Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Set Models

Another cool video from the Sydney Opera House series, this time on building set models:


 And here are a few random models of mine, just for fun - a comparison of the models and the set builds for Irma Vep at WaterTower Theater:






The scenic painting on this next set is Not done - the Sphinx did not end up winking!



Monday, January 23, 2023

Cool Vids About Theater Set and Architecture Design



Here's a series of videos I've found while researching info for my set design apprentices on the topic of : "Plans!  How and Why... and What Are They!"  (I joke, but seriously, floor plans are so fundamental to understanding, designing, and documenting a set design... why is there so little explanation available?)

Here's a wonderful explanation of a clever and charming set by designer Wendy Todd.  It has nothing to do with plan drawing, but is just wonderfulness:

Here's one of my favorite architectural explainers, Stewart Hicks, talking about plans:

And here's a face new to me (30 x 40 Design Workshop) with a good discussion of the architectural design process - notice how his drawings morph from rough and schematic, to precise and more real-world.  Note the use of my favorite Tracing Paper!


Saturday, January 21, 2023

A Design Charrette

Today's the big day for my Stage West theater set design students - a full day design charrette for a made-up-by-me show:


Pretty sure this is out of copyright as it was published in 1918


Three Little Pigs – the Musical (the Outline)

Not a kid version.  (Less Disney, more Brothers Grimm, with cheeky references to Into the Woods, The Wizard of Oz, and This Old House.)  The danger and violence feel real and the ending – cooking and eating the Wolf – is triumph, retribution and tragedy. 

 Imagine being a Pig... This is home-invasion!  A monster beseiges a disjointed family that has to come together as true brothers to save themselves.  Imagine being a Wolf... with Wife and hungry Pups to feed at home. 

 Set in the timeless ever-present of fairytales or hunger and homelessness.

Scene 1 – The Woods 

The Wolf’s place.  Dark.  Dangerous.  Hungry.

 (Throughout the play the Wolf narrates –cynical, amusing, ruthless.  Sometimes he is joined by a chorus of  Woodland Creatures, an ensemble of cute(ish) dancing / acrobatic critters: Deer, Raccoon, Rabbit, Squirrel, Owl, and that obnoxious Happiness Bluebird.  They’re all terrified of the Wolf - except for Owl, because it takes a predator to understand a predator.  While Squirrel and Rabbit don’t trust Owl.  TheWoodlanders also sing as Wolf’s Wife and his litter of Pups.)

 Scene 2 – A Road Through the Woods

An inhospitable No-Pigs’-Land.  The Pigs have been kicked out of their nest, er, sty by their Mother Pig, who can’t stand the brothers’ arguing, jealousy, and laziness a moment longer.  Also there’s no food.  So she kicked them out into a hostile and hungry world.

Scene 3 – Traveling  (Dance tribute to Oz ending with throwing apples.)

Scene 4 – A Clearing at the Edge of the Woods.  There are apple trees, remnants of an old orchard, and a feral vegetable garden that still yields a few carrots and potatoes and such.  The tumbled ruins of the old farmstead are almost back to woodland, but there are bricks and sticks and, if the meadow grass is cut with that rusty sythe, there could be straw.

Scene 5 – Same Clearing, building is started.  (Big dance number, a flavor of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.)

Scene 6 – Same Clearing, the House of Straw is complete, then blown away. 

(The hit single “Huff n’ Puff” in its first iteration, repeated for each house.)

Scene 7 – Same Clearing, the House of Sticks is complete, then blown away

Scene 8 – Same Clearing, The House of Bricks is complete and smoke comes from its brick chimney.  First Wolf attack. 

Scene 9 – Same Clearing, Full Moon. (Wolf’s and Mrs. Wolf’s big duet.) 

Scene 10 – House of Bricks Exterior/Interior, roaring fire and boiling soup pot.  Second Wolf attack.

Scene 11 – Same Interior, Dinner!  (Stupendous dance number) 

(It’s macabre, but the Wolf, who narrated throughout the story, narrates again now – his talking head on a plate on the feasting table.  He sings that, without him,  Wolf’s Wife will have to send the Pups out into the world... hungry.  The play ends when a Pig puts an apple in Wolf’s mouth to shut him up.) 

That's the synopsis.  The students will try to come up with designs that solve the problems it presents in a black box theater.  (Notice the big one yet?  That transition from Woods to Clearing?)  (Well, and also the built-in problem of building and blowing-away piggie houses on stage in the audience's full view.)

So, the idea of a charrette is to sit down and thrash out an initial design.  I've read definitions online that define it as including input from others (not just the designer) and, in my experience, this can be true.  (Architect Charles Moore, a noted and unusually collaborative collaborator once responded to citizen phone calls!)  But to me, the all-at-a-single-sitting is the defining aspect.  It's a way to force-march through the design process.  And the time pressure and presence of others also struggling with the problem that adds oomph! to your thinking.  

The students are about a 1/2 hour into it - just starting to grasp the difficulties.  We'll see what they've got in 5 1/2 more hours.  (5 1/2 hours minus pizza time.)

A little extra tidbit: I discovered that the name "charrette" comes from the French name for the cart that rolled around the Ecole de Beaux Arts, collecting student architects' work.  The work would be taken away to be judged... just like the tumbril taking prisoners to the guillotine, or so my old French professor explained.

No tumbril today! 

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Nice News Article

Well, This happened!  A nice article about Stage West's apprenticeship program in the Fort Worth Report.  The original article is HERE and I've copied the gist of it to this blog (in case of future internet glitchiness) with my own not-so-spiffy photos.



Stage West Theatre’s apprenticeship program sets stage for next generation


Clare Floyd DeVries (right) speaks with apprentices Sierra Lesniak (left), Brooks Davenport (center) and Katie Cooley (right) on the set of the recent production “Handle with Care.” (Marcheta Fornoff | Fort Worth Report)


Tuesday, January 3, 2023

Minecraft Theater Design Class!

 In crazy news: Stage West Theatre and I are offering a Minecraft based scenic design class!


Mining (Theater) Craft

Build a theater!  Design and build scenery!  In the blocky world of Minecraft enjoy all the fun and drama of IRL theater design: the joy of group effort and the satisfaction of individual creativity.  Play with 3 dimensional volume, levels, lights, color, and explore the possibilities of lava in performance... wait... what? 

A class for pre-teens and teens. You’ll need access to Minecraft Java Version (PC based) and just enough experience to place blocks (easy!) and to walk without falling in lava (easy! because in “Creative” mode you can fly).  You’ll need Discord for in-game conversation and messaging.  Completely online, this class will meet Thursdays 7-9, with access to StageWestWorld between times to keep on building.

Professional architect, award-winning set designer, and let’s-not-say-obsessed Minecraft builder, Clare Floyd DeVries is the guide as you master this sandbox game, mining its potential for theatrical creativity.  You'll need access to Minecraft Java version (PC based) and just enough experience to place blocks (easy!) and to walk without falling into lava (easy because in "Creative" mode you can fly!).  You'll need Discord for in-game conversation and messaging.

Learn more HERE at Stage West Education