Tartuffe was originally written and produced in 1660s France, and the costume designer and I chose to shift the time period slightly forward to the 1760s to avoid having to produce Baroque ornamentation in either scenery or costumes. That said, we did want to have the right silhouette and fabrics for the period costumes, so the set for Tartuffe was designed with efficiency and cost in mind so as to put as much money toward the costuming. The play does not require scenic changes, and I used the basic layout of 17th-century prospective scenery, though only a very slight amount of perspective was used in the series of decreasing-height wings stage right and left in front of the central backdrop. The wing flats were painted as if they were period wall panels, and a large window was added at upstage-center. The floor was marble with an inlay. Very simple furniture was used, including 4 chairs, a decor table and vase of flowers upstage, and a large, sturdy table downstage which was required for the action.