UW Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department

I think I’ve finished working out the upstage line of platforms. . .

One of my winter break projects is to get all of Woods drafted and into Steve’s (our TD) hands so building can commence on day one of the semester. Even after figuring out the structure, there’re still all the other bits and bobs to lay out — like the houses. And the giant. And Milky White. With all the bracing under the platforming, I found it was much easier to just build it all in Sketchup rather than attempt to draft it, especially with all the angles and parts that overlap other parts.

Having gotten the framing structures and the platforming drafted, I’m working up the 3D model. Here are a number of the separate standing units. When I get them all drawn, I will assemble the whole thing like a bunch of tinkertoys.

Halfway through finals weeks, and taking a break from drafting “Into the Woods” to take some of that drafted information and begin the 3D model.

The last of the essays have been graded, and the Intro to Theatre final has been written. Back to the drafting table to start laying out the frames!

The finished groundplan, with the elevation hanging above on the bulletin board. Now, onto grading papers!

In between end-of-the-semester grading, back to working up the groundplan.

The finished drafted elevation of “Into the Woods.” Now I need to head back to the groundplan and get that to our TD by the week’s end.

This is where we left off with Romeo and Juliet at the end of the production meeting yesterday. This thumbnail shows the upstage framing structure with projection screen between the three central openings. Downstage will be two pivoting structures that have yet to be figured out. . .

The elevation for “Into the Woods” has been seen and approved by the director (Jim Butchart), and our TD seems to think it’s buildable and won’t break the bank (of course, we haven’t gotten into all the bits and pieces yet) — so it’s time to move onto “Romeo and Juliet,” our show at the end of the Spring semester. We have a production meeting this afternoon, so I’m working up some preliminary doodles. The director (Angela Iannone) has decided to go with a steampunk look to the play. Structurally, we’re trying to develop two pivoting tower elements down and center which will keep the action down in front and provide the bits and bobs required for the various scenes — she would really like to keep changes seamless and swift and not bring items on if it can be helped. She’d also like to use projections to help establish mood and locale, so we’re going to want some sort of surface upstage. I’ve been looking at Victorian gasworks. . .

Almost finished with the elevation, so I asked Jim Butchart (the director) to take a look. He approved. I still have to allow a bit of space off right to allow the Narrator to slip off beside the tree, which means opening the main act a foot, which means revealing more structure stage left as well. Now to run it past our TD (Steve Chene) and see if we can build it. . .