UW Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department

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.

The semester begins and the shops are now open. The students from Introduction to Theatre spend their lab time working in the shops on the department proudctions, so here, on day three of construction (under the supervision of TD Steve Chene), the platforms for “Dracula” are largely in place in the Hicklin Theatre. With the dance classes now taking place in the new dance studio, we’ve reclaimed the black box for academic year performance; “Dracula” is the first school year show in the Hicklin is quite some time.

Student lighting designer Sean Jensen and student stage manager Krissy Fisher getting ready to commence our first tech rehearsal of “Our Town” last night.

In the background, you can just about see student Joe Berman running the Foley table.

Snapping beans in the first act.

Looking at the moon.

The third act. In the graveyard.

As minimal as our production of Our Town will be, the shops are very quiet. We have, however, built some step boxes and the two trellises (and I’ve dug out all of our decent chairs and we’ve purchased two tables and two wooden ladders). Above are the trellises with their paint treatment.

Now that “The Drowsy Chaperone” has closed and been struck, attention now turns to “Our Town.” I’m finishing up the Sketchup Model of the Young Auditorium — there are a few architectural features I’m tracking down scale drawings for — after which I will start arranging furniture to give us some snapshots of the various set-ups. As mentioned before, we’re staying pretty traditional with the staging, though we will have live sound effects on a foley table off on the house left walkway.

A couple of photos from behind the tech table during today’s dress rehearsal. Lighting design by student Lexie Strullmyer, which is coming along. Set design by student Keenan Minogue, and yes, the plane will be done tomorrow; other than the plane, we’re in detail land at this point. Oh, and the cornice goes up tomorrow, too. Costumes by faculty member Tracey Lyons.

The second city flat, done. I then headed into cornice madness.

Students working on the umbrella cart. Or at least gathered around it.

Student propmaster Krissy Fisher cutting out clouds.

And those very same clouds getting primed.

Finally, student Mitch Van Dyke working on the wings of the biplane.

Today’s paint project, the second city flat. It’s almost done (and all those fire escapes just about killed me). Tomorrow, we begin tech rehearsals!