ME and Dame Agatha

It was just the other day that I realized that between stage designs and virtual designs, I have created environments for four titles from the canon of Dame Agatha Christie (one title twice) and have wicked designs on a fifth.

So just for fun, a very short look back ...

The Mousetrap
1993 - The Bathhouse Theater, Seattle
1999 - Tacoma Little Theatre
(sadly, no photo evidence of either)

Ten Little Indians (or And Then There Were None)
2004 - Tacoma Little Theatre
Images by Jason Ganwich

SHOW # 2 - The Best Christmas Pageant Ever - Lakewood Playhouse Dec 2019

Possibly the simplest set i have designed in a long time.  But that's really what the space and the show required - simple elegance, flexibility, and an opportunity for lighting to really push the storytelling.

Directed by John Munn

MODEL

PRODUCTION SHOTS

MORE Show #1 of the 2019-20 Tacoma Theater Season

Calendar Girls at Tacoma Little Theatre was such a great experience in so many ways. Not only was the show itself meaningful, and the dedication of everyone involved apparent, it was a great experience in designing.

I believe, and many of my colleagues do, that the future of stage design is in digital scenery for a variety of reasons. This show was a further testing ground for that idea, in a context that did not involve a big-box-budget.  And it worked!  The hard scenery was minimal and flexible - providing a frame for the story unfolding.  I created 13 digital backdrops for the show, depicting different seasons, times of day, and subtly following the dramatic arc with certain palette and movement choices.  

The video above shows a selection of those backdrops, in the order they appear in the show. Learned a great deal from this experience, am very pleased with how it came out, and eager to apply my new knowledge to another project.

SHOW #1 of the 2019-20 Tacoma Theater Season

Number one of five this season.  Awaaaay we go!

Show #1: Here is the video footage and snapshots of the virtual model of my design for the season opener for Tacoma Little Theatre's 101st Season: Tim Firth's Calendar Girls.

Click on the individual images. and video embed to enlarge.

The virtual model gives you a really solid sense of the design in its space, and never needs to be dusted!  A media plot is under development to help support the sense of time passing, and the scenes that take place outdoors, on "John's Hill." This model, and the video media that are planned as part of the design, will all be created in the virtual world of Second Life ®.

DRAFT of set in "John's Hill" mode 7.14.19

Overhead view of revised model as of 7.20.19 in "Church Hall" mode

Revised model as of 8.4.19 in "Church Hall" mode

BLITHE SPIRIT - Tacoma Little Theatre - October 20 - November 5

Directed by Chris Serface
Photo Courtesy of Chris Serface

33 VARIATIONS - Vashon Drama Dock - October 4 - 8

Video of Virtual Set Model

Production Stills 

(click on images to see larger)

Designed both scenery and projections - Directed by Charlotte Tiencken
Production Photos Courtesy of Lisa Work

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES ~ Tacoma Musical Playhouse May 16 - June 8

An elevation and some work light shots before Opening Night.  Production photos to be posted as soon as possible.

Original Elevation of the La Cage Proscenium pieces

This set was all about a gesture (*extends arm up and out, and flexes wrist*).  It was about a gesture of joy, and of acceptance - embracing the truth of who one really is, and what is really important.  We went for the graphic representation of that gesture, most easily found and expressed through Art Deco. 

The show has lots of blurred lines in it: gender, loyalty, morality, love.  Those blurred lines help accent the journey to what is real and important - the lines which should never blur.  So we put Art Deco (where lines seem clear) in an environment where you are never quite sure when you are totally in and totally out of the influence of La Cage Aux Folles.  

LES MISERABLES at Tacoma Musical Playhouse ~ October 18 - November 10

Show Curtain Pain Elevation

COMING IN OCTOBER ...

Les Miserables for Tacoma Musical Playhouse

Painted Show Curtain ~ Paint Elevation

AMAZING WHAT YOU FIND IN THE ARCHIVES

"Archives" meaning cleaning out the studio closet.  I am sure every designer that has worked for a decade or more has a stash of sketches and renderings from their early days that make them cringe.  The truly awful ones get burned or destroyed along the way and a few "cringe-ables" are kept to show in classes and such - to prove to students that they can learn and develop these skills, that we were not all spawned brilliant.

I had that rare experience the other day of coming across something from my "ancient designer past" that did not make me cringe: A set of renderings from an Advanced Scene Design project my last semester in undergrad.  Two different sets for the same space, both for A Midsummer Night's Dream, one unit set and one multi-set.  The space chosen was the Kresge Theater at Willamette University, a thrust stage that I was weened on as a designer (the Music department had the proscenium stage - we had a thrust and an arena).  I actually finished these renderings several years after I graduated, and I am pleased to say that they do not make me cringe today, even though my paint skills have developed considerably since.

Unit Set by Judith Cullen for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1984)

Multi-Setting design by Judith Cullen for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1984)

INTO THE WOODS Open at Vashon Drama Dock in July!

 

Views from the paint elevations . . . The set is three books, with the central one in front of the other two and open.  The Center book has a pair if doors SR (the bookplate) and an elevated window SR.  Groundcloth continues the "Once Upon a Time" motif.  Lovely, fun project with Charlotte Tiencken Directing.  Delightful people on the Island.

