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
Feels like a Hallmark movie…
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!
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).
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!
A small set built and run by Gallery 7 right before Christmas was this little gem, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. Due to venue constraints (MCA Abbotsford), our set had to be struck twice after load-in, so we kept it fairly simple. Design is by Jeff Kiers, and it was directed by Sarah Green.
Building 10 foot high windows
We had a library/entrance door on stage right, and a living room area on stage left.
View from backstageStage during light build
It was a lovely Christmas play; I attended closing night on Dec 23 with my daughter.
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)
Gallery 7’s production of The Secret Garden (the musical) finally took place 3 years after it was postponed by the advent of Covid-19 in Canada. It played in March 2023 at the Abbotsford Arts Centre.
For those 3 years, I was able to store most of the set in G7’s storage container, plus a bit at their office and a bit in my workshop. It was a matter of re-assembling what we had, checking with the stage management team about any changes, and finishing the paint job.
The set is divided into two main parts: the house, and the garden. Flies, scrims, and wheeled set pieces were used.
Set Design is by Matthew Piton. Set Coordination (painting, greenery) is by Andrew Potts and Charlene Crawford. Props and Set Dec by Dianna Lewis. Director: Ken Hildebrandt. Lighting Design: Gabe Kirkley. Costumes by Dani DeJong. Stage Management: Brittany Suderman.
Here are some photos from Load-In:
Here are some publicity photos, taken by Dianna Lewis: (click on picture to see entire image)
painting by Rachel Kehler
And here is the large cast!
It was a haunting, beautiful, artistic, complicated show with lots of heart and soul. But, all good things come to an end. I have stored some of the set, but a large part of it has been repurposed, given away, or sold. Onto the next one!
The latest show for Gallery 7 is now playing. The set was a large one with a few complications. Following are some photos of the build.
Set Design including paint is by Jeff Kiers and Director is Kate Muchmore Woo.
Jeff’s creative design was shared as a model:
He also provided basic dimensions and (most importantly) fly line locations for the 3 flies.
I realized that to build this I would need to draw this out to make sense of it. There are a few moving parts.
Then I divided it up into parts: risers, steps, walls, flies, observation deck, benches.
Here are some pictures of the flies. I made them in 8×12 sections with plenty of cross-bracing to help eliminate sag. (They are 24 feet long) One fly has 3 working doors so had to be structurally sound.
There is a wall that flips down to become a floor for scene changes. It is heavy as it is made of 3 sheets of 3/4″ plywood.
Jeff painted the outside of the train, and my assistant carpenter Karen worked on walls.
Things started to come together but there was still so much to do!
I was treated to a beautiful double rainbow at the workshop one January afternoon…
Load-in day at the venue came and with several volunteers we got the basic set together so that lighting design could commence.
Yes, we recycle many signs!
It’s always nice to see things start to come together under the lights!
See previous post for more about the 1-man play This Wonderful Life.
My director asked for a quiet snowfall during the scene where George is on the bridge, ready to live again. The venue (Abby Arts Centre) does have a soap flake snow machine, but it is noisy and wouldn’t work with the quietness of this scene. So I decided to make a snow cradle.
We did have the advantage of a fly system and a fly operator. Flies are basically long pipes on ropes that can be lowered and raised – and in this case, moved up and down to shake fake snow through the holes of a muslin tarp…
Adding stick support to edges
While researching snow cradles online, I found plenty of drawings (they all seemed to have the same source) but no practical photos. So things were a bit experimental. I bought 32 feet of 4-foot wide muslin. I then stapled thin sticks along the edges (sewing would be better but stapling is faster). This gives support for the edges so they don’t sag. Lastly I wrapped the sticks with zap straps every 4 feet so they could be attached to fly pipes easily later.
Next I added some fake snow. I bought some at HollyNorth, which is a cool store in Vancouver that caters to film companies. I wanted something light-plastic flakes would have been preferable-but settled on their biodegradable stuff.
I tested it and realized my holes needed to be bigger. To make holes (only on one side!) I made an X with an exacto knife. It was easy to make the holes bigger by simply sticking my finger in them and pulling a little. Note that when we tried it at the venue, we had to make the holes even bigger!
Here is a link to my test video. It gives you an idea how it works. Note: In the venue, the fly operator doesn’t shake the edges – he moves 2 flies up and down in opposite directions to help the snow settle into the holes.
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