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SAM FEHR PRODUCTIONS NEWS
Ironbound
Oakland Theater Project
May 2025
Ironbound was my second show designing for Oakland Theater Project, and it pushed me to connect Darja’s internal state with the physical reality of her surroundings in New Jersey. I approached the set by focusing on how the space needed to function and feel, letting the story emerge through simple, clear choices rather than heavy symbolism.
Ben Krantz Studio
The chalkboard floor served as a flexible surface that naturally took on marks, smudges, and erased lines over time. Those layers reflected repetition and wear — the way Darja’s thoughts and routines overlap without fully resetting. Along the same idea, the weathered bus stop grounded the space in something familiar and real, evoking the cold streets where she waits, sleeps, and survives. Together, these elements kept the set straightforward while still supporting the emotional weight of the play.
We placed the audience in the round to bring them closer to the space and remove distance between the audience and the environment. The set was intentionally sparse, relying on restraint rather than spectacle. As Charles Lewis III wrote for 48 Hills, the “empty” set design invited the audience to imagine the cold of the streets where Darja sleeps — which aligned with my goal of building a space that felt real without over-designing it.
I Am My Own Wife
Oakland Theater Project
March 2025
For I Am My Own Wife at Oakland Theater Project, I served as the scenic designer and head carpenter. This was my first design with this theater. I approached the project with a focus on storytelling
and symbolism, thinking about how the set could actively support Charlotte’s history and mirror her life in East Berlin, shaped by war, survival, and preservation, which became the foundation of the design.
The set was built with clear visual contrast. A fractured outer frame made from broken furniture surrounded the stage, suggesting the destruction and instability of the war and the world Charlotte lived through. Inside that chaos sat a clean, all-white center: a model of the Gründerzeit Museum. This space was calm, ordered, and intentional — a place where objects, and memories, could be protected. One reviewer described the design as “a serene dollhouse-replica of the Gründerzeit Museum framed by a chaotic backdrop of furniture” (Front Row Review), which closely aligned with what I was aiming to create.
The central museum structure anchored the space, while surrounding elements — furniture fragments, a grandfather clock, and chairs placed at the edges of the stage — helped define moments without pulling focus from the performance. As Talkin Broadway noted, the set was “both simple and detailed,” which allowed projections and sound design to layer in specific historical moments, such as the bombing of Berlin, without overwhelming the space.
Serving as both designer and head carpenter allowed me to stay closely involved from concept through build, ensuring the set was not only visually grounded but also practical, durable, and responsive to the needs of the production. The final space supported the performer, held the story, and gave the audience room to sit with Charlotte’s world.
Ben Krantz Studio