Scenic, Props, and Costume Designer
Neon Breeze
Takes place in a Cyberpunk future that has driven humanity into these massive underground cities. The story follows Tru Novak and Jordan Ashley, who are Nightflyers - burglars for the highest bidder - in the city of Multi Metro, as they make the drop for a score that could have them set for life.
Neon Breeze was a show written and directed by Kort Lindblad for Minnesota Fringe 2025 and was the winner of a Golden Lanyard for its “Rockstar Production Team,” which was pretty cool.
The Set Design
Step one of the process was Ideation
The world of Neon Breeze had a very stark feel to it. condensation would build up in these massive caves and cause it to rain. In the rafters of the city is where the low class citizens would live, where it was dark and cold most the time since the sunlamps were often out.
The subway system is the heart of the city, merging all walks of life no matter their class, so immediately I thought of the New York Subway from the 80s.
In the second rendition the door shifted to curtains, the bench gained casters with the intention of it being used as the platform bench as well. The overhanging bars evolved into a frame that included walls and advertisements, and the windows would now fold out as part of it.
The final design the three windows were brought down to one, the bench and the frame became one unit, the overhead bar was removed and vertical bars were added for script continuity.
After was the Sketching
The challenge of this part of the process was our venue details had not been released yet, which meant we did not know how much storage space we would nor how the stage would interact with the design.
I broke the subway down into two essential parts the seat and the door with the knowledge that I would have to transport it. I also added the window and advertisements to define the subway wall.
The first design consisted of two flats being used as the subway doors, a bench, overhanging bars with hand holds, and a pully system with three sets of windows to help define the back wall.
A quick white model
The purpose of the white model was to supplement the drafting process, so not super professional but time constraints you know. The main goal was to figure out how many sheets of plywood would be needed for the build, so I made two 4by8s in half inch scale and successfully managed construct the bench, walls and windows all out of the same two pieces. The rest would just be scrap that I had from my capstone project.
Now on to building
Step one for the bench was to cut and assemble the lumber, which was all done using just a jigsaw and a drill. Step two was to plaster the holes, add seats and poles, as well as paint it. The seats took the longest, having to carve out a seat shape using just a dremel and sandpaper.
After I painted the advertisements, sealed the seats, added casters and hung the window. In the case of the door, it was a pvc frame with silver fabric curtains and a wooden doorway. The curtains were a pain I had to MacGyver some curtain hooks with screws and sewed in ridged edges for where the doors met. The one part of the process that isn’t shown here is we then had the whole cast come over for a graffiti day.
The Results
The work had only just begun after I finished the set, I had to then disassemble and bring it to multiple dress rehearsals before loading in at the southern for tech. I needed to get my assembly time significantly under 10 minutes because that we the load in time we had allotted before each show, not to mention the repairs. And on top of all that I had costumes to get to.
But yes I did really like this build, and I feel like it turned out better than I was hoping. Also not mentioned in the process work is the station design, which was just a bench and a busking station. I also sketched those out but just didn’t include them here.
Costume Design
The Process…
was pretty straight forward, it went mood board, sketch, see what the actors could source for themselves, sketch again, and then build.
The challenges in this part of the process were holding true to the script and director vision as well as time, which really hindered my sketching process.
Cast:
Thomas Honeywell as Tru Novak
Lily Goebel as Jordan Ashley
Ryan Voss as S.R. and Evil Dan
Megan Smith as Paula DeJong
Kilat Fitzgerald as Cosmo
Tollef Currell as Sam
Cherelle-Renée Childs as Demo Demon
Gabrielle Johnson as Mr. Basilisk
The direction that our director wanted to go with Tru’s look was somewhere along the lines of 2D from the Gorillaz, it was also in the script that they had a silver leather jacket.
Tru was the more rugged of the pair, their job was to break into places through rather risky entry points high above the city streets. Their look needed to be of hardy materials, offering layers of protection from broken glass and the chill of the heights. I also felt that Tru, not having much, keeps memories on their person. Their jacket was definitely from someone important to them, their necklace from Jordan, and their patches are moments.
