Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams
Athens, OH 2021
Designed By: Christopher Rees
Directed By: Sarah Elizabeth Yorke
•Moving scenery involved straight-caster SL and SR wagons and a 1 foot wide turntable "donut" in the center of the upstage platform.
•Wagons were manually moved, the turntable was moved using a Creative Connors rotator.
•The show material budget was $2000.
The bid process started in June 2021, when the price of a single sheet of 3/4" plywood went from $18 to $82. This caused the show to need a complete re-design between spring and fall semesters. This bid sheet uses the re-design as well as pricing from September 2021, when plywood cost $42/sheet.
The actual costs of the show. The difference between the bid and the actuals was mostly due to the upstage fabric panels being unexpectedly changed during tech week.
The most challenging scenic element for me was the donut turntable. It was made from 2" steel box tube remnants from a previous show.
A piece of 3/16" thick flat bar was welded onto the outside of the bottom ring to be the track for the rotator.
The donut was pinned in place by 3 casters placed horizontal against the track around the outside of the donut. This was mostly successful in keeping it in place, which was difficult due to not having a center pivot point. If I were to design this again, I would add a center pivot. Ultimately, while the process was challenging, the director and designer were happy and the turntable successfully moved during the run of the show.
Full Build Draft Packet Download
