UW Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department

Work continues on the upcoming UW-Whitewater production of “The Tender Land.” Here’s an update on yesterday’s activities.

In the scene shop, students build benches. . .

. . . paint the floorboards of the shed’s porch (there’s a section of the primed groundrow over to the left, there). . .

. . . build a period looking screen door. . .

. . . and install the downstage two portal flats.

Here are the two flats from the back of the house:

Meanwhile, my project is moving onto the next two portal flats:

And when I return to my office, there are some lovely sunset-y clouds going on outside my window.

In the graphics seminar this year, the first sizeable project is to draft a groundplan for “True West.” Since we’re still focusing on the mechanics of drafting (we’ll do some designing in the last third of the semester) they need things to draft. To that end, yesterday morning was spent working up a quick design for “True West” that’s detailed enough they can figure it out, but includes enough places where they’ll have to make some decisions as they draft.

. . . and the second one, also nearing completion.

This afternoon I will add the clouds and then these two flats can go up.

Work continues on the upcoming UW Whitewater production of “The Tender Land.” Here we have Technical Director Steve Chene explaining to Shelby and TA Quinn how to lay out the upper framing of the house. . .

. . . and then a little while later when they are joined by Eric and start working through the angle.

In the shop, two of the Intro students are cutting out and assembling the groundrow. . .

. . . while my afternoon project entails painting the downstage most two portal flats. Here they are earlier as I rough in the base colors. . .

. . . and then a bit later as I begin to work in detail.

Yesterday’s happenings around the upcoming UW-Whitewater’s production of “The Tender Land.”

My project for the afternoon was to begin the transfer of the images from the paint elevations to the actual flats, blowing them up from 1/2″ scale to, well, real scale.

Stage left. . .

. . . and stage right.

In the shop, we’ve got TD Steve Chene working with TA Quinn on the shed door. . .

. . . Intro student Lilliana picking up freshly primed porch planks . . .

. . . TA Logan showing Intro student Shelby which staples she should load into the pneumatic stapler. . .

. . . and then Logan and Shelby a bit later, figuring out the facing for the upstage walk way.

That evening, rehearsal featured a stumble-through of the blocked sections of the play, primarily so the lighting designer (who is also Steve, our TD) could get a better sense of flow. I’ll be using his plot later this week for the lighting portion of the Intro to Tech class. Here’s Jim Butchart, the director, doing some directing from the back of the house.

We had just gotten to the start of the second act, and pretty much the entire cast is on stage for the party and dinner scene.

Finally, our stage management team for this production. Alison, Colton, and Emily.

Some shop photos as we continue the build on the UW Whitewater’s upcoming production of Copland’s opera “The Tender Land.”

Here we have Kim and Brian lifting a flat frame off saw horses in order to move it down to the next step in the process, which is covering it with muslin. Since the flats are eighteen (or thereabouts) feet tall, we’ve taken stock flats and scabbed them together to get to the requisite height.

And here is that next step — Braden and Teresa stapling muslin onto a frame.

Meanwhile, in the Barnett, Brandon and Josiah lay out the planking of the house’s porch. After they lay it out, they’ll pop it all off so it can be painted in the shop, after which it will be reinstalled.

Down in the costume shop, TA Leanne demonstrates something involving ironing and spray starch to Intro to Tech student Mason. . .

. . . while Jennifer and Bridget join shop supervisor and costume designer Tracey Lyons doing some stitching and some seam ripping..

It’s not all construction and building, though, as Liliana and Brianne work on homework (presumably) in the department green room.

Finally, Sarah Altermatt, who handles publicity and publications for the department, asked to use some of the groundrow imagery for the production poster. Here it is, hanging on director Jim Butchart’s office door. The image withstood enlargement quite nicely.

The scene shop is not the only place activity is ramping up for the upcoming UW-Whitewater production of “The Tender Land.” Here’s Bridget and Josiah working on costumes in the costume shop, under the supervision of costume designer and shop supervisor Tracey Lyons. Looks like they’ve laid out a pattern and are cutting things out.

We also had a production meeting today, and here’s music director Bob Gehrenbeck discussing music issues while student stage manager Alison takes notes.

The students in the Introduction to Theatrical Design presented their final projects (lighting design) this morning. Lots of good work. Most of them found themselves surprised they actually rather were getting into lighting. One of the senior acting students even said that he wanted to do more lighting!

Since we only have five weeks on lighting in the course, we focus on the start of the design process — from script analysis up to magic sheets and purpose lists.

(yes, she knows she misspelled “Rashomon.” And yes, she was suitably embarrassed. . . )

And despite it being finals week, work continues on the Spring productions. Here’s a thumbnail of “The Furies,” with Athena. . .

. . . and where we’re leaving off on construction for “The Tender Land” as we head off to break. The floor is painted, the platforms are in place.

Some production photos from the UW-Whitewater student matinee of “Clybourne Park.” Scenic design by guest artist Keith Pitts, costume design by faculty member Tracey Lyons, lighting design by student Logan Bydalek, stage management by student Allison Lozar, directed by faculty member Jim Butchart.

Preset.

Act One.

Act Two.

Final moments.

Final tableau.

A few photos from tech rehearsals last week. . .

Some last minute work on the removeable kitchen door.

Director Jim Butchart waiting for things to get rolling.

And our crack team of student board operators ready to leap into action.

Work continues on the UW-Whitewater’s production of “Clybourne Park.”

I went into the shop a little early today to rip down the masonite sheets that I had painted with the various tile colors. Here is the stack of bathroom tiles, waiting for installation, with the pink subway tile flats behind them.

And then, here is Liliana tacking them in:

The kitchen tiles, stacked and waiting. . .

The view up the staircase. . .

And good heavens, is there a lot of trim and molding in this show.

The set as it looked yesterday afternoon.

And then, one of my projects this afternoon was to finish the fireplace. Unfortunately, due to some measurement issues, I ran out of tiles and have to paint some more.