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