A Streetcar Named Desire images
Director Eric prepared the set design and has done a big share of the carpentry. The photo above shows where we stood after three weekends of work, with carpentry just about complete, ready for painting to commence.
Eric's very high on a CAD tool called SketchUp, available at no cost on google.com. He used it to create a three-dimensional plan of this set, as well as a virtual scenery shed's worth of stock flats and platforms (which will be available to other SketchUp users). I got to "walk" through the design, view it from many angles and "eye" locations and ask lots of questions about it. (Tom, who's designing the set for Beyond Therapy later this season, discovered SketchUp independently, and he's equally positive about it.)
I'm afraid that the colors of the stock flats make it hard to follow the parts of the set. This project incorporates black flats that most recently served as wings, some little red jogs that were in a musical fundraiser last year, and—most spectacularly—bits of the mural from Godspell. Yes, it's true that our flats get heavier as we apply more and more paint to them; when they become too much to handle, we donate them to a neighbor company or dispose of them. By the time Eric left on the day I made these pix, most of the walls had a new white base coat on them. That means that the next photo you see here will be less diverting but more informative.
Above left you see Kris (who's to play Blanche) hanging dutchman on the walls. She's in the Kowalski bedroom. Just behind her shoulder is the rod on which Eric will hang the curtain separating the bedroom and the living room to your left. In the full view, the New Orleans exterior is elevated all the way on the left, with stairs leading down to Stanley and Stella's place and other stairs leading up to the, um, upstairs apartment. I think Eric is pretty clever to bring the interior downstage and center instead of parking it in a nook somewhere upstage as you often get in Streetcar.
At right is my icebox. I designed it from an old catalog photo, and Pam and I built it from plywood. (Under protest: Eric said his budget would not stretch to sheet zinc, enameled steel and asbestos insulation.) Next it gets painted white and moved into the kitchen corner. This is a pre-electric model, with the drawer on top for a block of real ice, which Stanley probably mooches from the bar across the street.
Streetcar opens in early February for a two-weekend run. Come see it; calling 706 208 8696 for reservations is a smart idea. Spot the endearing quirk in the way the Kowalski place is built and get a mention in this web site. (Hint: In your home it would be a mistake. Contest not open to cast and crew members, void where prohibited. Decision of the Judge is final.)
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