I magine you're at a play put on by the OU drama department. You're watching a couple of actors prancing around biting their thumbs and talking to skulls. Now imagine they're working with no scenes, no costumes and no makeup--just a bunch of people on stage talking to each other. Not a very good play, is it?
Without the help of the people who work backstage creating sets and dressing actors, tragedies wouldn't be as tragic and comedies wouldn't be as comedic.
THE SCENE SHOP
The philosophy of the scene shop is, spend god-awful hours setting stuff up and tear it all down in one hour, according to Kyle Johnston, drama senior and a summer technical director for the OU School of Drama.
"That's a major part of this industry, constantly putting stuff up and taking it down," Johnston said. "You learn to thrive without having a heart attack."
Not only do Johnston and the rest of the scene crew (about 30 people including assistants) have to set up all of the sets, they have to build them too.
The cavernous scene shop is a laboratory of the fine arts. It looks more like a Home Depot than a wing of the Fine Arts Center. To the left are stacks of lumber and building material. To the right, tools, table saws and welding equipment. Farther back are a drafting room and a storage area. Backdrops and set pieces hang from the wall like trophies. Think Da Vinci's workshop on an OU budget.
The shop can make just about anything a director needs. And it usually does, Johnston said.
"What we can do really depends on the talent we have, but we can do some amazing stuff," Johnston said. "This department has no limitations on what it can do."
But before a set piece is made, the department has to consider three things. First, there has to be enough money to make the piece. Second, safety issues have to be ironed out. After all, that burning bush the director wants could actually burn the house down. Finally, the right materials have to be on hand. Once all of these things check out, it's just a matter of Johnston and the rest of the crew putting it together.
Once the set piece is constructed, be it a tree or an entire background, the crew has to set it up on stage. The actors do their song and dance, and then it's torn down. It might seem like a thankless job to some, but Johnston said there's nothing he'd like to do more.
"Our job is to contribute to the show without taking away from the artists' message," Johnston said. "I feel I am doing my part."
Turning a blank stage into a living world isn't your typical day job, admits Johnston.
"The shows are all so different. It keeps it from becoming a job where you have to stare at three walls for hours," Johnston said.
Since the sets are always changing, the scene shop has to constantly create and construct, filling in gaps as it goes along, Johnston said. It can get pretty hectic, especially for Johnston's position, he said. As the technical director, he is the go-to guy.
"He has to see how everything fits together and all the little details," said Michael Fain, associate professor and technical director of scenic design for the OU School of Drama. "He has to go through the director, design [the prop], and hand it over to the stage director."
The process of organizing, creating, installing and destroying sets and props for every production of the School of Drama could drive a person nuts, Johnston said.
"If you don't take everything in stride, you could get burned out easily," Johnston said. "Sometimes it feels like being in an ER room with everyone dying."
STITCHED IN TIME
It's stating the obvious, but without costumes all the actors on stage would be naked. The costumers for the OU School of Drama are just as important as the prop department.
The old saying goes that the clothes make the man (or woman). Any good costumer knows that, to fully captivate an audience, the actors have to be dressed for the part.
For the costume department at OU, that philosophy holds true. To fully immerse the actors in the scene, the costume department paints, decorates and builds entire costumes for the actors, staff stitcher Amy Kercher said.
"A lot of work goes into making costumes for the whole show," Kercher said. "You have to have a dedication to theater."
The costume department has the tools to get the job done, though. The main shop is littered with mannequins showing off the costumes for the next production and racks of costumes in the making. The prop room is packed with odds and ends from past productions and looks and smells a lot like grandma's attic.
The costume department makes the clothes for every OU drama production, from ballet to Shakespeare. The shop is able to produce everything from the mundane to the magical. For the summer production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the costume for the fairy prankster Puck was hand-painted.
"You can get as elaborate as you want here," Jessie Menck, drama senior, said. "It all just takes time."
The costume department is a close-knit group of students and staff, drama senior Krista Millersaid.
"All the people here are so friendly," Miller said. "There is always a danger in drama that there might be ego problems. I have not seen anything like that here."
Even with the friendly atmosphere, the work can get hectic in the scene shop, admits Miller.
"It's like a wedding day," Miller said. "There is only so much you can do in advance, then it all starts to snowball in the end."
Miller says she just tries to handle the stress as best she can.
"It's all part of the territory," she said.
Costumers like Menck say they don't like the fact that they do all the work to make the show believable yet get little thanks. They believe their job is just as important as the actors'.
"A lot of actors don't even know where their costumes come from or how much work it took (to make them)," Miller said.
Even with the lack of gratitude and fast pace, things still manage to fall into place.
"I swear there are little elves that come in and make sure everything is done at night," Miller said.
CURTAIN CALL
The people who work behind the scenes of a production might not get the thanks they deserve, but their help is invaluable to the cause. Johnston commented that the director of a production is like the general of an army, giving out orders. If that is true, then the people backstage, like Johnston, are the engineers who make sure the actor on stage have the right equipment to knock the audience dead.
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