“I felt like a fly on the wall..fascinating!”
“A fantastic show!”
“Surprisingly funny - and then I was in tears.”
“Uplifting, engaging…deserves all the fine adjectives I can muster. … A gem of a production - wholly satisfying. I didn’t want to leave. “

For the past few weeks I’ve been working on the set-design and construction for the Theater Forum production of “Angels Fall,” by Lanford Wilson. We just finished our first week of a three week run and have already received great audience feedback and our first review.

OffoffOnline calls the show “compelling, intimate” and refers to it as “a moment of communion…a minor miracle”. Our actors are praised as “exceptional…refreshingly layered” and “well-nuanced.” Read the whole review at www.offoffonline.com. (I even get mentioned by name when she talks about the set!)

If you are in the New York City area, make a reservation and see what everyone is talking about. “Angels Fall” is running until May 7, 2006.

The Go-To Guy

The challenge I’m working on today is to devise a way to stretch 10 black sound blankets (about 5 feet by 6 feet each) across a 26 foot expanse to create a false ceiling over the top of the theater playing space. This is for the theater project I’m working on (Angels Fall, by Lanford Wilson - Produced by the Theater Forum in New York.)

The show takes place in a small Pueblo-style Catholic mission church on a Navajo reservation. The production takes place in a high ceilinged gothic style church in Manhattan. The space is very echoey and has enormous vaulted ceilings. The director wants to neutralize the space as much as possible to make the stage feel more simple and intimate.

Creating a Church Inside a Theater Inside a Church!

Our plan is to create a false fabric ceiling which will cut down on the echoes and visually drop the ceiling and mask the more ornate ceiling above.

The area being used for the show as at the back of the sanctuary, where the building is a little more simple. On both sides of the area are 3 large arches resting on top of 3 twelve foot tall columns. The tops of the columns are squared off with a small ledge and the columns are 8 feet apart.

We will essentially be creating a clothes line out of metal cable and threading the corners of the blankets onto it. Since the space between the columns is wider than the blankets, we can’t attach the wire directly to the columns or it will tear the blankets when we tighten the wire, and the first arch actually rests on the outer wall, so there is no column to wrap a cable around. So, we’ll make a little modification.

The Cable Rigging Plan for the Theater Ceiling

By resting metal struts on the outsides of the columns, I can attach eye bolts to the struts and hook the cable onto them. As the cables draw tight, the struts will pull tight against the columns. This will allow the blankets to be centered between the columns.

To tension the wire, I will connect one end to a 8 inch long eye bolt and then use a wrench to tighten the nut that connects the eye bolt to the strut. Each turn of the bolt will bring the eye closer to the strut and tighten the wire.

Once everything is rigged up, I’ll use heavy duty zip-ties to connect the blankets to the wires.

One More Wire Rigging Job

I’ll also be rigging a curtain on a wire at the back of the space, but this will connect directly to the column, so I’ll be using an eye-to-eye turnbuckle to take up the tension on that wire, but the principle is the same.Not counting the sound blankets, curtain, or labor, the material costs for all this rigging will come to a little over $100. Tomorrow I’ll be out trying to get some, or all of the materials donated - just part of the process in non-profit theater!

Here is the final setup for the false ceiling!

The Go-To Guy!

Recently I was digging through some old papers and found this funny little joke that a friend emailed me back in early 2001. I meant to put it up on one of my production websites, but it got lost in the shuffle. Now it has a home.

You’re a Producer, Aren’t You?

A man in a hot air balloon realized that he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted to her, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”

The woman below replied:

“You are in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You are between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude.”

“You must be a Production Manager,” said the balloonist.

“I am,” replied the woman, “How did you know?”

“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost! Frankly you haven’t been any help at all.”

The woman below shouted back, “You must be a Producer!”

“I am,” replied the balloonist, “how did you know?”

“Well,” said the woman, “you don’t know where you are or where you are going. You have risen to your lofty position due to a large volume of hot air. You’ve made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you show up expecting me to solve your problem. The fact is, you are in exactly the same position as before we met, but somehow, now, this is all my fault!”

This was one of those anonymous email forwards, so I don’t know the author. But I get a kick out of it everytime I read it!

The Go-To Guy!

One of my current projects is as technical director and set designer for a production of “Angels Fall,” by Lanford Wilson. The show is being produced by the Theatre Forum at Church for All Nations, in New York City, and my wife Ellen is producing.

The Project: 6 Rustic Benches

My first construction project for this play is a set of 6 benches for the set. The director requested I make them first so the actors could get used to them during rehearsal. So, this past weekend, I sketched up my design and built 6 wooden benches.

The play takes place in a poor southwestern church. The director wanted something that looked like it was put together from leftover materials. I decided to use 2×10 floor joists as my primary material as scraps of these can be found on any timber frame construction site. The design consists of two 1.5″ uprights supporting a 4′ wide seat with triagular gussets at each joint for extra strength.

Overall, the design of the benches is very consistent with the type of benches that you might find in a location like the one described in the play. We bought four 12′ long 2″x10″ floor joists and had less than 11″ of scrap left when the benches were finished (Ellen helped me with the math on getting the most useable materials out of each board, as well as how to get each board cut down at the Home Depot so it would fit into our car.) We bought one box of screws and the last one I needed was also the last one in the box.

Finishing Work

All that remains for these benches is to sand down the rough spots and paint them. I’m going to use either a pickeling stain or milk paint to add a bit of color but let the grain show through and give them a weathered look. The stain and milk paint both have a flat finish with a chalky look that will make them look worn out and dull. After that I’ll rub them down strategically with a little dark paint to ‘dirty them up’ and let the director determine if they need any more ‘distressing.’

Counting the trip to Home Depot, I’ve got about 4 hours of work into this project and they turned out pretty nice! It will take another 3 hours to do the sanding and painting.

For more info on the play visit the Theater Forum webpage.

The Go-To Guy!