INTRODUCTION

PHILOSOPHY OF BUILDING SCENERY

One of the problems encountered in writing a book of this sort is deciding how much to put in it. It is not possible to include everything you might ever need to know about theatre production in one book. There just isn't enough space available. Instead, this book is limited to some specific ideas and techniques that are useful in and of themselves, but that also teach something about the process of working in the theatre. If you understand process, you can use that knowledge in new and creative ways. There are lots of ways to build scenery. The methods illustrated in this book are just that, methods. They are not intended to be the only, one true way to make the piece that is shown. Often there are alternate methods shown as well. The hope is that if you learn some basic methods of problem solving that have worked well in the past, you can use these ideas to help solve problems you will encounter in the future. That goal of learning about process is balanced with the need to learn some very specific skills used in working with wood, metal, plastics, and less physical things like electricity.

Certain topics recur a number of times. This is because they are very important cornerstones of scenery building philosophy. There are traditional methods of working in the theatre that are different from working in other building trades. Some of these basic ideas are:

Building scenery is different from other types of general construction because scenery quite often needs to do more than just sit there. At times you must build scenery that flies in and out, rolls off stage, disappears, reappears, or sinks into the floor.

Building and painting scenery in a shop is a much better practice than building it in place on the stage. It sounds trite, but this actually does match the “real world” practice better than you might think. Of course shops in large cities must be able to move their product to a theatre or a TV studio. But even regional theatres must generally be able to transport what they build. In order for a resident theatre to remain solvent, it must have shows running all the time. The next production must be built while the present one is still in performance. Resident theatres most likely have only a week, or perhaps two, between shows to get the next one loaded in, teched, and open to the public. These are intense periods with lots of things to do, and you cannot afford to wait until you are in the theatre to start building the scenery. You may not need to worry about moving your show from town to town, but certainly it must at least travel from the shop to the stage. Learning to build scenery in units, or parts, that can be transported and easily assembled is very important. Even if you must use the stage space as a construction work area, you can still use these methods to make scenery easier to assemble.

The nature of scenery built in New York for a touring show and the type of scenery built for a university show are often quite different. Broadway shows have really big budgets that a university or regional theatre can never match. The tour versions of these shows sometimes use the original set, but more often, a special version is made that is more “tour friendly.” Television studio work is vastly different from anything you might find in live entertainment. There are lots of different production styles in the entertainment business. I have tried to take the best of different worlds and bring them together into a way of producing plays that can work for most theatres.

DIFFERENT WORK ENVIRONMENTS

In talking to the editors at Focal Press, I became more aware of how my background has influenced the way I build scenery and my basic philosophy of how to approach the craft. My MFA is in scenery design, but most of my work experience has been as a technical director. I have been teaching college for over 20 years, but am also a longstanding member of Local 346 of IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes). As a union stagehand, I have had the opportunity to travel with several different national touring companies, and have set up hundreds of tour shows and rock concerts.

The IA stagehand experiences have impressed me with the need to make sure that scenery is quick and easy to assemble, and that aspect of the craft leads to many clever inventions that are always fun to figure out. Being a teacher at a university has exposed me to many creative people and the enjoyment of being in on the development of artistic endeavors that most stagehands are never exposed to. It is very satisfying to find ways to make something actually happen that at first seem seemed completely impossible. My earliest work experiences were in regional theatres. I have also built scenery for television, mostly public TV, but also commercials and news programs. It is good to learn as much as you can about different work environments.

It has often interested me how different the two worlds of the union stagehand and the college theatre student are, and how little they sometimes seem to know about each other. In large cities, stagehands are mostly engaged in setting up shows and running them. Being a stagehand is often a family tradition, and you find many people with the same last names. The apprentice exam in my local is mostly about electrics, rigging chain motors, theatre fly systems, and followspot operation. These are the things that hands are most frequently asked to do. It is a craft that is learned by being an apprentice and then moving on to journeyman. Except for very specific union shops, most stagehand work occurs in theatres or convention centers. Most IA stagehands know a great deal about load-ins, load-outs, and running shows, but probably not so much about building scenery.

A GROUP OF IA STAGEHANDS WAITING BY THE STAGE DOOR

There are differences in terminology. In a union situation a “strike” requires you NOT to work. At a university, it is a very intense work period. A show that is in “production” is going through what schools call “tech.” Production is a catchall term that means just about anything to do with a play that isn't related to acting, singing, or dancing.

