More progress on “I Hate Hamlet.” I think we are closer than we look. . .
Platforms have gone up:
Walls are getting painted:
The throne is built:
And my globe is getting closer:
Construction continues on our upcoming production of “I Hate Hamlet.” Of course, we’re also in the midst of the light hang, and here is TA Bruce leading students on hanging and circuiting the first electric:
In the shop, painting commences on various walls:
My side project is the creation of a Renaissance globe that is also a bar. The globe portion has dried, and here it is, cut into hemispheres. Yes, that it a beach ball used as a form.
And here is the stand, placed on stage for the evening’s rehearsal so actors can get a sense of its size:
At the end of the shop day, TD Steve Chene leads students in assembling, flipping over, and placing some of the platforming:
So, we’ve also got “Three Excellent Cows” heading into rehearsal. For today’s production meeting, I’m working up some prop drawings.
As we move into the first week of classes, I am finalizing designs for “I Hate Hamlet,” our first production of the year. This is a Sketchup rendering of the set. It’s sort of an Act One image, with the boxes and modern furniture, but trying to get the computer program to do drop cloths and sheets covering objects is more trouble than I’m prepared to attempt at this point. Just imagine a lot of white sheets covering things.
With classes starting in two weeks, it’s time to get “I Hate Hamlet” to a point where the shop can start figuring out how to build it. So while I’m updating syllabi and cleaning my office and worrying about the book, I’m also working up a Sketchup model of the set. . .
I swung by campus today to spend some time in the office on the upcoming production of “Boeing Boeing” at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. Here’s a start of thoughts on the drafting table:
The challenge of this show is going to be how to get anything over the stage — certainly we can hang things before scenic load in, but once the set is in place, there’s very little space for a lift to move around, except right down center. It will be interesting.
I also popped my head into the Hicklin to see how the set of “Suds” is going. It looks pretty done (and I’m told that student Alison Lozar did the lion’s share the paint work):
On my way in to Milwaukee yestderday, I stopped at the shop both to rummage for some unistrut hardware and to see how construction on “Suds’ was going. Our TD, Steve, and the students have made excellent progress.
Here’s Quinn working on the laundry tables:
And Alison continues painting everything pretty much single-handedly:
How things look from the booth:
And then, on to Kadish Park for Shakespeare in the Park. Bo and I spent about forty five minutes trying to figure out why the dimmers weren’t talking to the board. Turned out we needed the five pin to three pin adapter that was concealed in a compartment in the road case (even though the manual said the board could speak directly through 3 pin, and there were two three pin ports on the back of the board).
I then complained about the board in Facebook, and an old acquaintance at ETC said he had a personal Microvision in his garage that might still be working and he’d be willing to lend it to us. He’s going to check it out tonight, and who knows? Tomorrow we might have a Microvision and won’t have to run the show the old fashioned way. . .
And here’s a shot of the theatre at the end of the evening’s run, under a full moon.
Here’s the finished set for “Arrangement for Murder, No. 2:”
Next week, they’ll be striking that and loading in “Suds!”, which is under construction and being rehearsed in the Barnett.
Allison Lozar is doing pretty much all the paint work this summer. Here she is, walking across the shop.
I think that’s Bruce, over there to the side.
While I went off on a brief vacation, TD Steve Chene and the students have been hard at work getting the Summeround shows built.
First, reminders of the designs:
This is for my murder thriller, “Arrangement for Murder, No.2:”
And this is the musical “Suds:”
Both are in the Hicklin, our black box theatre.
Here’s “Arrangement” nearing completion:
The brick wall things are stand-in paintings.
Here’s Allison, props manager, gluing down pieces of art:
In the shop, TAs Quinn and Bruce work on the walls for “Suds.”
I’m told that Allison spent most of yesterday cutting out bubbles. . .
As we head into first tech for “The Furies” tonight, here’s a look back at some of what happened yesterday in shop!
First, Here’s TA Joe putting wheels on Athena. . .
. . . who looked like this at the start of shop:
. . . and this at the end of shop:
I also started laying out the mortar work on the stage floor. The snake-like route is the path Clytemenstra follows.
And a picture of the stage as a whole, with TD Steve Chene working with some students on the cover for the stairway to the underworld.
