West Side Story

In the summer of 1986 we did only one play instead of the two shows we had done my first three years at Brockport.

Our musical that year was West Side Story.

I had worked on the same show ten years before at Gateway Playhouse but I was eager to work on it again as I like the story and enjoy the music.

Although we did only one play we also had performance of Garth Fagan’s Dance Company that summer after the musical was over.

I had a good group of student workers and the set offered some interesting challenges.

 

Chain Link Fences.

Putting up a chain link fence is not too hard once you learn the basics, but when you cannot dig a hole and support the posts with concert that you need to come up with other solutions.

We welded up some diagonal supports with flanges that we could bolt to the floor.

Like many other good set pieces I have talked about in this Blog I still have some of them and use them from time to time.

Upstage of the main chain link fence was a structure that represented a bridge with fake “I” beams and steel girders in force perspective to make them look taller than they really were.

 

They were hard to put up but looked good once they were in.

There were small rolling platforms for the Dress Shop, Maria’s bedroom and Doc’s Soda Shop.

I large flying wall came in to cover the fence for the dance at the Gym.

In place of the main curtain there was also a flying fence section that played at three different heights depending on the scene.

For the big rumble scene the front fence was all the way to the ground and the audience had to look through it.

 

The fire escape platform and Maria’s window unit was built into the stage right box closest.

I do believe that I still have some part of that set unit but I know some of it was modified for other productions.

I am sure that there must have been some other set pieces but I do not remember them.

Many in the cast were Theatre or Dance students from Brockport but a few others were mixed in.

A young 16 year old kid from Buffalo was in the show, Jesse L Martin.

He went on to star in Rent on Broadway and then spent ten years on TV’s Law and Order.

More about him can be found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0552509/

Other members of the cast also went on to work in “Professional” world; Jesse had the biggest success, so far.

After the play was over and while working on the dance concert I somehow found the time to buy a new car.

It was my first really new car, a black 1986 Ford Escort GT.

I liked it, it got 40 miles to the gallon on the highway and I had it until 1993 when I traded it in for a new white1993 Ford Escort GT.

Although the Escorts were small they had more room to move things for work than my 1977 Camaro.