After 40 years of building the visual worlds of television hits like The Sopranos and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, production designer Dean Taucher is turning his behind the scenes stories into a theatrical event.
Taucher’s new play, Movies TV Mayhem, is currently running in its world premiere production at Theatre Row in New York City through May 9. The production, directed by Richard Caliban and produced by Equilateral Theatre Company, offers a satirical, insider’s look at the entertainment industry.
In a recent interview with The Pop Break, Taucher explained that the project originated from personal reflections he initially viewed through the lens of monologues as memoir.
“I thought, well, this has much more theatrical juice to it than just the story,” Taucher said, noting that he originally considered presenting the material to magazines before realizing its potential for the stage.
The play is structured around the taping of a podcast where three actors — played by Jason Donovan Hall, Grant Neale and Oneika Phillips — discuss misbehavior in the film business. Taucher described the format as one where the characters give a “messed up definition of a film term and then a monologue happens.”
These monologues, inspired by Taucher’s decades on sets like of productions including Miami Vice and The Blues Brothers, trigger stylistic shifts in the production. Taucher explained that the director uses soundscapes and projections to take the audience “on a journey with these stories much beyond what I had imagined it would be when I wrote it.”
Taucher’s career includes designing the iconic sets for the first season of The Sopranos and spending more than 20 seasons with Law & Order: SVU. He noted that while The Sopranos focused on fictional mobsters, his real-life experiences in the industry were often just as intense.
“In Sopranos, those were fictional characters, whereas I worked with murderers, conmen, drug dealers, out of control, crazy producers, and then the people you can’t trust,” Taucher said.
The play draws on specific, often absurd, memories from Taucher’s time as a scenic artist on major films. In his interview with The Pop Break, he recalled a disastrous moment on the set of the 1982 film Annie, where a multi-million dollar Duesenberg was accidentally ripped open by a camera rig. He also described the “volatile personalities” he encountered, such as director John Landis on “The Blues Brothers.”
For Taucher, the transition from production designer to playwright provided a level of creative liberty not found in television.
“I thought I had more freedom writing a play than I would trying to present this in a realistic manner as a TV show,” he said. He added that the new role allows him a voice he didn’t have when focusing solely on sets: “I’m the writer. I can open my mouth anytime.”
Movies TV Mayhem features a creative team including scenic designer Edward T. Morris, projection designer Joey Moro, and lighting designer Joe Doran.
Performances of Movies TV Mayhem are held Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $25, and tickets and additional information can be found at theatrerow.org.
