement changes sightlines, atmosphere, and the relation between audience and stage.

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Close axonometric view of the folding chessboard and chorus structure

05 / 16Act I · Cage and chessboard mechanism

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Axonometric view of the Act II stage with suspended scenic blocks Detailed axonometric view of the suspended grid and rising chessboard

06 / 16Act II · Illusion · Act II · Moving scenic field

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Unfolded plan showing the spatial arrangement and movement of both acts

07 / 16Stage transformation and movement plan

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Animation of the Act II stage transformation

08 / 16Act II · Stage movement

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Hands operating the first configuration of the stage model

09 / 16Physical model · Actuation I

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Hands operating the second configuration of the stage model

10 / 16Physical model · Actuation II

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Profile view of the stage model and its overhead rigging

11 / 16Physical model · Rigging profile

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Front view of the empty stage model before transformation

12 / 16Physical model · Empty stage

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Illuminated model showing chess pieces beneath the overhead field

13 / 16Physical model · Performance lighting

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Overhead model view of the chorus cage and checkerboard

14 / 16Physical model · Chorus cage

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Front model view of the transformed stage

15 / 16Physical model · Front

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Side model view showing the stage layers and rigging

16 / 16Physical model · Side

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