Setting the Stage

Photo Description: Shirin Gezelbash helping students hang clouds

For the last two academic years at ASD, I have taught the Stagecraft course in the high school with support of my amazing colleague, Shirin, wherein students explore set design, community focused projects, and most significantly are responsible for designing, and creating the major stage elements for the high school winter musical. It is a fantastic opportunity for students to work creatively, experience and see the community impact of the work they make, and of course, get our hands dirty nearly every day as we aim to meet the needs and deadlines of the musical.

This year’s musical was an iteration of the Little Mermaid, and wow… was it an undertaking! Unlike last year’s musical, Chicago, where there was one main set element/setting, and a few additional embellishments, this years production featured three major setting changes (underwater, inside the palace, and on the sea) which required a lot of set elements to “set” these three distinct locations.

Challenge Accepted!

On the left is the to-do list that we kept mounted on the door in the stagecraft room.

14 elements to produce in two months!

One major accomplishment for this year’s production in the category of sustainability was the fact that all constructed (wooden and weight bearing) elements were repurposed from previous productions, or built from our existing supply of wood. This was the first production in years where a wood order was not placed! I am immensely grateful to our carpenters at ASD for supporting in this repurposing and helping us construct these larger elements.

Set design in itself is inherently generatively, and there will always be years when new structures must be constructed as time wears down old pieces, however, a big aim this year was to work as sustainably as possible considering the large list of elements needed. We are very proud to have been able to produce so many pieces successfully through upcycling, and were glad to have been able to give some of these set elements a second go at the stage!

One such element was the two-sided Ursula’s Lair & Ariel’s Grotto (above). Used in multiple scenes, this repurposed camper was from the production so far back that we have not been able to figure out where it was from! The structure itself was assessed to ensure it was in safe and in usable condition, and once determined we used this as the base for our planning.

Conveniently the backside of this element was open, making it perfect for the lair- allowing us to create a cave-like structure with some thin plywood and insulation foam at the foreground- adding some physical depth. On the front of the grotto, we added some shelves, and later bulked them out using scrap papers, and plaster cloth in order to transform them into a coral-like base.

For any of the freestanding rock or coral elements, we managed to repurpose wheeled boxes from an unknown production tucked away in the staff parking garage. As demonstrated on this colorful coral (above) you can see aspects of the box in its original state (left), and how we progressively built onto it with an underlying structure of paper, later adding plaster cloth for strength, and stability. The coral pieces themselves are a mixture of insulation foam, repurposed cardboard, and paper towel rolls either donated or collected across campus. The final result with paint is a lightweight, colorful stage element that supported all underwater scene related to Ariel or King Triton.

Wet Seaweed on Ariel’s Rock

This clever use of leftover cotton stuffing, PVA glue, and paint was a student suggestion. The effect was ideal for the appearance of seaweed stuck to rock in the receding tide.

Just a lighthearted reminder for the crew which side of the rock is meant to face the audience. Everything, especially stage elements have a “good side” and a “bad side”.

Fans of previous ASD productions may recognize a familiar pair of chandeliers on stage as well as the windows from the palace scenes. The chandeliers were constructed during last year’s Chicago production, and perfectly fit the atmosphere of elegance that we were aiming for in Prince Eric’s palace. These were used without any alteration, and as you may notice, the red curtain was kept in the same position from the year prior. Meanwhile, the windows were once the church doors used in the 2021 production of Footloose (below right). These required only a slight modification in the removal of the stained glass, the opening of an additional bottom panel, and finally adding in a gradient '“sky” to break up the black backdrop of the palace wall.

One more set piece from Chicago likely saw its’ final re-use in this production. The main set element (above) was created for the high school production in November of last year, and was then taken apart and repurposed for both the middle school (Oliver) and elementary school (Peter Pan) production in the 2022-23 school year. We took inspiration from the elementary school production, and decided to use the of the outer stair cases to create the large ship structure this year. Once again, our amazing carpenters helped to build an additional weight bearing front to act as the bow of the ship. With some new paint applications, and a few barnacles, we had a massive, moving ship, and most impressively, the fantastic student set crew moved this massive element on stage safely while 8 actors were on it!

Can you spot where this piece once was in the Chicago set?

For Ursula’s Lair we were really pleased with how this piece ended up functioning under the different colored lights used in her scenes. The initial concept for Ursula’s lair was for it to have a bioluminescent quality: think dark, with pops of light! I was largely inspired by bioluminescent algae, and a particular moment in Tamatoa’s Lair in Disney’s Moana.

We experimented a lot with different paints, and the musical director even ordered some UV reactive fairy lights. However, the lights themselves washed out a bit once the various reds, blues, and greens were cast on stage. To our pleasant surprise, the relatively cheap fluorescent craft paints we purchased ended up being a perfect fit! No matter what light was cast on the stage, a different part of the coral, tentacle borders lit up. No matter where the light hit, something was there to catch your eye.

Jellyfish

One key approach we took to differentiate between the underwater / land scenes were in a number of elements suspended from the batons. Above water we created a grouping of clouds like the one seen in the cover image, and for all underwater scene we had staggered jellyfish and bubbles.

Adjusting the lighting for Triton’s Throne. You can see some of the jellyfish in action here.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with the quality, and outcome of the set, and I am especially proud that not a single new piece of wood was used to create these wonderful elements! The deeper into my career I get as an art and design teacher, the more concerned I am with sustainable making, so this felt like quite the accomplishment. Special shout out thought to construction insulation foam, and plaster gauze for carrying most of this set design!

Not featured in the photos here were. of course, the amazing Stagecraft students who helped design, and lead the construction of these elements. A lot of work went in behinds the scenes to make these pieces come together, and we were very luck this year to have such diverse skillset in the class; a lot of enthusiasm, ideas, a number of students in Stagecraft involved in other aspects of the crew, and production itself. These students especially had such valuable insight in our design and making process, as they knew exactly how easily our creations would (or sometimes, not) function for the crew, and during the performance.

It was a stellar production with excellent acting, singing, and choreo. If you want to see some parts of the set in action, and see our fantastic actors, and their amazing costumes, you can check out this post on the official ASD Instagram.

Shirin & Myself taking our place on Triton’s Throne in the final days, relieved to be done! This was one of the last elements to be completed for the production.

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