Reviews

“Robert Mark Morgan's exceptional set turns Williams' French Quarter into an urban jungle of Spanish moss-like tendrils and wood slats, burning in the red glows of Joan Arhelger's moody lights and yielding tantalizing glimpses of Blanche luxuriating in the bathtub.”

- Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle about A Streetcar Named Desire at Marin Theatre Co

“In many ways, the star of this production is the set by Robert Mark Morgan, a wonder of dangling Spanish moss and multileveled rooms and staircases, all backed by swinging strips of muslin through which changing colors (and the occasional vision of a bathing Blanche) can be glimpsed.”

- David Templeton, Bohemian.com about A Streetcar Named Desire at Marin Theatre Co

“Rucker stages it all at an easy, rural lope in Morgan's sharply suggested ranch house, with a windmill and full moon rising above the roof peak and Lydia Tanji's worn rural costumes suggesting a Depression-era time frame. In a clever touch, the kitchen and foyer units slide apart to make way for File's lonely office…”

- Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle about The Rainmaker at A.C.T.

“Set designer Robert Mark Morgan has devised a brilliantly suggested ranch house with a windmill and a big full moon rising above the roof. The kitchen and foyer slide apart to make way for the Sheriff's office. Through Don Darnutzer's lighting and Jeff Mockus' sound the lighting, the rainstorm at the end is awesome.”

- Richard Connema, Talkin’ Broadway about The Rainmaker at A.C.T.

“What the production does have going for it is a slick, efficient set (by Robert Mark Morgan), effective costumes (by Lydia Tanji) and sharp lighting (by Don Darnutzer), all of which allow Rucker’s excellent cast to warm up the play to near-dramatic heights.”

- Chad Jones, Oakland Tribune about The Rainmaker at A.C.T.

“It's a very small place. Barnes stages the play in the Space Theatre, with a set by Robert Mark Morgan in which beds are made out of chairs and cots and walls are absent. The result is a home with eight people and no privacy, a pain felt particularly by a young girl in the first throes of adolescent sexuality.”

- Lisa Bornstein, Rocky Mountain News about Diary of Anne Frank at the Denver Center

“Robert Mark Morgan transformed the theatre in the round into a bare necessities hiding place for eight people. The set alone entices the heart to skip a beat even before the play begins.”

- Holly Bartges, Colorado Backstage about Diary of Anne Frank at the Denver Center

“But most impressive of all - and I say this without taking anything away from the cast - was the set designed by Robert Mark Morgan. Performed in-the-round in the DCPA’s Space Theater, Morgan’s cramped set pulls the audience into Anne’s claustrophobic world.”

- Daniel Brogan, 5280 magazine about Diary of Anne Frank at the Denver Center

“The set by Robert Mark Morgan is a marvel, especially in the second act, with junk hanging everywhere. It is amazing to watch the open spaces of the drawing room filling up with an accumulation of debris such as books, piles upon piles of old newspapers, a cello and a harp among other items. It is an imposing sight.”

- Richard Connema, Talkin’ Broadway about The Dazzle at A.C.T.

“Robert Mark Morgan's scenery was impressive—continuing a long line of wonderful stage design at ACT. Morgan's setting evoked the dilapidated farmhouse of the play through wooden beams and old furniture. Walls were eliminated so actors could move freely and so audiences could be privy to the play's private scenes: Jim's eavesdropping on the encounter between Hogan and Harder; Josie's misery when Jim doesn't keep their date. Overhead was suspended a patchwork of screens and paneling with diverse—and often delicate—designs that suggested the front of the farmhouse. It looked to have been cobbled together out of remnants of dozens of Connecticut farms; and consequently, it gestured toward the class distinctions at work in the feud between Harder and Hogan. At the same time, it hung directly overhead, suggesting the impending collapse of Hogan's hopes for Jim and his daughter. And this expressionism was complemented by the fencing that surrounded the stage—thin, jagged stakes held loosely together by old wire—which suggested the tattered psyche of Jim.”

- J. Chris Westgate, Eugene O’Neill Review about Moon for the Misbegotten at A.C.T.

“The chaotic atmosphere of Robert Mark Morgan's ramshackle barnyard of a set becomes a symbol of mental as well as physical decrepitude.”

