This weekend at our production meeting, set designer Jason Phillips brought the set model. This event always generates excitement for the actors as well as the production staff. While many of get some kind of a sense of what is happening with set on stage by looking at the ground plans and seeing the lines taped in the rehearsal space, the set really doesn’t make sense for most of us until we see that little 3-D model. So here is a little peek at what this thing is going to look like…

Two tall balcony structures with a two-piece movable stair unit behind.

Two rolling platforms can move in and out from the archways underneath the balcony units. Furniture can be loaded offstage, and when they are rolled into place, viola! A new scene! The set can be changed further by rolling only one stair unit into place. By the way, that cutout you see down front is the orchestra pit, because yes, we will have live music.

Here is a bird’s-eye view of the set, showing the escape stairs for actors (not visible to audience) and the stage left stair unit pushed back out of sight, while the stage right unit is being used alone in the center of the stage. The large white backdrop is the cyc, which will be used to great advantage in this production. We will use this to project much of our “background scenery” which is a new technique for us. We are very excited about this set. It is going to be quite spectacular, and I am so honored to have the opportunity to paint for Jason Phillips. I know I’m going to learn a lot.