The lobby display for Measure for Measure was designed to be an interactive installation to psychologically prime audiences to engage with the moral “gray areas” of the play. At the center were two politically charged and polarizing questions: “Should we always believe all women?” and “Is the death penalty ever justified?” Audience members were then asked to write the reasoning for their stance before placing it in jars marked YES and NO, respectively.

The goal of this exercise was to have the audience put a nuanced answer to these questions in writing, only to then place them in one of two available unuanced categories. In doing so, audiences began to think about the issues the questions are concerning in a manner similar to the characters they are about to see on stage. For example, would Isabella’s engaging in a quid pro quo to save her brother from the death penalty be worth betraying her vow to religious sisterhood? And if the person in power who offered the sexual exchange denied it, who should the public believe?

On either side of the center table were black and white images of women who have accused male politicians of sexual misconduct within the past 30 years with the corresponding crumpled front page of their “story.” These pictures and print-outs were placed behind the metal bars already present in the architecture of the space, with audience members having to actively look closer to understand who these women are between the bars.