COLLEGE STUDENTS IN A SCENE SHOP

There are very specific departments set up to ensure that proper organization is achieved. They are: carpentry, electrics, sound, wardrobe, props, and hair. You almost never hear anyone use the words lighting or costumes in reference to the people who work in those departments. Instead, they are electricians and dressers. Workers tend to be specialists in a specific field and may not necessarily know that much about what happens in another department, unless it has a direct bearing on their own. They are often absolute masters of their particular craft. Schools like to give students a more well-rounded education in all phases of theatre, including things like history, playwrighting and acting. That is part of the mission of creating a person who thinks, questions, and reasons. Curiously, many of the people I have met who travel with commercial theatre tours are college theatre graduates as well as IA members. Perhaps the “lean how to think” aspect of college life makes it easier for them to adapt to new situations, and working their way up to being an IA journeyman gives them the specific work skills they need to do the job.

THEATRE ORGANIZATIONS

Regardless of the type of theatre you work in, the actual process of mounting a show is more or less the same. Designers work with a director to invent a way of presenting the author's work to the audience. Shops go to work to build the scenery, lighting effects, and props that the designers have specified. The show is set up in a theatre, and the cueing process begins. Whether you call it tech or production, cue setting requires many hours of starting, stopping, and waiting around for things to begin again.

Commercial theatre (which has investors and must show a profit) is usually developed along the lines of the “longrun” concept of production, in which a show is put up with the intention that it will run until it stops making money and then close. That could mean at the end of ten years, or it could mean the end of Act I. If this were easy to predict we would all be producers. The scenery for such a show will most likely be trashed after the show closes, and rented equipment will be returned to the production company that supplied it. Scenery for a long-run show is built with only one specific use in mind, and there is no thought of reusing anything.

Universities, and most regional theatres, are organized around the concept of stock theatre. These theatre companies produce a number of plays in succession, and embrace the idea of having a “season” every year. They tend to save scenery, props, costumes, etc., in order to reuse them for another production. Some theatres save and reuse lots of things. Some theatres save very little. Things like platforms, escape stairs, curtains, and so forth are so generic that it only makes sense to reuse them in order to keep costs down.

This book often discusses the pros and cons of what should constitute stock items. My personal bias is that there is nothing more boring than last week's scenery. But the audience never sees 4x8 platforms or escape stairs. Actually, recycling scenery is mostly dependent on design factors. You can't reuse something that isn't asked for. Sometimes designers specifically request something from a previous show. That works well with things like doorframes that all look pretty much the same for a specific time period. Alas, there are relatively few shows that cry out for a sign advertising Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pies.

ORGANIZATION OF THE CHAPTERS

There are three distinct phases represented in the book. The first has to do with working in the theatre to mount a show, the second with tools and materials, and the last with the construction of scenery from designs presented by a designer. The first six chapters cover theatres and their equipment. They outline things like how to use rigging equipment, electrics, curtains, tying knots, and the spaces you find in different sorts of theatres.

It is important to have a strong appreciation of how to run a show in a theatre in order to better understand how to build scenery. Scenery must be built to accommodate stage equipment, and the sort of rigging used in theatres dictates often dictates how scenery must be built. The “construction phase” of lighting work occurs mostly in the theatre. Rather than actually building things, most of the electrician's work is involved in hanging and focusing lights. There are many ancillary projects like setting up dimmers and running cables. The inside-the-theatre chapters are presented first to help you to understand how a theatre building itself influences the construction of the scenery.

You can read the book in any order, for the most part, but there are some times when earlier chapters are mentioned. Sometimes ideas are repeated for subsequent sections. Rather than go into the full explanation every time, there is one instance (usually the first one) that has a more complete description.

There are a number of projects shown. You can build them directly from the plans in the book, but it would be even better to change them in some way to include something you actually need for a show. It is very important to be able to extrapolate from basic information, and to make it work in different situations. That is the real goal of learning, not just facts and figures, but the reasoning behind a process or method. That allows you to take information and use it in new and creative ways.

You may find that the same sorts of structures tend to repeat themselves over and over. In reality, most joinery, whether wood or steel, follows some pretty straightforward concepts that should be apparent by the time you finish with the book. Most construction is based on flat, two-dimensional structures that are grouped together to form more three-dimensional objects. If you learn the ideas behind making a cut list for one type of construction based on the way that the parts overlap one another, you can use the same ideas to plan a cut list for lots of other projects.

From time to time, there are small encouragements to be neat with your work. That comes under the heading of craftsmanship. Taking pride in your work is very important, especially if you want to go on to become a professional. The further you go in theatre, the more important it is to have a sense of craftsmanship. Many regional theatres are very well known for the excellent work they produce, and shows built for the Broadway market are incredibly well turned out. An audience will definitely appreciate quality, and you will too. Years ago, I worked for a carpenter who said, “The audience sees the front, but I have to look at the back. My view should be just as good as theirs.” Finely crafted work is its own reward.