The stage is set, but what is it about theater scenes that make them engaging and believable?
For BYU Theatre, the process of set design is an extremely creative and time-consuming process requiring collaboration of hundreds of people.
[/media-credit]
A production usually includes various elements such as design, construction, music, lighting, costuming and props. With so many departments involved, each set design process will likely begin with a simple idea.
“My first job as a director is to create a concept and then to sell that unifying idea to the rest of the production team,” Nelson said.
In the margins of a script, Nelson jots down notes and stick figures to better visualize scenes.
“My scenic designer wraps his brain around all these ideas,” Nelson said. “No designer wants the director to say how to do it, but when you have clear ideas … they’re more than happy to make those things happen. The design team always absolutely blows my mind.”
After many meetings and collaborative adjustments, a director and set designer agree on a set of ideas that will formulate the atmosphere of the entire production.
Travis Coyne of the BYU Division of Design and Production has often been a set designer at BYU. With the director’s vision in hand, Coyne first interprets the play himself and then formulates his designs on paper.
Describing the process as putting together a jigsaw puzzle, Coyne first creates a series of drawings of what the set will look like. Various models on CAD computer programs like Google’s SketchUp Pro are often used to help the production team envision how the structures, dimensions, lighting, color and texture will all come together.
“Everybody’s got their own quirks for how they do this,” Coyne said. “That’s why this is a collaborative art and that’s how the best productions come together.”
The students behind the scenes of BYU productions are from all different majors, including theatre media arts studies, construction management, illustration and advertising.
“There are lots of talented students working here who are designers in their own right,” Coyne said.
Set design models are sent to a technical director who estimates costs, chooses materials and oversees structures to their completion. Building usually takes four to six weeks and takes place in the scene shop, located behind the Pardoe Theatre of the Harris Fine Arts Center.
“It’s always a challenge as to how you’re going to build something,” said Ward Wright, associate technical director and scene shop supervisor. “How are we going to make this look like stone or wood? What techniques should we use? We’re always trying to make it look like the designer wants it, but for the cheapest cost.”
Wright works with the director and set designer to ensure the construction is moving in the right direction. Sometimes new ideas are discovered and added to the design for atmospheric or practical purposes.
“We try to make the sets as actor-friendly as possible so they have a comfortable space to work on and don’t get injured,” Wright said.
Theatre arts student Brent Robison helped build the set for “The Diary of Anne Frank,” which was a detailed model of the small quarters of The Annex, where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis during World War II. The house was built in several sections that could be wheeled to the stage and connected together.
For more than a month, Robison worked with members of the production team to nail wood, paint walls and add various details to make the world on stage more believable for audiences.
“Creating stuff in theater is about researching,” Robison said. “If we hadn’t done any research, we could have just built any house, but it wouldn’t have met the right needs for the play.”
One of the final steps to create a realistic set requires the expertise of the prop shop faculty and students.
“Anything from hand props for actors to the big furniture to the paints on the wall – the prop shop comes in and dresses it all out so it looks functional,” Coyne said.
Following the grueling labor of production, Robison said it was especially rewarding to watch “The Diary of Anne Frank” as a member of the audience.
“I helped build something that came out very worthwhile,” he said. “‘Anne Frank’ felt real. It made people think differently about their lives.”
Eventually, shows close and sets must be taken apart in a process dubbed “striking,” where scene shop workers keep reusable materials and recycle everything else. For some, saying goodbye to what they created can be bittersweet.
“I was there all the way through ‘Anne Frank,’ working on almost every detail,” Robison said. “So it’s a little sad, but they all have to be taken off the stage eventually.”
Students and TMA faculty eagerly look forward to productions as a way of continuing to create art and promote the world of theater.
“The principles of theater are the principles that engage our hearts and mind,” he said. “When designing theater, we want to create a package that will speak to you and draw you into our world. Once we’ve done that, we want you to believe what’s going on and we want it to change your life.”
