UW Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department

As light hang for “Dancescapes” continues in the Barnett. . .

. . . construction of “Romeo and Juliet” is in full swing in the Hicklin. TD Steve Chene talks to students Eric, Quinn, Bruce, and Joe about putting washers on carriage bolts as the platforms are bolted together. Since rehearsals are in the black box theatre, it made the most sense to build in there so the actors (and director, and choreographer) have as much time as possible playing with the pivot units in their various configurations. When “Dancescapes” is over, the units will break apart and be rolled over to the Barnett.

Here’s a better view of the stage right unit, as TA Keri staples things.

Intro to Tech students Liz and Samantha work on measuring and cutting facing.

And now that the model has moved into rehearsal, I get to clean off my drafting table and use it for. . . well, “Muskie Love” and “Corpse” are coming up as our summer shows. Or perhaps I’ll just go back to piling my course materials on it.

My sad little model is complete enough to send off to rehearsal as soon as the glue dries. . .

Scenic design for “Romeo and Juliet” is finally done.

Now that “Into the Woods” is done and gone, our attention turns to “Romeo and Juliet” (while Dancescapes goes into tech this coming week). With two pivoting units, Angela (the director) has been eager to get more dimensional representation to help with blocking. My sad little model — in progress — is pictured above. It’s just enough to help her figure out what is where and what can be seen when which unit is turned which way. One of the challenges of teaching and designing is doing both at the same time — you can either catch up with grading papers and preparing coursework, or you can work on a model. And when you work on a model, you still have to get information to the TD so the set can be built. Which is why the model is just barely adequate.

On the other hand, here’s a picture much closer to what the set will look like, in Sketch-up. The pivoting units are already being framed up in the shop.

Tonight is final dress, so we’re hitting the last things on the list.

Here’s Anna doing touch ups on the facing.

Joe teaches Alison how to use the band saw.

Joe adds the little lavender crenelations.

Getting ready to tech the first act this afternoon, so we’re having a rare Saturday morning work call (and no, the cyc hasn’t been stretched yet. It will be).

Molly, Keri, and Alison get Cinderella’s mother’s tree covered in muslin.

Quinn, Thad, and a student unknown to me work on the Baker’s bakery shelf unit.

Here they are again, carrying some lumber past Jack’s fireplace.

The Baker’s oven.

Milky White, closer to completion. I failed at drawing her eye, so Anna, who grew up on a dairy farm will be adding that detail later.

And the giant’s wife’s hand is almost done. Need to reattach the strings and hit some drips and away it goes.

Work progresses, as we head into tech this weekend. Here’s propsmistress Keri painting the harp, complete with naked lady.

TA Logan and Intro to Tech student Colton put together the frame of the fireplace for Cinderella’s house.

My project this afternoon was painting the boughs — here are some in the early stages. . .

. . . and in a later stage.

Finally, a shot of the stage as we clean up at the end of the day.

Today’s pictures feature our TD, Steve Chene, working on the tree frames. Here is the first one, waiting on sawhorses while he cuts something for student Anastasia.

Here he and TA Thad work on the second frame.

And at the end of the day, we put the first one into position. It’s going to be a looooong week.

First, since we have rotating units that get used from all angles and they’ve already started blocking and fight choreography, I’ve started putting together some rough models Romeo and Juliet can have in rehearsal to better understand what that have to work with.

Then, in the shop, we’re starting in on trees and tree frames for Woods. We’re painting all the bits of the frames before assembly — which will make life much, much easier.

Since we’re going to eighteen feet on threes, we have to lengthen the sonotube elements. In the back, there, TA Keri works on covering the tubes with muslin in preparation for painting.

My project for the afternoon was working on the giant hand. The fingers will eventually be articulated, but I wanted them to at least get to work with it for size and weight over the weekend.

And here’s TA Anna lost in the forest. . .

Had a talk with the director of Romeo and Juliet, Angela Iannone, the other day, and made more progress on the two pivoting units. Some elements are placeholders — the scaffold will probably not be simply pipe, and the glass block is there to stand in for eventual translucent elements. But I think we’re close.

Now to build actual models of the units so folks like the fight choreographer can start seeing how these work in the space.