Tru Novak
Our MC, Tru, is the Runner of the crew. They do the dirty work of physically breaking into locations and retrieving the goods.
Tru’s look consisted of a T-shirt, Sweatshirt, Silver Jacket, cargo pants, combat boots, fingerless gloves, aviators, an arcade coin at the end of a chain, and solid black contact lenses. Unfortunately I have no pictures of them but let me tell you they were creepy.
While majority of the costume was easy, Thomas had the gloves and boots on hand, the pants were mine, the glasses were Gabby’s and for the necklace was an easy build. The shirt and especially the jacket were the bane of my existence. The shirt wasn’t terrible, there was just an actor request to make their costume lighter so I cut off the sweatshirt’s hood and sleeves and sewed them onto the shirt and jacket, they came loose like once.
The real issue was that damn jacket. I started by spray painting a black leather jacket silver, but it looked super tacky so I spatter painted some brown and grey washes to distress it a bit (shout out scenic paint class.) Then came the patches, the real problem, I quickly learned that glue didn’t work for this so what I ended up having to do was hand stitch the patches on. Not only did that wear my fingers to the bone (I mean you can see how many are on the back,) but every single rehearsal and show something would break and I’d have to sew three back on and have it ready the next day.
Mood Board
The vibe my director wanted for Jordan’s look was cool rocker girl, which I was like alright I can work with that, so went for a Hex Girls (Scooby Doo) and Scott Pilgrim vibe to her.
While initially I was wanting to go for an elegant punk look for her, the director resonated more with the images on the top middle and right. Jordan’s image shifted more towards a handy punk. Her clothes don’t sacrifice mobility, which was important since she would be doing some acrobatics. Her clothes are also rather hardy, with her jorts sporting a number of pockets.
Jordan Ashley
Jordan is the hacker of the pair, grew up in the orphanage with Tru since the beginning the two have been pulling heists together.
I’ll be honest I had the most fun with Jordan’s look, Lily our actress was responsible for the fishnet sleeves, tank top (hidden), the studded platforms, and all the jewelry. So all I needed to put together was the shirt, jorts, and socks, easy.
There was a bit of handmaking on my part for this costume, for the shirt I cropped and then extended it, extended the neckline, and most importantly painted the “AstroDemon” logo onto it, a video game that Jordan likes. For the Jorts, I dyed them black and then bleach painted on some bat silhouettes, also mentioned in the show.
While the building process was rather seamless, the sketching was a challenge, I had maybe seven different looks sketched out for her that I was altering pretty late in the process, but eventually we settled on the one to the left.
Mood Board
We went for a very Matrix inspired look for S.R. which went swimmingly.
I talked to Ryan a bit about S.R. and it seemed that this was actually one of his first drops he was receiving for the company. This meant that S.R. would’ve put a lot of attention into his look being both equally professional and intimidating, since this night would decide the future of his career.
S.R.
The first of our villains, S.R. is the one receiving the drop. A man that prides himself in how high he has climbed the ladder.
The look was largely supplied by Ryan our actor, he had the shirt, vest, pants, boots, tie, and purple tinted glasses (not show). All I needed to do was supply latex gloves and rent the leather over coat. I almost forgot to mention, while Tru had the solid black contacts, S.R. had red ones. Honestly more unsettling.
Mood Board
Initially Paula was going to be punk poser, but then we turned away from that into more of a flashy, fast fashion look.
Paula was dressed and ready to be going clubbing that night before she realized that a valuable of her’s was stolen. Transforming the night from just another night out, into a fun little manhunt for her and her friends.
Paula DeJong
Ancestor of the family that built the city, she uses her generational wealth to chase highs and wreaking havoc along the way.
Paula’s costume revolved largely around the director’s request for gold pants. The rest of her costume included the leather jacket, shirt, and boots.
The only hand making that I did on her costume was the painted shirt. This shirt might be my favorite thing that I made on the show. The director had requested a shirt with the Anarchy “A” on it for irony purposes, so I decided to take it a step further, and made it into a designer brand. In gold paint I painted a clean lined anarchy symbol and underneath “Eat the Rich” in all Sans Caps, which I was thinking would be the line of clothing that the brand was releasing. I just thought it was fun and ironic to have a designer clothing series called “Eat the Rich.”
