The DRC

In building and loading in the set for Ruined, the mantra in the shop slowly became, "That's okay, it's the DRC." DRC, of course, standing for Democratic Republic of the Congo where this show takes place. The set is the bar/brothel of a woman whose trying to play both sides of a civil war. The designer gave us his research and made sure to let us know that fine carpentry was not to be expected and would be unfitting for this location. So we needed to remind ourselves not to take too much time on these set pieces, after all, it's the DRC.

Pardon the ladders, but you can get a good idea of what the designer meant by letting the carpentry skills slide. The bar is supposed to look like it's being held together by a couple of screws, much like... well, a set for a theater.

The worn appearance that the designer was going for gave us a chance to go into the old scrap bin and pull out the rough cut and bowed pieces to make these partitions walls, which actually consist of a door and some fencing the owner must have found and thrown up to make a room.

The ceiling is made of corrugated plastic painted to look like steel, although we also use corrugated steel on some of the walls. To make sure they matched, the painters painted both surfaces in the same style. The ceiling is actually rigged up to the theatre pipe grid, though the ceiling itself is actually pretty light being plastic.

And then backstage, we cornered the band platform with what we've been calling 'waddle.' In Africa, they'll actually weave vines and branches to form walls, but for us, it was old used cotton rope weaved around some tree branches to achieve the same effect.

I really like this set. Though it doesn't have our usual automation features, it's still very pleasing to the eye. The many levels gives the director a lot to play around with and allows for scenes to be more separated even in this, our smallest theater. Next up, a donut shop, and though it's not in the DRC, we may find ourselves carrying our mantra over to the Space theater to make sure this shop looks old.

The Final Set

And so come the last three shows of the season. At this point one is open, another is deep in tech rehearsals, and the third will be moving in over the next few weeks. The end of the season seems to come by so quickly, but when you're work load is constant like it is in the theatre, that just seems to be the way it goes.

Traces is actually a touring acrobatic show put on by the French Canadian company called 7 Fingers. We pretty much set up the stage for them and then let them take over. We have been able to do a couple modifications for them, but for the most part, it's their show. Click here for more info.

Ruined is a very powerful play about a woman trying to walk the fence of the Congo civil war. It's a very dark play, and the set resembles that taking on the rough, found material qualities that the Congo is sadly know for. The show is pretty much loaded in and is in rehearsals. Click here for more info.

Superior Donuts takes place in an aging family-owned donut shop on it's way out. It's a fairly fitting play to do in today's world as we see the 'dirty spoons' of the old world turning into 'clean and green' shops of today. Right now we're in the process of laying in the tile for the shop. Click here for more info.

The Forest Temple pt. 2

I was able to get a couple pictures of the two temple pieces while they were together so I thought I'd throw them up here so you could see the piece as a whole.

We've actually taken down the piece at this point. We cleared the deck for the Traces crew to set up their show. Cutting down fake trees is a whole lot easier then cutting a real one, though a chain saw may have been more fun to use.