A few years ago I had the opportunity to design the set for a production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's 'Three Penny Opera' produced by Paul William's Chicago Opera Group. We had the usual budgetary and stage limitations to contend with. The set needed to be light and portable but edgy at the same time. I built a 10' crucifix that doubled as a clothes rack, a 10' gallows, a 10' long fence, a large shuddered window that opened and closed as well a door and door frame. But the most memorable pieces that I built were the a series of 8'x4' styrofoam panels based on pen and ink drawings by George Grosz, the German Expressionist, who was commenting on the material excess, greed, decadence, and debauchery that he perceived was so pervasive in undermining society at the time of the Wiemar Republic in the 1920's. The panels served as backdrops that were moved around on stage in various combinations. On their reverse sides they were painted as black brick walls which when lined up together were quite convincing.