UW Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department

“Toil and Trouble” is up and running, and now our attention turns more fully to “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” our touring theatre for young audiences production. This one also has a student set designer, student lighting designer, student sound designer, student props team, and student stage management.

A pic of the general shop activity earlier today:

Scenic designer Nathan has made a template for his painted trim and starts to lay it out on his flats:

In the shop, Katie works with Intro student Cherrita on building a step unit:

While more Intro students, Colin and Baylee, work on second step unit:

Miriam primes the big throne platform:

Props team member Kenneth works with Simon on creating golden coins:

And then back to Nathan as he fills in the diamonds at the bottom of his flats:

Final Dress rehearsals this weekend. Here are some photos from the run Saturday afternoon. On this production we have a student lighting designer, a student set designer, student props team, student stage manager, student sound designer, and since the director was out of town for a job, a student assistant director.

Top of the play. Adam and Matt banter their way through various schemes:

Beth reports from the ball game:

Beth and Matt steel themselves to stab Adam:

Adam returns as a ghost:

Scene at the tech table as we take ten:

We worked our way through half the show last night during first tech, and since lighting is more or less done with the stage (until notes later on), painting takes precedence.

Here student set designer Lilliana works with Intro student Escher on glazing planks:

Student lighting design has a confab with our TD, Ruth:

And student sound designer, Alex takes a breather.

Lilliana demonstrates her graining technique for the camera:

Finally, Escher glazes planking on the steps:

Forward! “Toil and Trouble” heads into tech next week, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” started rehearsal the other day, and I’m furiously drafting plates for “1959 Pink Thunderbird.”

Today in shop, student set designer Lilliana finalized her paint treatment samples for the floor:

So that I could paint the floor while she planned the sofa and the prop shelf that goes behind the sofa:

After I got the base colors in and grained it, she did some spattering:

At the same time, lights are being circuited:

And in the shop, Nathan works on the loooooong ramp:

The director (Angela Iannone) requested a larger coffee table, so here’s the improved version as the primer dries:

Then to round things out, one of the elevations for “1959 Pink Thunderbird,” on my drafting table, waiting for things like borders and a title block.

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:

Well, “Poe Times Two” went up and came down. Here are some photos from the final dress rehearsal. Not many of my photos turned out due to the low light levels and moving actors, but here are the ones that are pretty decent.

Adapted from Edgar Allen Poe by Greg Oliver Bodine. Directed by Angela Iannone, with Ethan Wakefield in The Cask of Amontillado and Nathan Broege in The Black Cat. Scenery by Eric Appleton, lighting by Quinn Bauer, costumes by Tracey Lyons, sound design by Alex Carey, stage managed by Abrya Scheeberg, and technical direction by Katie Gundlach.

Set up for Act One, under worklights:

The Cask of Amontillado:

Intermission, with The Black Cat set up:

The Black Cat:

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.