Work in Progress: Set Construction

Set construction began earlier this week for Back of the Throat. We were challenged with getting the walls up and ready for a run-through of the play on June 1^st. This meant we had 2 nights to build and erect 7 flats and 2 doors; just enough to give the actors and director an idea of what their space on stage would be like. Our construction crew consists of Shawn Lee (Set Designer/Technical Director), Brad Price (Producer/Carpenter) and myself (Nick Cernoch/Production Manager/Carpenter)…we are all ensemble members of the company.

The wide open playing area from our previous show (The Fair Maid of the West, Parts I and II) is being cut almost in half as we create the character Khaled’s cramped apartment. It was very exciting seeing the run-through in this more confined space, and I’m sure the actors enjoyed the sneak peek they got since they won’t be rehearsing on the stage again until we go into Tech Rehearsals. Many times actors never even set foot on the set until Tech and Dress Rehearsals, but we always try to have set construction benchmarks earlier in the rehearsal process so they can have at least a rehearsal or two in the actual space.

You can click HERE to see a slideshow of some early set pictures. Be sure to check back as I’ll try and keep the site updated with more pics as our process continues…we have painting, floor treatments, rear wall installation and tons of set detailing to come. Gotta go now…as usual we have a set to build.