The intricacy of the plays that Augustana puts together goes beyond the actors’ work on stage. Workers at Augustana’s scene shop are tasked with capturing the essence of each play by building the worlds in which the stories unfold.
To do so, all kinds of skills are necessary, requiring the shop to hire students from diverse backgrounds who can contribute their talents in art, design, technology and construction to create scenic environments.
Junior Ben Adams, a carpenter in the scene shop, has been involved in theatre for most of his life but didn’t have many carpentry skills when he was first hired. Over time, he learned techniques, such as how to make floors look like marble, transform fabric to appear “dark and grungy” and even how to build roofs.
“For the Dracula show, instead of just painting the floor one solid color, we dry brushed,” Adams said. “That’s where you take a paintbrush, dip it in paint, and then dry most of it off except for just a little on the tip. It leaves small impressions behind. We also flicked the paintbrush to randomly coat the surface, so it looked like granite and rock.”
Student workers involved in theatre enjoy constructing the worlds in which they will be acting because they can see themselves in the structures they build, whether through their paintwork or the comfort the structures provide.
Junior Kaden Micklos, who performed in the recent production of “The Prom,” said set designer Michael Turzynski does a great job designing sets because he always has backup plans for when things don’t work out and listens to the workers’ feedback.
“When we were building the set for ‘[The] Prom,’ it was exciting to help contribute to the set pieces I would be using,” Micklos said. “I focused a lot on safety precautions because, as an actor, I knew I wouldn’t want any nails sticking out or the floors to be creaky.”
Building is just the first step in the creation of the sets. Afterward, scene shop employees add finishing touches, details, and props to the set, ensuring everything fits with the show’s vision. The final step is to test them to ensure they can move easily and meet the intended expectations.
“When we build a contraption, we start by running through the basics,” Adams said. “Does it move the way we want? Does it look the way we envisioned? Will it hold up under pressure? If any of those answers are no, we fix it. We keep refining our creations until we get to the point of “queue to queue”, which is the process of dry-running the show.”
Senior and worker Emma Watts said that she is content with all the skills she gained while working for Augustana’s scene shop because they helped her build her resume and become a well-rounded student who has experience not only with theatre, but also with backstage operations.
“The primary task is building the sets for the main stage productions,” Watts said. “We build the flats, paint the set and decorate it. It’s a lot of dirty work. I had no experience when I started my freshman year, but Mike [Turzynski] teaches you everything you need to know about building and designing sets.”
No matter the grade or skill level of students, Augustana’s scene shop will always have a job for students who want to help. To get further information, students can contact anybody who works in the theatre department.
