UW Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department

Now that “Dracula” has opened, the push to get Jack and the Magic Beans into the shop has begun. This is a quick sketch of the farmyard set up for the beginning and end of the first act.

I’ve given Steve (our TD) the first plate of drawings, and am now working up the Giant’s furniture to get to him tomorrow. Then I have to figure out the beanstalk. . .

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I also said I would have a groundplan for the first act of “Anything to Declare” on Friday (our December show); the colorful images (artwork is by French artist Paul Cignac) taped to the wall are part of preparations for that design.

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.

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.

Still working on “Dracula” details and figuring out fabric on Sketchup. Here’s an image with curtains! Which were mentioned in the script, but the director doesn’t want them after all.

Picking back up with “Jack and the Magic Beans,” the second show of our season at UW-Whitewater. This is our touring children’s show of the year, with only a single performance on our mainstage before we send it off to area grade schools. This means that the set has to fit into a small panel truck (12 feet long or so), fit through whatever doors the schools have, be able to be set up with relative ease and speed by the actors, as well as be flexible enough that the scenic elements can be shifted on site as needed to accomodate performance spaces of various sizes and limitations.

Back in the Spring our costume designer, Tracey Lyons, suggested a Nordic folk feel to things, so I’ve been researching Nordic folk art, from rosemaling to woodcrafts to quilt patterns, threw in a dose of Richard Scarry’s Busy Busy World, and come up with what I hope will be a colorful storybook environment with a Scandinavian feel.

Folding screens will frame the space and provide masking. Other scenic elements will be flat and foldable and easily shifted during full-view scenic changes. The second act takes place entirely within the giant’s castle, so scale becomes an issue where flatness and ‘folk’art’ perspective will help — think Colorforms. . .

Finished drafting “Much Ado” today and handed the drawings over to the director. It will be interesting to see how Stage Q puts this show together, since it’s probably the biggest show they’ve yet attempted (and that goes for costumes and lights as well. . .). Here’s wishing them luck.

Drafting up plates for the Stage Q production of “Much Ado About Nothing,” being produced this Fall in Madison. We have a production meeting tomorrow night, so I hope to have the whole thing drafted to hand off, since I will not be around to help them build it (since I’m designing all three shows this Fall for the UWW, and when this goes up, we will be hip deep in “Dracula.”) The trick, of course, is trying to design something that can be successfully built by volunteers, within the highly theorectical minimal budget, in the fuzzy time allotted. . .

The groundplan.

The elevation.

Platforming.

More platforming, with the bar and dj booth.

And finally — a few years ago we did “The Threepenny Opera” at UWW. I was hoping to snag this sign I painted for my office, but it was whisked away by persons unknown at strike. It suddenly showed up at the end of the semester this year. . .

Further work on Dracula for today’s production meeting. The study end is largely done, except for furniture and details like books and knickknacks. I’ve been work in earnest on the bed/crypt end; this picture shows a rough idea of the bed set up. The bedspread will be whisked away to reveal the sarcophagus, and the shelves on either side will rotate to reveal statuary. At this point, of course, I begin to worry if we have the time and the money for all this. . .

More “Dracula,” this time from the side. I’ve begun hanging the floating arches and working up the sarcophagus/bed end, which serves as both Mina’s bedroom and the crypt wherein the Count is discovered at the end of the play. The image is largely black and white, because we have decided to go with a black and white/greyscale look that recalls the old Universal films, though with the added touch that selected elements in each scene (props and costumes, mainly) will be scarlet.

Still working up the model ofr “Dracula” for the Fall. Here is the study end of things, with a fair amount of texture and detail. Still haven’t decided what goes into the arches. Now I need to deal with the bed/crypt end of the set. . .