In my many years at Jesuit Dallas, I've played many roles. One area I've always enjoyed contributing to has been the Theatre department. I've served many functions for the theatre department, including designing posters for more than 50 productions, running lights & sound, and even directing a few shows. More recently, I've been asked to assist with the set designs for a few of the school's productions. While a bit out of my wheelhouse, I have really enjoyed the creative challenges presented by the three productions I've designed sets for, all of which required modular or moveable sets to provide multiple settings for different scenes. The limitations of the small stage (with no fly or wing space) meant that all of the components of each set had to remain on stage for the entire production, which meant that a lot of hinged walls and platforms on casters were needed to make the sets work.
To be clear, I didn't oversee the actual construction of the sets, but I did remain available to the shows' directors in order to provide feedback throughout the process and to make necessary adjustments along the way.
Grease
Spring 2022
When the theatre director decided to produce the school's first musical in nearly 20 years, I think there was a lot of fear for everyone involved, mostly related to the music of it all: Would there be students who could carry the tunes? Would everyone be able to handle the choreography? Who would play the instruments? For me, the fear came in the form of figuring out how it would all fit in the small space our theater provided. The last musical had been done in 2006 in our former theater space, which was about four times larger than the current theater – meaning it had the space for multiple sets, a large cast, and a full orchestra.
Additionally, although I presented a less explicit or representational idea for the set (allowing for the audience's imaginations to "fill in" for the 10 locations that the musical would require), the director wanted to create a much more explicit set for each of the locations (despite our limited space). So I got to work developing a concept for a modular set with a base appearance of the facade of Rydell High School with hidden moveable walls and platforms that would fold & rotate to reveal the various settings.
The biggest transformation would come in the second act, when the center walls opened and two platforms on either side of the stage rotated to reveal the school's gym for the famous dance marathon scene. It was also the first time that the production's musicians were visually revealed to the audience (because there's no orchestra pit in the theatre, the only place the musician's could be was somewhere on the set).
An early alternative concept for the set, something far less representational or literal, but instead inspired by the shapes, colors, and textures of a 1950s diner:
Clue
Spring 2023
We learned a lot from the construction of the Grease set, which was great because the following spring called for the development of another transformative (though arguably less complex) set for the school's production of Clue (based on the movie, based on the board game). In this case, we needed to create Boddy Manor, complete with a large foyer space and spaces for the library, study, billiard room, conservatory, and kitchen – all to be revealed at various points throughout the show.
While we needed nearly as many practical locations as we had a year prior for Grease, the director for Clue was much more open to simplifying the sets and allowing for elements to be filled in by audience imaginations. That meant that we could make our moving walls much smaller (and therefore lighter), so they opened and closed much more smoothly than the walls for Grease had.
A Flea In Her Ear
Spring 2020
The first set I designed solo sadly never came to be... The school planned to produce the farce A Flea in Her Ear in the spring of 2020, but of course had to shut down the production when the rest of the world shut down as well. But as you can see, the concept for the set was fully developed.
The play takes place in two locations: a living room in a home in Paris (in the first & third acts) and a seedy hotel room with a bed attached to a revolving wall (to be replaced with an identical bed on the other side). This was the first of the three sets I designed with complex moving parts, including walls that open to reveal new locations. In this case, there were three large walls that, when flipped open, completely transform the static set from the living room location to the hotel (and back again).
While this set would have proven to be a difficult build, I'm sad that we never had the opportunity to see it in action... Maybe one day!
