The last two Saturdays Austin and I have been helping build the set for “Arsenic and Old Lace,” the drama he will be in at Newberg High (He’s a police officer). It has been fun to build with friend David Andres (his son Garrett is a Bad Guy in the play). It has also been good to get acquainted with new folks. The play will be presented in January.
Commercial break:
Arsenic and Old Lace
Newberg High School
January 17, 18, 19 and 25, 26, 27
7:30 pm
Austin’s cast is on 17th, 19th, and 26th
Garrett’s cast is on 18th, 25th, 27th
Now back to the post:
Fergie (Mrs. Ferguson, the drama teacher) says this is the most involved set she has seen at NHS. It has an upstairs landing with two staircases; one on the front, and one backstage. We also built a window seat (and window) on the right side of the set that is an important part of the story.
Building the front stairway.
What it looks like backstage.
Backstage (showing the stairs that the audience won’t see).
From the front, so far. We have one more work day to go!
Oh, I remember the days of set design and building. I don’t remember ever having parents around to help, though. It was pretty much done only by students. I don’t remember using too much plywood, but it appears that muslin is still popular to cover the 16-18′ “walls.” Making them sturdy enough to not sway for a good door-slam was always hard.
Then, of course, came the lighting design, more my forte…