set design

Anne (of Green Gables) Set Design and Build

Anne recently closed a successful run at Gallery 7 Theatre in Abbotsford in November. Set design started in the summer, and building happened in October. Below are some pictures of the model I made. The concept was simple: a block house, a tree, and a truck and flat that moved on/off in front of a sharktooth scrim.

New this year, I was asked to make a window for marketing photos as well as for patrons to take selfies with. I asked one of our volunteers, Steve, to make a sliding window, and then I build a small stand for it:

Then I started the “real” build…

My volunteer, Linda, helped a lot those first few weeks as we built and painted our way through Avonlea.

My dad, Chris, was kind enough to help with some special effects – we had some motorized wagon wheels and a motorized “sinking” boat. He also helped build a floor and a roof:

More building…

Chris, Rachel, and Dayton were a big help on a chilly paint day:

The train schedule was a fun little detail to add:

And then it was load-in day! Always appreciate help on this full day!

Here are a few photos from tech week – lighting was starting to build their cues:

Opening Night came! Can you spot the outline of Green Gables behind the scrim?

More official company photos:

Photos below are copyrighted; please do not alter them or use them for other works. Photos by Dianna Lewis Photography. (Set by Andrew Potts, Directed by Nelly Fargeon, Lighting by Ken Hildebrandt, Costumes by Vicki Bolan, Hair and Makeup by Avrey JantzKrahn, Props and some set dec by Dianna Lewis)

Simple plywood stands to hold foamcore 2D set pieces (flats)

This is mostly for my own reference, but maybe you can use it too. I build sets every summer for Gotta Sing Gotta Dance and they like to use foamcore set pieces (ie “flats”) because they are so lightweight and easy to manoeuvre.

The problem with 3/16″ foam core is that it doesn’t quite stand up straight on its own and it needs a frame (when standing higher than 4 feet, anyway). So most of my time is spent building lightweight frames for the foamcore to be zap-strapped to.

However when the foam core piece is 4 feet high or less, it can be held up with very little effort. I made some wooden blocks that worked quite well for quite a few pieces. Here they are:

I cut a scrap piece of 3/4 plywood into the odd shape above. The slot is for the foam core to fit snugly in. The angle of the slot is not 90 degrees – it is slanted back slightly (1 or 2 degrees) so that the foam core rests mostly on the back (taller) side.

I then glued+stapled a vertical stick to help with rigidity. Then zap strapped the stick to the foamcore (yes, you can sometimes see it protrude through the front if you look for it)

The zap straps just slide off the sticks if you want to remove the bases for transport. You have a set piece light enough to pick up with one hand, that stands up by itself.

Bonus tip: when painting foamcore, always paint both sides, or you get major warpage.

Bonus tip #2: foamcore is generally more expensive than plywood of the same thickness. But it can be ordered in bulk in 4×8 sheets from your local printshop for some savings.

“Law Law Land” Set design and Build

Law Law Land was this year’s summer production by Gotta Sing Gotta Dance Vancouver, a musical theatre camp held at the JCC/NRT. It is produced once at the end of July, and once at the end of August, with different musical theatre students each time (3-show run). The July production had over 60 performers. I was contracted to design and build a versatile, lightweight, creative set, mostly working with the producer (the indefatigable Perry Ehrlich), but also the director and other choreographers.

The material of choice is 3/16 foamcore, because it is light and holds its shape reasonably well. It’s more expensive than plywood or MDF, but for this production it makes a lot of sense.

I spent a week plus in the workshop cutting, painting, and building pieces. Here are some build pictures:

I don’t have any pictures from the show (yet) but here are some rehearsal shots:

Annie Jr. Set Design and Build

VTT produced the musical Annie Jr. at the beginning of April. I was contracted to design and build the set. (Credits: Dir. K. Smith, Lights V. Bell, Costumes L. Meyers)

Our starting point was a 19-foot long set of arches that the director secured and stored at the school. This was to be the mansion and the only question was where would it go, and how would it look? I ended up making it a second level, intending to put the orchestra below, but eventually we just used the lower level for stair storage.

The NRT has limited wing space and no fly tower, so most things had to stay on the stage or be hidden just off-stage. I made 4 lightweight flats that were 5×8 feet to construct an orphanage and brick walls. They were made of foamcore, with wooden frames and legs.

That was the basic set – arches, stairs, and walls. There were many other set pieces needed for the various scene changes: starting with the beds. I was quite proud of these – I made 8 – all very lightweight and stackable. The challenge was how to keep them from sliding around when the kids were jumping from one to another; some rubber furniture feet helped.

Other fun projects/items were the laundry cart, lamppost, garbage can, fire hydrant, filing cabinet, Warbucks desk (which had to get cut lower eventually), and oval office flag.

A big challenge for me was fabric – I wanted to hide the mansion at the beginning of the show, but since it was 14 feet high, the 8-foot flats wouldn’t quite do the trick. So I made a curtain rod at the top of the mansion and hung a curtain from that, with a cityscape sewn on. It didn’t quite work for the director, but they came up with a good solution thanks to our amazing costume designer’s help, and we were able to keep the curtain. I also made some large black city skyline frames on the sides, which looked fine, but were not as shiny and shimmery under stage lights as the expensive fabric I stretched on them promised. Live and learn!

Here are a few more photos of the build/tech process:

Annie Scenes! Photos by A. Potts:

Photos by K. Balin:

All photos are copyrighted by their respective authors. Do not use or alter without permission.

Overall, it was a wonderful play. At the end, I was tired. And then I had to take away (most of) the set, and return the rentals, etc… it was time for a break.

Parfumerie Set Design and Build

Parfumerie is playing at MCA (Gallery 7) until the end of this week. Here are some design, build, and set shots.

