Written by Arthur Miller, The Archbishop's Ceiling, was produced at the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York in 1994.
It was directed by Jonathan Bolt, a regular faculty member there, with guest designers Michael Lasswell for scenery, and myself for lighting.
The play concerned a group of writers in an oppressively censoring country behind the Iron Curtain, who want to believe in their work, but know that if they portrayed the evils of their government accurately, they would be punished severely.
The title derives from the fact that the play is set in an office that was built for an archbishop, with an impressively ornate rococo ceiling which may or may not conceal a bugging device.
Everything that goes on within the room is potentially being monitored by the government, making every conversation into a show of good citizenship for the benefit of the listeners. This creates a kind of play-within-a-play structure.
The production ran for three weeks, as part of the Academy's Season of Plays for Third Year Actors.