Scenic renderings for Disney’ s The Little Mermaid by Scenic Lucie Greene
A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR
The concept of an unseen world, just beyond my grasp, captivated me as a child. This“ other place” felt vibrant, expansive, and somehow aligned with my true self. I spent a considerable amount of time dwelling in that headspace, driven by a persistent sense of longing and a curiosity about what existed beyond the limits of my given world. While the possibilities could sometimes be daunting, this imagined realm mostly served as a compelling and alluring escape.
With The Little Mermaid, we return to Hans Christian Andersen’ s 1837 fairy tale with a focus on transformation, identity, and what it means to live between worlds. Ariel is, at her core, a threshold figure— someone caught between what she knows and what she longs for, between who she is and who she might become.
In our version of this world, the ocean is not just a setting— it’ s alive. Inspired by Andersen’ s imagery and the natural phenomenon of bioluminescence, the underwater world glows with shifting color and light that reveals inner life. Beneath the sea, everything is fluid, iridescent, and constantly in motion— a place where change is natural and identity is expansive.
That sense of a living environment is shaped by scenic designer Lucie Greene and lighting and projection designer S. Benjamin Farrar, who imagine the ocean as an ever-changing luminous landscape with organic and textural depths revealed as the story unfolds. Reflective surfaces, refracted patterns, and immersive lighting transform the stage and reflect the fears and dreams of the protagonists. Above the surface, the human world is more structured and grounded, like a hand-painted storybook with clearer rules and expectations.
Costume designer Jess Hellberg extends this vision, blending fantasy with futurism through textured fabrics that echo sea life and materials like crystal organza and liquid satin that catch and refract light like water.
Modern silhouettes balance fluidity
34 THE LITTLE MERMAID | theatrecr. org