Set was made to be quite modular as it had to be struck twice during our rehearsal/run.

(Directed by Sarah Green, Lighting by Gabe Kirkley, Props by Madison Willoughby, Costumes by Des Hale)

Design

Build. Quite a custom piece with a few stock parts. Had quite a bit of help from several volunteers.

Set photos (during rehearsal). Such a fun little show with a lot of depth to the story. This script inspired the movie You’ve Got Mail. Definitely a team effort to pull off the set!

Dollars and Nonsense set design/build

Back in the summer I designed and built a lightweight set for Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance!, a theatre camp held in Vancouver. They put on an impressive musical twice, once for each group of students, after just a few days of rehearsing.

This set had to be stored in an upstairs room between camps, so it had to be simple and lightweight. I was introduced to 3/16″ foamcore and used it as the main material. I was able to fit the entire set into the back of my pickup truck (not including items like the desk and chairs which the director sourced).

Production watermarked photos by Hannes Photo: www.hannesphoto.com

Produced by Perry Elhrich; Directed by Meghan Anderssen; Lighting Design by Victoria Bell, Set Design by Andrew Potts; Projections by Meghan Anderssen

The play Dollars and Nonsense has many references to a certain popular board game. My design capitalized on this and the play is set in Atlantic City so there are some hints of the boardwalk etc. as well.

Foamcore is fairly rigid but it wasn’t quite enough to just sort of stand up by itself. Also I learned that both sides have to be painted, or there will be a lot of bowing.

The venue was the Norman Rothstein Theatre at the Jewish Community Center in Vancouver. This was the third time I had worked in this space.

It was a good experience, and I enjoyed watching the end result of the talented staff and students–colourful, musical, professional, and fun!

Seussical Set Design & Build

I was asked to design and build the set for Seussical, produced by VTT at the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre for their Spring Musical. It was an interesting challenge. I started designing around Christmasstime when I had some free head space. I came up with something like this:

And then when the time came to build, I made some set pieces on casters, and a stump:

Then some 2D trees; and painted the rented vinyl floor with the director’s vision:

Next I worked on the staging and some larger static set pieces:

I spent some time fire-retarding some things that would be hung close to the hot lights: paper mache stairs, and clouds. I self-tested samples of both the plywood and the paper mache to see how they would handle flame. They both seemed to survive 10 seconds of a blowtorch 2 inches away, and the samples that were treated did burn slower. (the one on the left) Both pieces self-extinguished, which was reassuring…

Then it was time for load-in! Parent and venue helpers were great!

There were a few fixes and changes after that but mostly things worked well.

The lighting design by Victoria Bell was incredible. In fact it added so much colour that the director decided to repaint some of the coloured set pieces to the off-white of the stage, as it was a bit too much to take in at times (especially with the colourful costumes too!) It was a good decision and balanced things out. Basic painting was done by myself, but most detail and colour was by the director and parent volunteers.

It was a wonderful show; superbly directed by Keri Smith and with great tech, stage management, acting, choreo, singing, band, costumes, etc, etc. It was my first exposure to Seussical; I do enjoy the silliness, as well as the way some important themes rise up.

_{photos by Galit Mishaal; Directed by Keri Smith; Costumes by Laura Meyers; Lighting by Victoria Bell; Choreo by Nicole Stevens; Set Design by Andrew Potts}

Snowbound Set Design and Build

Gallery 7‘s production of Snowbound is now playing at Abbotsford Arts Addition. I had the privilege of designing the set and building it. Here are some photos of the set build and a few shots from tech week rehearsal as well:

The set is quite simple, just a small stage with a backdrop. But it did take two weeks to build and set up.

The window is an important part of the play; it needed to open easily with a pull bar, revealing a snowy background behind.

The floor was done with painted stage risers; painted vinyl laid on the venue floor for the lower part.

Snowbound plays until February 10.

A Tale of Two Cities – Design and Build

Gallery 7‘s production of A Tale of Two Cities is now playing at Abbotsford Arts Centre. I designed and built the set. Here are some pictures!

Design was fairly simple: Floor with trapdoor, a couple of risers, and backdrop of a city skyline, with some furniture to create different scenes.

These show some of the build in progress: windowframes, flooring, candelabras, wedding arch, walls, trapdoor stage plug, chairs.

There were also some custom barrels which I cover in detail in this blog post.

The backdrop was a large undertaking, being 30 feet wide by 15 feet high, with windows that could be lit from behind.

It was flown in, so needed to be structurally sound. It was constructed of 2×2 SPF and recycled coroplast. Windows were painted muslin. Brick work was painted with a roller with slats cut out and dipped in various colours of paint.

(Director: Gabe Kirkley; Lighting: Ken Hildebrandt; Costumes: Dani DeJong; Props: Becki Cormier; Set Design: Andrew Potts)

Jeeves Intervenes set design and build

Gallery 7 (www.gallery7theatre.com) is now showing Jeeves Intervenes on the stage at MCA Abbotsford. It’s a delightful farce/comedy. I had the privilege of designing and building the set.

I really enjoyed reading the script. In my research I read some of PG Wodehouse’s other works and watched the TV series “Jeeves and Wooster.” What I enjoyed most was the ridiculous amount of privilege that Bertie Wooster enjoys, and how even though he has problems like everyone else, he can muddle through them with grace given by his manservant and others.

So…how to build a posh London 1920’s flat with a modest budget? I spent a lot of time hunting for “vintage” furniture on Craigslist and Marketplace. It started off with a beat-up turn of the century wardrobe and the collection built from there. Many items were cheap but needed refinishing or reupholstering. I had many volunteers for this show, who were all helpful in making Bertie’s place come to life.

Below are some pictures starting with the concept drawing and then showing a few building pictures.