- San Francisco Weekly about Moon for the Misbegotten at A.C.T.

“This is an aspect scenic designer Robert Mark Morgan brings out thoroughly in the Hogans' farmhouse, a rapturously ramshackle affair completely opened to the audience as well as to the turbid sky and dilapidated fence at the back of the stage. As evening descends, an enormous moon – itself a mixture of realistic detail and phantomlike presence – drifts in increments across the sky through smoky wisps of cloud.”

- Robert Avila, San Francisco Bay Guardian about Moon for the Misbegotten at A.C.T.

� “A wonderful rotating set shows the front of the quaint Parker house, its bay window, front door and stoop hung with snow (designed by Robert Mark Morgan). Behind it, the tops of houses and gables glow with lighted windows. And when wheeled 180 degrees around, it displays the inside of the house. In front of the bay window, the round-backed sofa, the Oriental rug, the old curved-edge radio all create a homey holiday feeling and awareness of days gone by. It works so well that the tone has more in common with It's a Wonderful Life than with A Christmas Story.”

- Marianne Messina, San Jose Metro about A Christmas Story at San Jose Rep

“John McCluggage's staging makes savvy use of Robert Mark Morgan's revolving set to maintain a cinematic flow. As Hiatt talks, Morgan's run-down, clapboard house rotates to reveal its period-perfect kitchen and living room…”

- Robert Hurwitt,� San Francisco Chronicle about A Christmas Story at San Jose Rep

“McCluggage’s savvy staging sweeps the audience through time and place in this extremely episodic play. The large turntable by scenic designer Robert Mark Morgan reveals ever-changing clever set pieces that suggest entire locales.”

- Tom W. Kelly, San Francisco Bay Times about A Christmas Story at San Jose Rep

“What's immediately noticeable about "Dinner" is one of the finest sets in the impressive portfolio of Robert Mark Morgan, well-known to Denver Center audiences for "Lobby Hero," "Bernice/Butterfly" and others. His elegant and evocative stage is framed by frames, a commentary on the fake faces we all don for one another.”

- John Moore, Denver Post about Dinner with Friends at Theatre Aspen

� “They discuss research and divulge secrets within the cozy desert dwelling — a lovely creation of set designer Robert Mark Morgan.”

- Emily Forbes, San Francisco Weekly about The Ice-Breaker at the Magic Theatre

“On a planned trashed set designed by Robert Mark Morgan, the dressing so well constructed, the set cries out the tone of the play from the beginning. There’s Lizzy’s bar with her name in red gaudy neon lights, the Jesus mannequin hanging on the cross, pieces of mannequins tossed around the tin trailer, and the Blood of the Lamp golf course entrance beckoning.”

- Holly Bartges, Colorado Backstage about Jesus Hates Me at Denver Center Theatre Co.

“The familiar yet funky authenticity of Robert Mark Morgan's multi-faceted set is filled with stellar images, from the Wal-Mart mannequin that has been transformed into a crucified Jesus on a latticework cross—marking the 17th hole; we're told the 18th hole is the Resurrection—to the impressively detailed Airstream.”

- Bob Bows, Variety Magazine about Jesus Hates Me at The Denver Center Theatre Co.

“With no curtain to encumber the view, the set of Jesus Hates Me is on display in the Ricketson Theatre from the moment the audience enters. A dilapidated, metal trailer home squats grimly stage left beneath a life-sized Jesus hanging out, so to speak, on a cross. The crucifix is actually the focal point of the 17th hole of the Blood of the Lamb miniature golf course owned and operated by the residents of the trailer, mother Annie (Kathleen McCall) and son Ethan (Justin Adams). A tin-roofed wooden shack adorned with classic RC and Pearl signs sits opposite the golf course/trailer park. Atop it buzzes the red neon sign for "Lizzy's" bar. Old-fashioned wooden telephone poles recede into the distance, an excellently executed illusion lending the rather shallow Ricketson stage significant depth.”

- Gary Zeidner, Boulder Weekly about Jesus Hates Me at Denver Center Theatre Co.

“Robert Mark Morgan's set design — which crams a rundown trailer, bits of the golf course and a dusty bar on stage — creates a compelling visual element to the production.”