THE RAINMAKER Opens tonight @ Lakewood Playhouse!

Every production of N. Richard Nash's play that I have ever been part of has been a thing of beauty.  This one is no exception, and I am NOT talking just about my work.

 A few shots taken as ladders were still in play and Technical Director, Larry Haggerman, had put out bubble wrap for the weary but accomplished crew to do the happy dance on ...

   

 Shots of the finished (AND dry!) set taken during cast warm ups before the final rehearsal ...God help me!  A rehearsal block dressed as a crate made it into the show - I DIDN'T PUT IT THERE!

Thank you to Casi and Cast for bringing very real and honest characters to life!  Thank you Larry Haggerman and the LPH Team and Crew for, in some cases, almost literally moving mountains to make this lovely show a reality. Opens tonight, April 19th, and plays through May 12th.  Yes, it really rains on stage!

THE RAINMAKER Opens at Lakewood Playhouse 4.19

I love Richard Nash's Romantic Comedy.  Just love it!  Have done it several times, last time as Props and Costume Designer for a lovely production in 1998 Directed by Rod Pilloud.  This production is Directed by the fabulous Casi Wilkerson ...

Here are process shots and paint elevations. Lot's still to go!

 Volunteers Robin and Evelyn are doing a great job.

               

VIRTUAL DESIGNING - It's Not Just Me!

It was amazing to trip over the article in the recent USITT issue of Sightlines about Designer Richard Finkelstein.  It seems Mr. Finkelstein also designs in Second Life (c) and uses it as a design tool for his real world productions. I had a great chat with him.  Remarkably, we found that we had run into some of the same people.  It's a small virtual world after all.

Mr. Finkelstein's work and mine do not travel in the same sphere's, but good design is good design no matter the size of the theatre or the budget.  It was great to see that someone else finds this a unique and very useful resource.  I still love drafting with my pencil, and I find Second Life (c) a much easier to manipulate platform for exploring virtual models.

Explore Richard Finkelsteins's work. He will be hosting a session at USITT in March (as the article explains) on Designing in the Virtual World.

Looking at his site inspired me to rework some features of my own site here.  Note the tabs under the masthead that now make it easier to explore different aspects of my work.

THE CHILDREN'S HOUR at Lakewood Playhouse

The finished product at Final Dress.  A great team to work with all around.  Thank you Larry, Kim, Hally, Alex, Heather, et al.  Thank you, John, for the opportunity.  

A very simple set of elevations for a very tight show.  The effect should be very dramatic for this classic by Lillian Hellman, Directed by John Munn, and blessedly painted by Kim Izenman!

Visit Lakewood Playhouse online for more production information.

The Dickens Project - Virtual Immerson in Literature

Over the past four years I have had the growing desire to explore how the Virtual World can extend the immersion of a live voice presentation of literature.  The Dickens Project is a beta test of that idea, and so far the test is pretty successful.  The idea being that the environment supports and promotes the literature, much as a stage set does, but it is a set that the audience walks through and interacts with in a way that a seated audience does not.  Theme Park?  Perhaps.  But ultimately the environment is a frame for the words spoken in voice.  Without the live activity, its just more pretty data.

The "Big Dream" is to do a much broader build that would allow the performer/presenter to guide the audience through a tour of "Christmas Past", "Christmas Present" and "Christmas Yet to Come" with Dickens' own words as the core - walking in the steps of Ebenezer Scrooge, as it were.

I have been listening to storytellers all week read Dickens words.  I have to agree with my friend Klannex Northmead - a Londoner with a lovely growly voice - who hit it on the nose when he said that most stage adaptations simply lift the dialogue from the book. So much about what makes Dickens a memorable author are the descriptions and side bars he makes along the way.  Some that hit you like a ton of bricks with their wisdom.  Some that are so vivid that you know it could never be fully realized in a live production.  The description of the shops from Stave Three always make me a little light headed, and I suspect has sent more than one Prop Master into seizures over the years.

Here are shots of the beta test environment, and its various interactive elements ...

The Dickens Project in Second Life (c) - Street View

Top View - second level interconnected by walkways

Entryway - Exterior View

Entryway - Interior View with Scrooge & Marley's (sittable Cratchit & Scrooge Desks)

The Grocer's Shop - Exterior View

The Poulterer's Shop - Exterior view

The Grocer's Shop - Interior View (lot's of items to click on an get things)

The Poulterer's Shop - Interior View (likewise, very "clickable")

The Bookseller's Shop - Exterior View

Bookseller's Shop - Interior (copies of selected Dickens' texts available)

Three "Illustration Gardens" running slide shows of images from "Christmas Past"

..."Christmas Present" ...

... and "Christmas Yet to Come" with words inspiring different artists over centuries.

Three Galleries (second level) with panels linked to online resources: Dickens' London

... Notable Scrooges ...

... The Works of Charles Dickens (I love this room!)

Residents of Second Life (c) gathered at The Dickens Project to listen to a live voice presentation of  Stave Three of "A Christmas Carol" read by Kayden Oconnell