UW Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department

And our second show of the semester was “Devon’s Hurt.” We do one performance on campus, and then tour it to area schools. This one had a student lighting designer, Megan Grove, creating her first realized lighting design. Here is the show in the Barnett Theatre in preset:

And two scenes:

And two photos taken by the student stage manager Michelle at two of the schools they toured to:

That’s director Kymberly Mellen there in the foreground watching the set up.

It’s been a hectic semester so far, and I haven’t had much time to post pictures from our last two shows. In fact, on the first show of the semester, “Love, Loss, and What I Wore,” I didn’t get the set dressing done until the afternoon we opened, so I never managed to get photos of the complete set during a run (or production photos for that matter.).

Still, in the spirit of catching up, here’s a photo of the finished half inch scale model. . .

And the set under preset lighting as we wait for tech to begin. That’s the back of director Angela Ianonne there on the left.

This is from final dress, and Gingy talks about her Brownie uniform. You can see the unfinished dress drawings hanging in the alcove, there, as well as the empty shelf cubes. . .

But, the audiences enjoyed the show and we did get the whole shebang done for opening!

The semester has begun and so has construction on the first show of the season, “Love, Loss, and What I Wore.” First, a Sketchup rendering of the the set:

And now Intro to Theatre students and Shop Assistants legging platforms:

Two of the Intro students attaching masonite to the tops of some of the already legged platforms:

Abby, one of the shop assistants, building some of the small platforms:

And finally, shop assistant Megan working on some mirrored panels the shop has agreed to build for the marching band:

Our Summeround season hurtles forward, and we’ve already built, teched, and run our first offering, “Dear Ruth.” Here are a few photos from final tech:

First, the set under preset lights:

The moment when Miriam reveals that she’s been writing all those letters:

At night, the Judge chatting with Ruth and Bill:

When Ruth’s actual fiance breaksdown after being arrested for turn-style jumping:

A few weeks ago, we opened our final production of the season “Strong Poison.” Here are some photos from the final dress rehearsal:

And since we’re also in the final week of classes now heading toward exam week, here are the projects students in the scenic painting independent study seminar are working on:

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, as we finished construction on “Strong Poison” and moved into technical rehearsal. First, a few construction photos:

Two students spackling and sanding one of the bookcases:

A member of the prop team applying some tender love and care to one of the chairs:

A bunch of the shelving waiting to be painted:

The set itself, half painted and awaiting those book shelves to be installed:

The view from behind the tech table as we wait to get rolling at first tech the other night:

And finally, student SM Sami calling the show during tech:

Not only is construction of “Strong Poison” in full swing, light hang started on Friday!

Here’s student LD Alex, student ME Nick, (I’m not sure, but Abby might be an AME. . . forgive me if I’m not giving her proper credit) and two other students reviewing the plot:

Prepping units:

And teams finishing up the over stage part of the plot:

There’s also painting going on, which has been one of my projects:

Though here’s student Ryan working on some of the window frames, as well:

In the shop, all sorts of stuff is going on! Here TA Lilliana supervises pulling lumber for trim:

And here’s lumber being ripped down for the trim:

TA Megan seems very happy to explain a drawing to Katie (off-camera):

But is all business when explaining the table saw to two students who haven’t used it before:

Finally, tech director Ruth helps get the router set up for the creation of the trim:

Spring Break begins at the end of the day today, but the shop is still working on the set for “Strong Poison.”

Here’s a photo of students working on the platforming:

In the shop, tech assistant Katie explains how to use the jigsaw:

Two of the Intro to Tech students consider the layout of. . . something:

And a shot of the platforming from the booth:

Earlier in the week, here’s the prop team painting the divination board:

And Michelle working on her scenic painting project — a section of stone:

After “Street Scene,” the department went straight into “Dancescapes ’18” which had already opened and closes tomorrow night. Last week, I spent time in Milwaukee working with Theatre Gigante on their production of “Tarzan,” written by a Slovakian playwright they met on a recent trip. It opened on Friday and will play for two weekends at UW-Milwaukee’s Kenilworth space. Here are a few pics from the dress rehearsals.

Tarzan calls to his family from the tree:

Tarzan and Jane in their hut at the edge of the Savannah:

Tarzan confronts Mike the Hyena in the middle of the night:

Then, of course, construction has begun on the department’s final show of the season, “Strong Poison,” an adaptation of the Dorothy Sayers mystery novel of the same name. Lots of platforms, so today is about legging things up.

We opened “Street Scene” on Sunday. The past few weeks were very busy, and I did not manage to take much in the way of process photos. However, below are pictures from the final dress rehearsal on Friday. Of note are the student stage manager, student sound designer, student supertitle designer, and the fact that I had a student ALD helping me on the lighting (I did both scenery and lighting design on this one). It was directed by Kymberly Mellen, who is new to our department this year. Cast-wise, it’s the largest number of performers on the stage since I’ve been here at Whitewater, and a two story set added to the technical complexity. We made it to the finish line, though.

The top of the show, and how hot it is:

Mrs. Maurrant sings of her loniliness and how trapped she feels:

Mr. Easter tries to tempt Rose with Broadway:

“It’s a murder!”

Rose confronts her father after his capture:

And the cycle continues — how hot it is. . .