The Forest Temple

If I had to break down what I've been up to the last two months, I'd say the wagon in Midsummer Night's Dream has taken up the most time. This is a case proven by the fact that one of the last entries I did was for the construction of the tree columns for the unit. So now, all these days later, I can show you a completed project.

Probably the easiest way to explain this guy is by showing you what we based it off of. This is the model the designer sent to us and was basically what we had to go off of in terms of the look. The structure was all planned out by the bosses, but the trees were pretty much up to us. So, as you can see, the wagon starts out as one piece with all the the columns and the pediment evoking the Athenian setting of the play. Then...

The wagons split open to reveal the forest and the scaffolding on the inside. So the elements of the piece are made up of the wagon platform, the scaffolding, the tree columns I discussed earlier, and the pediment which I have been working on for a bit now.

We did get to do a minor test set up in the shop, but due to the detail and a scheduling conflict with paints, we didn't get to put the pediment up in the shop.

But it ended up looking pretty good. I took a couple pics to show you, but haven't had a good opportunity to show the piece when it comes together. Maybe later.

-Late

The Midsummer Night's Dream

It's been a while, I know, but it's not due to lack of interesting things to show, it's been do to lack of focus. The last two months have seen me working on five different shows. Most of which are now nearing completion. I've been putting up vacu-form bricks on walls for Map of Heaven, routing out plexi-glass holders in the deck for The Catch, building a bookcase for Ah! Wilderness, loading and prepping a deck for Five-Course Love, but mainly I've been working on Midsummer Night's Dream on our main stage.

So, here it is. First of all, the deck had to be completely redone. We took out all the elevators, which I had helped to install almost 2 years ago, and replaced the normal deck with the exception of the pool, which I helped build, and the hidden trap entrance under the grass, which I helped install. The floor is a faux marble finish with a couple plexi-glass boxes that light up on the sides. The drapes are faux-contra-cloth painted blue and hung on opera netting. The blue stairs all the way up center are on a track and can recede underneath the ramp that curves around the back of the stage. Quite a bit of work...

The big wagon units are kind of the main focus but I'll get to those next entry. To give you an idea of how fast things can change in theatre, the scaffolding on the forrest wagons originally had ladder going up the fronts to help the acts climb them. Upon a quick test run with the actors, the ladders needed to be removed in order to let them roam freely over the construction. Apparently it didn't fit the characters to climb ladders. Easy fix.

We're getting closer and closer to the end, but we still have a handful of shows to build. Hopefully, I can keep up with the photos.

Late.