- Mark Collins, Boulder Daily Camera about Jesus Hates Me at Denver Center Theatre.

“Robert Mark Morgan's versatile, evocative set crowds the proscenium of the Ricketson Theatre with humorous, articulate abandon.”

- Brad Weismann, Colorado Daily about Jesus Hates Me at the Denver Center Theatre

“Above all, there's a meticulously beautiful set by Robert Mark Morgan that makes the tiny Jones Theatre seem intimate rather than cramped; it gives the actors real freedom of movement. Every detail of the set coheres, from the glowing light sconces in the lobby to the dead leaves that have drifted to the edge of the sidewalk outside the apartment building.”

- Juliet Wittman, Denver Westword about Lobby Hero at the Denver Center Theatre Co.

“Set Designer Robert Mark Morgan and Lighting Designer Charles R. MacLeod deserve standing ovations of their own for the set they have created and the effect to which it is employed. Every brick in the wall, every sconce, every leaf lying in the gutter screams genuineness. The elevator doors open and close like real elevator doors rather than cheap scenery (heck, Star Trek couldn’t even manage that). Though there is no actual, physical demarcation between the lobby and the adjoining sidewalk and street, MacLeod’s lighting combined with the actors’ awareness makes you believe that there is a wall where there is not. Thus, Director David McClendon can take advantage of truly separate internal and external spaces, while allowing the audience to experience both without distraction. Before the first word of dialogue is spoken, you know you are in New York.”

- Gary Zeidner, Boulder Weekly about Lobby Hero at the Denver Center Theatre Co.

“The director remains faithful to the original setting of the play, in 1905, but lets the echoes reverberate from past to present and beyond (ingenious set by Robert Mark Morgan). By the final scene, when everyone huddles under a monstrosity of stainless steel and blinding light, a proto-futuristic jet fighter plane, it's clear ``Major Barbara'' has won the day.”

- Karen D’Souza, San Jose Mercury News about Major Barbara at San Jose Rep

“San Jose Repertory Theatre Artistic Director Timothy Near compounds the pleasure by making the play a visual as well as a verbal delight…Near and set designer Robert Mark Morgan set the scene with a nicely understated vision of luxury in the first act, a tastefully furnished drawing room with a long mahogany wall of arched alcoves. The last act shifts to Andrew's munitions factory, in a stunning depiction by Morgan and lighting designer Lap-Chi Chu.”

- Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle about Major Barbara at San Jose Rep

“Set designer Robert Mark Morgan creates elegant, stylized versions of an upper-class British library and a soot-streaked Salvation Army shelter. In Act 3, when we're in need of some excitement, we get it in the form of a scene change. The nicely appointed library disappears, and we're suddenly blinded by the bright lights of what turns out to be a fanciful warplane. The scene has shifted to Undershaft's munitions factory, where the stage is dominated by a plane that might have come from an H.G. Wells novel.”

- Chad Jones, Oakland Tribune about Major Barbara at San Jose Rep

“The Rep's production deploys all the theatrical elements in a grand scene change that bares these revelations. Stagehands in white safe suits conduct curtains to rise, ushering in small- and large-scale models of Undershaft's vision. Brassy intimidation from Gustav Holst's Mars captures the power of such a vision. As lights come up on a scale model of a planned community, Mars gives way to the soft-stringed Venus, perfectly imaging the play's themes. This brilliant collaboration by director Timothy Near, scenic designer Robert Mark Morgan, lighting designer Lap-Chi Chu and resident sound designer Jeff Mockus creates the multi-metaphored spectacle that good theater is all about.”

- Marianne Messina, San Jose Metro about Major Barbara at San Jose Rep

� “Inevitability is emphasized by Robert Mark Morgan’s subtle metaphor of a set.� It is a towering wall of white cubicles – some empty, some holding heirlooms, some hiding their contents behind translucent paper.� Whose memories are these?� Are the empty boxes moments lost or moments not yet made?� However it’s interpreted, the wall illuminates the piercing truth of The Subject Tonight is Love.”

- Mark Blankenship, Variety Magazine about The Subject Tonight is Love at the Alliance