Mood Board
Cosmo we were going for more of a Terminator style of look, leather and hardy pants, there also was a bit of inspiration from Jessie from Cyberpunk 2077.
Cosmo was really just along for the ride, Paula is his best friend and whatever she says goes.
Cosmo
Paula’s oldest friend, has stuck with her despite the fights and fake friends. He isn’t the brightest and is mainly just happy to be there with his pet snake Noodles.
Cosmo’s outfit consisted of a sleeveless leather jacket, a red patterned tank top, green striped jeans, boots, and a computer chip necklace.
There was a surprising amount of hand making for this, the necklace was out of an old computer chip and a window blind cord. The pants were bleach painted stripes and then dyed green. And for the jacket I cut the sleeves off, hemmed them by hand, and then painted the “Lords of Silver Heights” on the back.
Mood Board
For Sam we went full punk rock and just let the make up carry the cyberpunk look I gravitated the most to the bottom right on the mood board.
Sam like Cosmo was really just along for the ride, and spent most of the time with them way too high to function.
Sam
As far as fake friends go, Sam is one of the fakest. He’s just along for the high and the thrill of it, the only thing he really cares about is his band and he knows that Paula really can draw a crowd.
Sam’s outfit was a cropped sleeveless T reading “Dumpster Smut,” gray jeans, painted converse, studded choker and cuffs, and a sword frog.
Tollef actually supplied most of the pieces, the shoes, pants and shirt, and he painted the backpack as well. Which took a ton off of my plate! Otherwise the rest of his costume was easy. The sword frog I made from scrap leather I had leftover from a ren fair outfit that I stitched together, and the choker/cuffs were amazon, I just to added a tie to the back of the choker cause it was too tight.
Mood Board
The Vampires: Demo Demon, Mr. Basilisk, and Evil Dan
The Vampires are a dying street gang that uses implants in their mouths to collect and sell the blood of their victims. Led by Demon Demon (Right), and muscled by Mr. Basilisk (Top Left) and Evil Dan (Bottom Left). The Vampires play the role of Jordan and Tru’s get out of jail free card from Paula’s gang.
Demon Demon: Undershirt (+red acrylic), corset, sash, pants, checkered leggings, jacket (+spray paint), mask, boots and earrings.
Mr. Basilisk: Undershirt (+red acrylic), Jean Vest (+dyed and spray paint), pants, fishnet gloves, mask, and boots.
Evil Dan: Undershirt (+red acrylic), leather vest (+spray paint), pants, fishnet gloves, mask, and boots.
There was a lot to do with the vampires. On the back of each of their jackets I made a logo, cut out a stencil, and spraypainted it on the back. Their undershirts all had spatter painted red/brown blood stains. And their masks were standard face masks with a leather addition under the eyes that I added studs to.
Mood Board
Props and Gimmicks
The Briefcase
To make it I spray painted the case a flat grey, and then painted the metal parts silver. I then designed and manually cut out a logo from yellow vinyl along with the stripes, and then outlined them with sharpie. For the interior I used foam to carve out a pocket for the egg to sit as well as made a spot for the eye props to hide. Then I covered it in black leather, painted the exposed foam and then later sealed it with packing tape.
The Backpack
The backpack and oxygen mask were both a pretty simple make at least for me. The back pack was dyed and then I handed it off to Tollef to graffiti it. While the mask and tubing were supplied by our director I just had to spray paint parts a metallic gold.
The Eyes
While these next two pieces I did not play a part in, I did want to share them because they were fun gimmicks.
The eyes; solid reds and solid blacks as they are called in the show, were custom fitted contact lenses that we had made for Tru and SR.
The Sword
The Sword was inspired by a Katana from Cyberpunk 2077 that looked like those plastic safety knives. The director supplied the sword so all I had to do was score and paint the blade, which took multiple coats and lots of repainting.
The Snake
Millie played Noodles the Snake that doubled as Cosmo’s weapon, and did wonderfully. She was a pet that one of our director’s friends was wanting to put up for adoption, so of course after bows we’d briefly pitch Millie to the audience.