UW Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department

It’s a rather light week in the shop. With the structure of the set accommodating both of the summer plays, it’s mainly just repainting things and installing some specialty items.

One side of the rotating flats will be used in the bar and gymnasium. Those were easy to paint, and here are the center panels, installed.

The other side is a sky filled with clouds. We painted those on Friday. I painted these two to solidify the technique I wanted to use:

Then it was Lilliana’s turn. It was her first time painting clouds:

Here’s Katie working on one of the fence sections, while Nathan’s in the back there, grinding something down:

Here are Nathan, Katie, and Alex installing one of the cloud panels this morning:

And then Katie supervising Alex and Nathan on trimming excess muslin from the center panels:

A bit later, Katie paints the base of the rebuilt bar table:

And here’s her to-do list from Friday:

And now we start in on converting the set to “Rounding Third.”

Here’s Alex recovering one of the flip panels:

And Nathan rebuilding the frame for one of the panels that didn’t quite survive strike in one piece:

Katie’s to-do list:

Lilliana mixes paint:

I repaint the deck:

Alex seals the deck:

Katie paints the flip panels sky blue:

Almost there! Final tech is tonight!

Here’s Lilliana reaching the home stretch on the painting:

While Shelby and Nathan insert the prison side into the rotating frame that the painting will share:

In the theatre, Quinn and Katie work on setting up the seats:

And Alex finishes giving the theatre floor a coat of gloss black:

Finally, since we’re all waiting for Lilliana to finish, everyone hangs out, watches, and cheers her on:

First tech for “Poe Xs Two” is here! Alex, the sound designer, getting things ready in the booth:

The stage, while waiting for things to get rolling:

In between acts, director Angela gives notes to Ethan, while Jon waits patiently at the light board.

Lilliana, expressing her feelings after an afternoon of working on wild swirls of fabric:

For me, it’s a slow day. I’ve finished twiddling with props, and am pretty much here to make sure that Lilliana is on track with her painting and to help out with any snags during dry tech.

Here’s Nathan focusing a light for lighting designer Quinn:

And then Quinn at the board writing cues while stage manager Abrya walks the stage for him:

In the shop, Lilliana forges ahead with all the swirling fabric in the painting. Daunting, but she’s tackling it well — especially for her first time trying to paint a bunch of swirling fabric.

We have dry tech for “Poe Xs 2” this afternoon. I took Thursday off, as the only painting left to do was the Renaissance painting that Lilliana was working on. Today we’ll tackle the fabric and final elements together. Here’s where she was on Wednesday morning:

Since she wasn’t in to work on it Wednesday morning, I went ahead and painted the paneling at the top and bottom the flat:

I also aged some paper for the “Black Cat” half of the show:

At the start of Wednesday morning, all four central flip panels were up:

Here’s Alex and Nathan trimming the excess muslin off one of the side panels:

And then Katie and Nathan installing the panel in its frame:

Other projects included finishing up the hanging and circuiting (since Quinn, the LD would start focus on Thursday):

And dismantling the risers in order to set them in their new arrangement. Nathan’s under there somewhere.

A quiet morning in the shop. Alex and Nathan continue hanging and circuiting. Here’s Nathan checking his music lists while following the plot:

And Alex contemplates some circuiting:

After a bit, it’s time to paint the stage perimeter with gloss black:

I continued working on the St. Mark’s lion flat. I plan to finish it after lunch.

The construction of the flippy panels is in full swing, and I’ve started painting the central set for the first half of “Poe Xs 2.” First though, here’s a pic of the deck, sealed:

And the facing, sealed:

Base color of the central panels:

Since the walls will have painted inset panels and tracery, one of my projects this morning was to create a stencil for the tracery:

And then shade in the appropriate sections so we have a guide once we move to the actual painting:

And here is the intrepid team assembling the framework for the panels. Summer TD Katie working with Nathan on one of the 4′ wide ones:

Lilliana and Nathan discussing a drawing. Or life. Perhaps Beyonce.

Alex enjoys using the drill press:

And of course, happy technicians make for a happy shop. . .

Work continues on “Animal Farm.” We’re reaching the end of hang and getting ready for focus, platforming is going into place, and I hope to begin carving the foam sloped areas later today!

Since the Hicklin is also used for acting classes, all of the rehearsal furniture usually lives there. Since it was time to put the risers in place, here are Intro students Jane and Michael in the midst of moving the rehearsal furniture into the Barnett Theatre.

And then later on, risers in place, with the lighting console brought down from the booth and set up for use during focus:

We’re trying out Jaxsan to texture the surface of the platforming to create a waterproof mud-like surface. I’ve coated a couple of planks to test it out:

And then, after the Jaxsan cured over the weekend, painted the samples:

Speaking of light hang, here’s student ME Emily (with lighting instrument on the left) and some of student electricians:

Here’s the platforming as it was on Friday afternoon at the end of shop:

And Intro student Aaron working on framing more platforming:

And our TD, Ruth, standing in the middle of the pond after more platforming was set in place Monday afternoon:

“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” has now come and gone. Yesterday, after the student matinee, the set was struck. Set design by Eric Appleton, Costume Design by Tracey Lyons, Lighting Design by guest David Gipson, Stage Manager student Emily Ottinger, Props by students Tori Martino and Stephanie Graf, Music Direction by Sheri VanAlstine, Directed by Guest Ken Williams.

Here are some pics from the final dress rehearsal:

Spell ‘syzygy’:

Leaf Coneybear spells “capybara”:

Giving away candy during the snack break:

Into the final round of words:

Barfee spells the final word:

It was a very nice beginning:

And since the door push and kick plates didn’t get installed until the following afternoon (though still before the first public performance), here’s the actual, completed set: