Set designer Peter Harrison says, The scenic design for Wakonda's Dream approaches the piece on several levels to reflect the psychological and spiritual realities which co-exist musically and in the libretto. The unmoored world of Justin and his family is a floating raked earthen plain, littered with the detritus of contemporary Native American existence - nature that has been drained of the life and fertility it once held for native people - and filled with the trash of civilization: a broken motorcycle, old tires, crates, abandoned rusty oil drum, etc. He continues, The plain is also, on another level, the place where past ancestors have seen the Spirit of the earth, danced their shaman dances, and buried their dead to find a peace the modern world begrudges them. When Sonny or Arlington are on stage, I want them to stand out apart from the dancers, while the Labelles seem like they are more at peace while on stage.