The ???

Can't really go into too much detail on these projects, but I thought I'd share them anyway cause they just look so cool. I'd tell you what they're for, but then I'd have to... well, you know..

The Forest

So we've been loading in Reckless all week, and I've been mainly working on my elevator/phone booth. But since I didn't get any pictures of the booth in the space, I thought I'd show you what I worked on the week before for Midsummer's Night Dream.

These 'trees' are made up of 1/4 inch pencil rod steel that we've bent and twisted to create the branches of the trees. The trees themselves sit inside some see-through columns so that when the columns rotate, the trees will be completely visible from the back.

There will be a pediment on top of the columns and on top of that we'll see the trees branching out with these top pieces.

Paints is starting the process of covering our metal skeletons. First they fill the branches with news paper.

Then they coat them with good ole' plaster of paris.

This project was actually pretty fun to work on, though there were many space limits do to the columns, we still got a chance to create a little bit.

Late

Other People's Work: The Bug

My friend, Charlie, from the props department is spending some time in our shop for his current project. He's in charge of taking a full sized VW Beetle, cutting it in half, and re-sizing it to fit on our elevator in the Space theater. To do this, we've had to gut the car and take it apart piece by piece, and then Charlie has been cutting and re-welding the frame to make fit, but still have it look like a bug. It's actually working out really well. After about two cans of Bondo, nobody will know the difference.

The Superman Changing Room

Seeing as we only have one show to build in this next set, show projects are kinda scarce. So I quickly jumped at the first one I saw.

This phone booth will actually be an elevator, of sorts. The top of the booth will stay at floor level, leaving the booth itself hidden under the floor. Then, using our hydraulic elevator system, we'll lift it up into the space for the actors to use. I also built some of the parts for the actual elevator part, but those won't make sense till we put it all together.

With this guy done, I'll help put the finishing touches on some other projects, and then we'll try to move on the shows that open after Christmas, without getting too far ahead of ourselves.

Late.

The Second Set

The first three shows have all opened and are running smoothly. 39 Steps is running so smoothly that they extended the run an extra week. So now it's time to get working the next set, which just happens to be two Christmas-theme shows.

Reckless is about a husband who puts out a contract for his wife's life, giving her the gift of adventure... I guess. Should be another action-filled show like 39 Steps, so many set changes. (click for more details)

Our yearly tradition. The sets already built, so it's just a matter for repairs and set-up. (click for more details)

I guess it's time for me to break out my X-mas music in the shop.

Late.