Constructing Curves

Our shops are very busy these days cranking out the beautiful scenery (see model photo above) for Present Laughter, designed by Huntington favorite Alexander Dodge (Love's Labour's Lost, The Rivals, Butley, A Month in the Country, Heartbreak House). Nicholas Martin and Alexander both have a predeliction towards the grace and style of a curve and you may remember that with the exception of Butley each of Alex's designs for the Huntington featured some form of a graceful arc.

Curved scenery is, in short, more challenging to build than, say squares or rectangles. Our carpenters have become experts.

Why so much steel? A couple of reasons: One is that it's actually easier to bend than wood, and it tends to hold it's shape. The other is something called BU Graduation. We get to install this show twice. We'll put the set in next week for tech and dress rehearsals, and our first two preview performances. Then on Saturday evening - May 19th, following the performance, we'll take it all away and set up the stage for the graduatuation ceremonies of BU's College of Fine Arts. Following the graduation on Sunday afternoon we put it all back in. There is a rehearsal on Monday afternoon - and then a preview performance. It's a fast, crazy ordeal - no more than 36 or so hours between the end of Saturday's performance, Sunday's Graduation, and Monday's rehearsal. Care packages welcome! The set, therefore is built quite ruggedly and made to come apart (and go back together) very quickly.

I won't do much more narrating - just take a look around. If you have a question about what is going on in the pictures - send me a question via the comment link below.

Pictured are Master Carpenter Larry Dersch (on stairs), Stage Carpenter Pat Austin (welding, tan shirt), Carpenter Milosz Gassan (welding, blue shirt) and Shop Foreman Brian Sears (chatting with Larry on the stairs).