Pass Over is a musical inspired by Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and a response to real life events involving racism and justice in America. This script follows the conversation and events of two protagonists, Moses and Kitch, as they try to pass time and dream of a politically just world.
One challenging part about this text, which for me is a first time experience, are the slangs that are used. It was difficult to read the dialogues as the two main characters, described in the story, were from the ghetto, hence most of what they spoke featured words shortened or fused together. I'on for example, means "I don't."
Another challenge to work with was the fact that Nwandu gave three settings and times-- each very distinct from one another. Considering she also listed descriptive designs for each of the characters, I thought it would be more appropriate to choose the current/modern setting. This is not just because contemporary designs are listed, but also due to the kind of language that was used in the script, the contents that were spoken about, and the hierarchical tensions between the characters. However, I did not completely overlook the two other settings and times, I decided to dive into them and see if I can pull anything from the narratives that they offered.
Moses and Kitch have simple and comfortable but worn attire in terms of silhouette and texture. Moses is also the prophesied leader of God's chosen people, so instead of jeans that are more casual for Kitch, he is wearing a shirt and more presentable pants. Kitch on the other hand, being more carefree and less serious, is in a casual tank top, loose jeans and second-hand timberlands. Baseball caps are incorporated as per Nwandu's description.
The character Mister as mentioned by Nwandu, has a light colored suit. I decided to go with yellow as it is a color of innocence and purity, two words that resemble Mister in the first half of his appearance. At the end of the narrative he emerges as a completely opposite person, the villain; the yellow resembles his cover-up to trick Moses and Kitch into believing someone he is not. A dark baseball cap covers his eyes, and shiny and new shoes allude to his status and position as a white male in the ghettos streets of America. His shirt is untied on the inside, less formal to show his carelessness to the setting he is in and possibly the people he is around. Carelessness exemplified through unbuttoned, untied articles of clothing can also be tied to thinking one is in a higher position of power; Mister in the 13th century BCE time is the Pharaoh's son.
Finally, we have Ossifer, who is the police officer, a representation of the law in this play. Since the silhouette and overall design of a police officer is pretty standard, I decided to look at some pictures of operating police officers in America and the details of their uniforms. I focused on color, shade, and the accessories that they had around the belt and in general. I also looked at police status and decided to put Ossifer in a button-up shirt uniform instead of a jacket. This is due to him a soldier in Pharoh's army but not a general or someone with a distinguishable title. I believe from what I saw, those with titles are in heavier jackets and more militarian like clothing.
The yellow highlights on his shirt are taken from the exact shade of Mister's since there is an allyship between the two, and a speaker/radio mic is attached with a gun at his waist, and a baton in his hands (as per the script). Nwandu also mentioned him having mirrored aviator sunglasses, but I decided to leave this out as it would make the character too casual and cocky, and difficult to function while using his baton at the end.
For illustration and artistic purposes I decided to add shadows to each character, given that it is night time and they are standing in the ghetto streets under a lamppost. I've been wanting to add shadows for artistic illustration purposes for a while and finally came across the opportunity to do it.
A Procreate (V 5.3) tool that I explored in this design process is called the Clipping Mask. The Clipping Mask functions as a layering technique that helps with coloring strictly inside the boundaries of the base mask. "When you activate a Clipping Mask, it clips your active layer to the layer underneath it. The visibility of the clipped layer controls the contents and transparency of the parent layer below. If the selected layer is the bottom layer in your Layers panel, the Clipping Mask option is not available. (Mask)"
Works Cited
“Mask.” Procreate Help, help.procreate.com/procreate/handbook/layers/layers-mask#k852wwjz2x3. Accessed 14 Dec. 2023.
Furthur Resources:
Antoinette Nwandu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoinette_Nwandu
Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu Pass Over Speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdgYoQzn5B0
The First Play Returning to Broadway is Doing Things Differently. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/podcasts/pass-over-antoinette-chinonyenwandu-broadway.html
What is Pass Over? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gsc9kkYHn4
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