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)