Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538080
3 4 P E R S P E C T I V E J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 2 5 The design of The Rehearsal highlights the joy and wonder of life through the details. The show's overall theme is about experience and connection. It aims to provide a place for real people to come to rehearse unseen aspects of their lives. In the Art Department, we provide the immersive backdrop for this rehearsal. I started my collaboration with Nathan Fielder over a decade ago on his Comedy Central show, Nathan for You. I really admire the way he thinks. He is a magician, both literally and figuratively. With The Rehearsal, the role of the design is a mechanism for his world of wonder. Often there's an unassuming door that opens to a carefully crafted world with painstakingly curated details for a real person to interact with. The comedy comes from the details, the "Why would anybody do this?" kind of details. The surprise and confused delight seen on subjects' faces is where the joy, wonder and magic are. I've spent my career working mostly in alternative comedy for television. Working on set can often be stressful and it's easy to forget that the point is to bring joy to people. Art Director Ayaka Ohwaki and I wanted to make sure we kept this goal in focus for our art team on this show. In the beginning of this second season, I asked Nathan if there were any rules the Art Department should follow and he wasn't sure how to answer the question, so he quickly wrote down five points on a Post-It note. I think he meant it as a joke, but we ended up taking these "rules" seriously. We made them into posters and gave them to everyone in the office. A d v e n t u r e s i n ' E x a c t M o d e ' T H E R E H E A R S A L B Y R O S I E S A N D E R S , P R O D U C T I O N D E S I G N E R A