Dancing at Lughnasa (direction: Tom Schwans; scenic design: Jaclyn Meloni) was built by myself and the theater students at Fairfield University.  As technical director, I used the drafting and discussions with the designer and director to decide how the project would be built and oversaw construction as scene shop head. I also ended up building some very interesting props including a fireplace, a 1936 newspaper, several pairs of hand-knit gloves, and a dead pet rooster.  In this business, you never know what you’ll have to build!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jacklyn Meloni (our scenic designer) wanted a hill entrance for this set and, by golly, we made sure she had a hill. This is our hill-building process. We started with blue foam, glued together and attached to a custom platform. The foam was carved and covered with burlap and white glue. Then we applied the second layer of burlap which matched the “grass” covering on the rest of the set and the piece was read for painting. We were not allowed to paint, nail, or otherwise injure the floor in this space, so the burlap was attached to a piece of vinyl flooring and gaffed down. Note our lovely window lightbox upstage!