How Poor Are They That Have Not Patience

Hello all,

I had the most wonderful time visiting the Paint Shop, Prop Shop and Scene/Weld Shop this past week. They are busy preparing for Spacing Rehearsals, which are coming up next week. These are the first rehearsals outside at the Ewing space and require the major structural components to be completed so that the actors and directors can see if all the theoretical blocking will become a reality!

Here are some of the designs that are hanging on the wall in the Paint Shop:

The Paint Shop was busy working on the walls for Hamlet - Ally, Allison, Sam and Olivia walked me through what their process entails to create the stone effect.

First, the flats are primed and the outline of the stones are taped out.

Then the first layer of Roof Coating is added - it resembles concrete in the way it looks. This gives texture to each stone.

You can see how each stone is being treated individually .

This whole process takes several days, which is mostly drying time inbetween layers.

See texture the first layer provides?

After that, several different colors of paint are layered on with dry brushing - this helps the paint pick up the texture of the Roof Covering.

Next I visited the Prop Shop - Katie and Jessica were working on the trunks for Peter and the Starcatcher. There are several trunks in the show that all must look identical - there are also some very fun special effects that I can't tell you about (you will have to come see the show!)

Here are the plans:

What I found really fun about the trunks was what the edging was made out of: sliced 2x4s! They are stained and then cut to size.

Measure twice, cut once...

Fully edged trunks!

Next, I visited the Scene Shop where Jorge was working on the Ship Ladders for Peter and the Starcatcher.

Here are the plans:

After cutting the pieces to the right length:

Jorge went to work sanding the rounded edges. He explained to me that they ensure all the rails having the same curved ending by drawing a circle at the end and sanding on that curve.

So they all have the same curved edge!

I also got a chance to speak with Dave, the Scene and Welding Shop Supervisor. He told me that the shop was focused on having all the large structures finished for the Peter and the Starcatcher spacing rehearsal scheduled for Tuesday, June 7th.

He showed me the spiral staircase collection that is hanging from the rafters in the Scene Shop -

he said these were perhaps the most challenging/fun pieces to build in the Welding shop.