The Words of Ants

A play’s design is a container for movement—shaping everything from a character’s arc to the rippling social currents beneath each word. It translates vast flows of time and space into something legible for the audience, bending and curving with the action on stage.

In these speculative designs, David Forsee explores potential approaches to staging The Words of Ants by Xiaoyan Kang.

Tracing, Translating, Transcribing

Process is central to this design. Writing and lettering—key motifs throughout the play—may be echoed visually. Can we draw from these acts and reflect them in our own approach?

One method might involve tracing reference images into abstract forms—a shape language transcribed from reality. Stripped of their original context, these forms become open enough for the audience to project their own imaginations onto.

Translucency, Layering, and Gesture

To capture these abstract representations of shape, the environment might be composed primarily of flexible, translucent, and easily layered materials—such as scrim, gauze, translucent nylon, or even delicate washi paper.

These lightweight, cost-effective options open up rich possibilities for layering scenery, media, and lighting to breathtaking effect.

Lighting and Spatial Studies

To further explore these designs, we selected key moments from the play—a paddy field, a hospital ward, and a temple—and applied this potential process. These scenes were rendered as conceptual sketches that investigate how lighting, dramatic fabric gestures, and projection might interact.

THE WORDS OF ANTS