UW Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department

The KCACTF Festival is over, and we’re back at school, though classes don’t begin until next Tuesday. Time to revise syllabi for the Spring, get plans together, work on the book (the full draft is due Feb 1st), and get rolling on “Sweeney Todd.” Some in progress paint elevations on the drafting table:

Steve, our TD, started the shop up this week in order to get a jump on things and tells me he’ll have a major wall ready for me to start painting today. . . huzzah? Oh, did I mention I need to get some drawings for “Midsummer’s Night” going and there’s a stack of Audit and Review reports I need to read?

Activity continues on the department’s production of “Radium Girls.” New things this week include the beginning of the light hang. The lighting is being designed by student Joe Berman, and TA Quinn is the ME on this show. Here is Quinn looking at Joe’s plot:

Intro to Theatre students Brent, Dustin, and Jane hang the first light on the second electric:

Then a bit later, after more of the position has been hung, and Jane consults the plot:

In the shop, base painting furniture pieces continues:

Tomorrow, we’re going to start in on painting the deck.

More progress on “Three Excellent Cows!”

I finished the barn floor tiles today:

While much priming occurred elsewhere. Here’s Intro student Julia working on the rail fence:

And then joining Austin to prime the picket fence :

Here’s Intro student Alex cutting boards for the crate in which the frozen yogurt machine is delivered (I’ve forgotten the name of the student working with him. Darn all these new names and faces to remember every year!):

In the Barnett, student lighting designer Quinn focuses his area light:

Tech director Steve Chene works on the the vegetable stand, which is covered with parts of “I Hate Hamlet:”

While TA Bruce completes the election speech lectern for Mrs. Crumpley:

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:

“I Hate Hamlet” is in the shop! Here are Austin and Lilliana working with an Intro to Theatre student on the table saw.

I spent some time in the theatre painting the deck. I laid down a base color yesterday afternoon. . .

. . . and today laid in some grainy texture. The scenic painter for Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s “Boeing Boeing” mixed a certain amount of acrylic sealant into the paint for that wood floor; it imparted a nice depth as each layer went down. I’m trying that on this floor. So far, so good.

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.

We’re days away from the first tech of “The Furies” here at the UW-Whitewater. Actually, we have dry tech this afternoon, and first tech Thursday evening. We’re in pretty decent shape, I think.

Yesterday afternoon the shard curtains, now complete, were moved into position. . .

. . . and here’s Intro student Kim way upstage there working on the short traveller track for the curtains that close off the upstage space. . .

. . . and then an action shot of TA Thad and Intro student Mason tying blacks onto the traveller.

The Navelstone platform proved a bit on the large side, we we ended up trimming it down and adding some extra platforming way upstage to allow for better movement and storage. Here’s Kim again, with TA Bruce and Braden working on that:

Meanwhile, I was in the shop working on the 15 foot tall Athena:

We have a production meeting for this summer’s “Arrangement for Murder, No. 2” so here’s an image of the set as it currently stands. The director likes it, though I haven’t yet passed it by our technical director (though I don’t see any issues from his end), and I do still need to put in the overhead lighting fixture.

Here are pictures from yesterday’s work on “The Furies.” First, the hanging of the shards continues. getting started:

And moving along:

Here’s TA Thad working on the rolling stairs which will enable to jurors to get up to their platforms:

And Intro to Tech students Teresa and Josiah painting some scrim scraps black to help mask the lighting instruments (audience blinders) tucked underneath the platforming:

Athena’s been cut out, and waits to be framed. There will be a doorway through her lower half, covered with fabric (her skirts), through which the actor playing Athena will emerge.

I finally got the danged snake onto the Navelstone:

And got it painted. Done.

Updates on the UW-Whitewater’s upcoming production of “The Furies.” Here’s the stage in the Barnett. The platforming is all in place, though there is facing and stone paintwork to be done. The lights are hung and waiting to be circuited, and all the shard curtains strings have been tied to eyehooks on battens and will start getting their shards today.

Speaking of shard curtains, here’s Braden tying those pieces of twine to the eyehooks. . .

. . . and Mason and Bruce doing a little untangling. We decided that each string will be loaded with the proper number of shards, tied off at the bottom, and the placement for each shard measured from the top, raising the batten as we progress. The tedium continues. . .

This is a picture of the path that Clytemnestra takes around the stage, pushed on her wagon. I will be somehow incorporating this path into the stone work.

The navelstone is, well, sort of done. The leaves have been attached and painted.

Here’s the rolling base for the navelstone, with steps for Hermes.

I say sort of because the snake has to be completed and attached. I discovered that my approach of wrapping ethafoam in muslin will not work — it’s just not flexible enough. I have asked our costume shop supervisor if she’ll sew me a very long tube, which I will then fill with. . . something cheap and available.

Here’s props manager Allson working on arrow ends for Apollo’s quiver:

Finally, work has begun on our giant Athena. Makenzie, Jennifer, and Bruce projected and traced the image, and are here seen to begin cleaning up their tracing, straightening and smoothing lines before it gets cut out.

Continuing work on the upcoming UW-Whitewater production of “The Furies”!

First, a visit to the costume shop, where we find the masks of the Furies themselves. . .

. . . and student Amy (who is also a nationally ranked champion swimmer!) working on the noise rattling juju bracelets. . .

. . . while up in the Barnett, light hang begins. Here’s TD Steve Chene working with two students from the Intro to Tech class (Josiah, and it looks like Shelby standing behind him) on the cyc electric. Student Logan Bydalek is designing the lighting for the show.

Here’s Steve in the shop working with TA Quinn and Intro student Joe on the short flight of stairs that will be set into the navelstone, allowing Hermes to ascend and pour water over Orestes.

Elsewhere in the shop, Logan works with Intro students Brandon and Joe on running some facing through the table saw.

In the hallway, Intro students Jennifer and Teresa cut the lengths of twine that will be used to string up the shards.

I continued work on the navelstone. Here’s the front half of the snake that twines around the stone. . .

. . . and went ahead and painted the stone itself. . .

. . . . only to realize I hadn’t put the leaves around the base. Looks like I will be doing some repainting today!

And while all this is going on, I’m also working on the set for the summer production of “Arrangement for Murder, No. 2.” Here’s where I am with the Sketchup model, after our production meeting conversation the other day: