UW Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department

It’s hang and focus week on “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Student ME Dan is leading crews of the Intro to Theatre students on getting the show hung and circuited. A view from the booth:

Down on the deck, working on the 1A Electric:

Looking up into the Beams:

In the shop, work on the trees and props continues.

And we forge ahead with the painting of the backing flats:

“On the Verge” opened on Monday. I wasn’t able to get photos under stage lights this time around (will have to look forward to the photos that Sarah Altermatt, our publicity manager, took), but here’s a not blurry photo of the set under worklights with no tools, ladders, or students. . .

And the floor, from two angles:

The production freight train rumbles on. I drafted the light plot for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” since the hang starts on Monday.

And construction of “Sleepy Hollow” got rolling in the shop. Here’s TA Quinn working with two Intro to Theatre students, cutting out the surround for Ichabod’s blackboard (set design by student Lilliana Gonzalez):

Finally, I need to get the groundplan of “Public Enemy” finalized and distributed. In the midst of that this afternoon:

“On the Verge” opened last night, and here’s a slightly blurry photo of final cleaning and touching up on Monday afternoon:

Yesterday, I presented images of “Public Enemy” to guest director Mary MacDonald Kerr at our production meeting. Here’s a slightly revised version of the first scene of the play:

This afternoon, I’ve got “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” on the drafting table, working out the lighting design so I can get the plot turned in this week.

We’re in the last days of tech week, and finally catching up.

Here’s a view over the light board op and student lighting designer Quinn a few nights ago at one of the first techs:

And the view down the tech table, starting with student stage manager Allison and heading down through sound and projections.

A couple of finished prop shots. Nicky Paradise’s cardboard piano:

And Grover’s Masai based mask:

And finally, even though I hate the idea of the magic theatre elves, since we’re taking photos tonight, and our TD, Ruth, will be working on getting the projector permanently hung (ah, projections — there’s always misadventure where they’re involved), I came in in the morning to get the painting finished and hang more clocks. More clocks will go up Monday afternoon, but I wanted the set to look at least mostly finished so students can have photos for their portfolios and KCACTF presentations.

It’s been a bit hectic this past week, but here are some photos of our progress on “On the Verge.”

First, here’s Ruth, our new tech director, sorting through some cut luaun:

TA Dan, working on a flat frame:

TA Alex working with an Intro student on some platforming:

TA (and student lighting designer Quinn) working with an Intro student on the portal:

TA Bruce working with an Intro student on platforming, with TD Ruth sharpening a pencil there in the background:

A shot from the circuiting call:

Earlier last week as platforming started to go into place:

My work on the fake cardboard piano for Nicky’s Bar and Grill:

A coat of primer on the platforming:

TD Ruth explains something to TA Bruce as the projection portal goes up:

And tiny triumphas as my vintage Chiclets box dries in my office:

It’s been a little while since I last posted. Things have been hectic, as we have “On the Verge” in the shop, are deep in production meetings for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and have just started planning “Public Enemy.”

Here are a few shop pics from last week:

TA Lilliana works with an Intro student on laying out some of the cardboard decoration for the piano:

Some of the clocks, as well as the in-progress surfboard:

TA Quinn works with two Intro students on header pieces:

My progress on Grover’s Masai warrior mask:

And Intro student Andrew working on framing for the piano:

Last night was final dress of “Yankee Tavern.” Here are a few photos:

We’re heading into tech for Yankee Tavern later this week, and things are moving along. Our TD Steve and the students got the bar in place yesterday, so I spent this morning working on dressing it:

One of my activities yesterday was creating floral arrangements for the wake:

I never did get a picture of the finished “The Tangled Skirt” up last week, and now it’s closed and we’re in the middle of getting “Yankee Tavern” built. So here are two photos from “The Tangled Skirt’s” final dress rehearsal. First, the set in preset:

And then with actors Morgan Gorman and Ben Treinen on stage:

It’s a smaller shop crew during the summer, but even so, things are going swiftly, and today I painted a lot of walls and made a dent on the floor. The floor, with it’s base linear scumble:

And then with the first graining:

In the shop, TD Steve Chene and Mason work on the bar and the door:

And Emily reestablishes the mortar lines on our brick walls:

The Summeround shows are in full swing, and “The Tangled Skirt” will be heading into tech sooner rather than later. Steve and the summer shop crew have been working hard, and when I finished up my paint work on Monday, the wall were pretty much ready to go up after the floor dried.

Here’s Emily sealing the floor:

I went away for two days, and when I came in the morning, here’s what it looked like: