PHILLIP L. BEARD

LECTURER, DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS

BOB'S MONUMENT:

This stage prop represents a grandiose self- fulfillment of the main character in Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s play Bob: A Life in Five Acts, which was performed by the Auburn Area Community Theatre in Fall 2017. I directed the play and designed its visuals. The revelation of this monument, which was built by Bob in a scale to be seen in a sight line with Mount Rushmore, is an absurd high point in this play, which is an American picaresque about an orphan striving to realize an inner greatness. This sculpture, however, (as Bob realizes) commemorates nothing but his desire for a monument. I drew on my understandings of American Romanticism, which I teach, to conceive this satirical piece. The monument is based on a photo I took of the actor Robert Byrd and then digitally blended with several photos of stone that I took in the Pine Hill Cemetery, along with an image of a beard from a second century Roman sculpture of Antoninus Pius.

COLLABORATORS:

Griff Smith

Garrett Golden

golden statue of a mans head

production photo- a man standing next to another man in a mask and statue

production photo of three actors around a statue

production photo of two actors around a statue in grey scale

Theatre
Bob’s Monument from Bob: A Life in Five Acts

Lithograph on Corrugated Plastic with Rear Stand 40” X 96”

2017

Last Updated: July 19, 2018