The Fantasticks

My third year at Brockport brought four very different productions that I would enjoy working on:  The Fantasticks, A Wrinkle in Time, The Shadow Box and As You Like It.

In addition to my regular duties as Technical Director that year I would get to design the lighting for one show, the set for another and by the end on the year my career at Brockport would take a big change, all of which was caused, in part, by the lighting designer not getting tenure the previous spring.

Because the Lighting Designer’s wife was due to give birth some time in October he had asked me to assistant on the Opera production in Rochester and also to design the lighting for The Fantasticks which was going on about the same time.  

It always amazes me how much more I can get done when I am busy, but when I have free time it is hard to get motivated to get simple things done, like writing in a Blog.

Many times I come home after a 12 to 14 hour workday and decide to the dishes, re-arrange the living room or some other fun project.

I think it is really just my way to wind down, still working on something but in a mindless way slowing down until I can go to bed.

The Fantasticks was to be the first play of the school year, simple a small cast and set but for those who knew our Set Designer at the time, Richard Montgomery, this was really was a typical “Richard’ set.

This is not to sat that is not to say it was bad, but it was different, maybe a bit odd or unique.

What did I have to build?

One 4’-0” x 8’-0” platform, 16 inches high with a step at each end.

The stage was wrapped a layer of clear plastic sheeting with the theatre’s black curtains about 4 feet behind.

The actors would enter through and sometimes play some scenes behind the plastic.

The set was framed with long sheets of bubble plastic on each side of the proscenium.

The nickname for the show was of course “The Fan-Plasticks”

Of course there was a bit more to do, we used one of the trap doors and there were a few props to be built, but this was really one of those rare shows that was really easy to do.

Too many times we start out with what is suppose to be a simple, low cost, easy to build production, but the set that keeps growing bigger and more complex each day.

The Set Strike was done in 10 minutes; the party of course lasted a bit longer.

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