UW Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department

Lots happening on Friday afternoon! The platforms for “Public Enemy” are in place, and primed. Light hang (LD is guest designer Aime Hanyzewski, and our ME is student Quinn Bauer) over the stage was pretty much wrapped up. Here is the lighting crew finishing up one of the over-apron trusses:

In the shop, student sound designer Emily Ottinger worked with Intro student Alexa to finish the Foley door to produce all the front door opening and closing through the play:

Here are Jordan and Jordan installing one of the escape steps on stage:

My afternoon project was to get the three flown paintings rolling:

I hope to finish those this afternoon and turn them over to the TD. Finally, over the weekend, I found better chairs for the Stockman’s living room.

We’re getting closer to the hang for “Public Enemy” (directed by guest director Mary MacDonald Kerr, with guest lighting designer Aimee Hanyzewski), and the platforming is getting moved into place. Last night, we had a designer run of the show, so it was important to give the actors the final platform positions.

I believe this is TA Katie working with one of the Intro to Theatre students on attaching masonite to the next to last platform:

And view of the work from the house:

Then it’s back to the office for me, and finishing up the elevation of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

Now that “Public Enemy” is in the shop (with platforming getting built on stage at this very moment), I’ve been working away on “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” which is the musical slated for February. After meeting with the director this past weekend, we firmed up scenic decisions and are going with this:

That means I get to work up the groundplan this afternoon!

“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.

Now that “On the Verge” is virtually open, we move onto the other shows, which are already in progress. Last time, we talked about colors, movement, I rethought cyc versus black traveller, we settled on a period that felt like 1930ish. . . So here’s a new version of “Public Enemy” in preparation for this afternoon’s production meeting:

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:

It’s the first week of classes, and we’re off and running! Our new technical director, Ruth Conrad-Proulx, is getting the shop up and running so we can start building “On the Verge” next week. Here’s the final rendering:

Angela Ianonne, the director, has asked that all of the larger props have a hand-crafted ‘proppy’ look to them — as though everything was made out of lightly decorated cardboard. Here’s a sketch for Grover’s mask, based on a contemporary Masai mask:

And, since “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is our second show, we’re forging ahead with that as well. Student scenic designer Lilliana has been working on her drawings over the summer, and since we had no one to slot into the lighting design position, I’m going ahead with that. Here’s the start of some lighting sketches: