Westward Ho! Inspired by the rustic barn wood and concrete textures of Cincy Shakes' newly built theater, director Austin Tichenor chose to emphasize Shakespeare's nautical (and drinking) imagery by setting Twelfth Night in 1860s San Francisco during the gold rush era. Failed prospectors and wannabe cowboys rub elbows with mining barons in "Orsino's Place Saloon," a meeting place for the dichotomous class structures within the text. 

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Playing off those themes of duality, the design makes great use of contrasting textures: warm barn wood planking against cool Spanish tiles. Rough ropes against delicate wallpaper patterns. To serve all the various locations within the play, the space floats in an abstract world that can seamlessly transform from bar to wharf to estate garden without major scenic shuffling. Small set dressing details such as the custom yonic damask, vintage period photos of cowboy couples, and portraits of female cast members in male drag contemporize Shakespeare's queer overtones  by entrenching the saloon in an imagined historical context as San Francisco's (or Illyria's) "first ever gay bar."