UW Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department

The brick never ends. Here’s Anna, working on the arches. Since her independent study is on scenic painting, I co-opted our usual class session to have her work on the brick for “Dracula.” But that’s okay, since we’re actually at the point in the syllabus where we’re talking about brick.

And here’s Kenneth and student lighting designer Jayson covering the sarcophagus lid with cheesecloth in preparation for painting. Jayson’s head of schedule on focusing, so the lighting crew was moved into the scene shop for the day.

Yesterday afternoon, a push toward getting all the brick done on the arches; we’ll be finishing these up today, hopefully, the ones that go over the study can go up today.

And then earlier this morning, trying to figure out how to lay out the bedspread using the bits and bobs of greyscale printed fabric I was able to buy on sale at Jo-anne’s fabric. No matter what you do, fabric costs too much, is never a normal size, and you always end up six inches too short. Thank heavens I can call on someone like Tracey Lyons, our costume shop supervisor, to help me figure out how to make this work.

Yesterday’s images, as we continue to work on “Dracula” with deadlines approaching. . .

. . . finishing up the wallpaper for the study. . .

. . . and into the theatre so they can go up. There will be cornice, there will be baseboard, there will be wainscotting. . .

. . . here’s Elizabeth and Molly, two of the Intro to Theatre students, gluing ethafoam trim onto an overhead arch. . .

. . . while propsmistress Cristine (right), and assistant Alyssa (left) work on stakes and crucifixes. . .

. . . and the flown arches get base painted for eventual brick texture (and the lighting crew passes through on some lighting errand). . .

. . . and finally, student lighting designer Jayson decides to get a jump on focussing two days early. Which may or may not be good thing — it’s great he’s ahead of the game, but on the other hand, once those flown arches go up he’ll have to retouch things.

Yesterday’s work on “Dracula.” Dry tech is, after all October 2nd. . .

Here’s TD Steve Chene ripping down styrofoam for the cornices. . .

. . . and students attaching the finished facing as the lighting crew looks on. . .

. . . and my final project of the day, working on the wallpaper for the study. Wainscoting will be attached to the bottom halves, and the last thing to do will be to add narrow dark strips on either side of the grey stripes this afternoon. Hopefully, these will then go up today.

Our final show of the Fall semester is “Anything to Declare,” a French sex farce that has two locales — the parlor of the Dupont household and the Zeze’s ‘artist’s’ garret. The added wrinkle is that this show must be able to travel, as it is our ACTF submission. Even if it’s not selected to participate in the festival in January, we have to assume it’s going and design/build accordingly. Right now, I’m exploring how to get some feminine curves into the set, and looking at the work of artist Paul Cignac for colors and textures. This is an image of the current Sketchup model I’ll be showing at this afternoon’s production meeting.

More “Dracula” construction. Here, shop TA Thad works on facing the inside of some of the arches.

. . . and some of the Intro students prime other arches. . .

. . . and TA Keri works with another student measuring and snapping out lines for what will becomes the study’s stenciled wall paper. . .

. . . and in the Hicklin, light hang commences, lead by student lighting designer Jayson Winslow. . .

and finally, my project for the afternoon, laying out the mortar lines on the platform facing.

This morning, before meeting with the director of “Dracula” to discuss the sarcophagus lid, working on “Jack and the Magic Beans.’ “Jack” is our touring children’s show which goes up pretty much immediately after “Dracula” closes. We’re going with a mix of Scandanavian folk art and Richard Scarry, all flat and portable and able to fit through an ordinary doorway.

Work continues on “Dracula”. . . .

Students Nick and Keri work on the sofa. The back two legs were cracked and needed to be replaced. The whole thing will be recovered with a greyscale fabric.

TD Steve Chene works with a student on creating the ‘broken’ surfaces of the flown arch pieces.

Student Anna works with some of the Intro to Theatre students cutting out items on the band saw. . .

. . .while two more Intro students cover the platform facing with a two color wet blend scumble which will eventually become a rough stone surface.

My project this afternoon was finishing the floor textures. There’s Nick working on the sarcophagus.

Finally, the furniture placed in approximate position for use in rehearsal tonight. It will all also be going grayscale.

Progress on the floor of “Dracula.”

One of the Intro to Theatre students base coats the platforms.

Laying out the wood flooring and one of the areas of stone. The door in back there is left over from classes andnot part of the set.

Glazing the center stone floor.

Drying the grey wash. The student upstage lays out the grid for the tile floor.

And yesterday’s stopping point at the end of shop. The wooden floors are sealed and done. The central stone floor is sealed and done. The upper stone floor needs shadow and a grey wash, and the tiles are in progress. I hope to finish all the floor work by the end of today’s shop hours.

Construction on “Dracula” gets into full swing. Above are some students from the Introduction to Theatre course (and assorted TAs) working on the suspended arches.

And a base coat on the deck. We will begin painting the floor tomorrow afternoon.