Theater Set Design

I was contacted by the Kinkaid School in Houston, Texas to design and build a set for the playGodspell.

I started with a rather stark Recital Hall shown below.

In this space I had to create the set of a junkyard in which Godspell was to take place. The catch was that I was not allowed to attach any of the set to the movable walls or the main walls with screw or anything that would not mar the finishes.

Basically the background had to be made and then strapped to the movable walls, they are on wheels, 16ft tall. They are technically called choral "shells" and are made by Wenger Corporation. The shells are very nice but you cannot put weight on the front of them for fear of them tipping forward; so the set had to sit on the stage.

To create the background I spent alot of time at Home Depot and Lowe's getting corrugated fiberglass and painting it gray to look like metal. I went to the Benjamin Moore Store and found some gray primer that went on quickly and went back to Home Depot for black Weedstop black woven cloth for the background.In the center I created a Houston Skyline and backlit it with christmas lights and aluminum foil reflectors. I had a week to complete this project start to finish.

Torsten Louis, who is the set consultant was able to provide the platforms and boxes from his theatre warehouse at Kinkaid. Torsten also purchased the ready made fence from Home Depot and welded the brackets that were used to hold the fence to the platforms. Once the platforms were in place and the choral shells were placed by the Director, Dan Bishop, I could start to apply the set.

Twenty six high school performers had to come on and off stage between the shells and the four piece band was behind the fence. There was dancing and singing and lots of movement and props so everything had to be secure. The lighting provided by Hi-Fi Doc, LLC was all LED and allowed the Director to change moods quickly with the lighting. So lighting trees were set up in hidden areas. The lights had to change color quickly, flash and dim so the Technicians setup a lighting panel and computer that worked well with over 50 lighting cues and had to work with the existing lighting system in the hall for spot lights, house lights and stage lights.

I frequented auto salvage yards in North Houston and was bitten by many mesquitos loading trunk lids, hoods, doors, tires and wheels into my van. Even found a patio umbrella, kids pool and actually had to PAY for hubcaps... I will let you know how it turns out......