Saturday, January 21, 2017

Adventures of the Set Waffles

For this play, I am not only acting, but I am also the lead set designer. In teen shows, everybody is put into a group and it is primarily teen lead. Vivian directs of course and we have adult supervision to make sure we are being safe, but other than that, the teens are pretty much running the show. We have teens doing set, costumes, makeup, and dramaturgy. Each one of these are crucial to the production. Last year, I was in the teen show Almost Maine and that was not only my first teen show, that was my first show. I was with the props crew on that show and I had a lot of fun, so I decided I would lead a group this year, and I got put on set.
I have some experience with tools and things like that because I work with my dad a  lot in the garage.  Last year I was on props, but all the groups connect. I realized this a little bit last year, but this year, being a lead designer, I realize just how much collaboration is needed between the groups. Colors on the set need to match the colors of the costumes. We talked a lot. I have the set already designed and part of it is made. We made a ground plane on the first day because Vivian needed to know what she was working with during blocking. It looks like this:


Screenshot 2017-01-19 at 8.58.50 AM.png


Vivian requested a lot of levels, so that’s exactly what I gave her. We have essentially a big set of platforms that rise in height as they go back against the wall. It is like a big staircase with little staircases coming off the sides. One of the challenges was that the script calls for two rose colored pillars. I included them, but now the trick will be to get Styrofoam and make shape it and paint it to look real. Sarah also knows a lot more about these thing than I do, so I am lucky to have her and my crew Asher, Gerrit, James, and Anika. We call ourselves the Set waffles and our catch phrase is “Bruh digity”. We are also working on giving each other nicknames. You can tell how close we are and that we all have a good time while being productive. I am very grateful for my team. They always help and get things done fast and efficient. I am so excited to see the whole set in its full beauty and I hope you all enjoy it as well.

-Travis Cooper
Hameon/ Eddie/ Lead set designer