Most of what happens behind the scene of a play at the university
can be traced to the theatre design students.  Theatre
students junior theatre design Aaron Patterson and sophomore
general studies major Owen Crooks take apart play sets and props from previous
productions.
The Lion's Roar / Tiffany Nesbit

While enjoying a live theatre production, audiences often do not think about all of the work put into the play set. People notice the actors and actresses on stage, but often miss the parts that make the scenery such as lighting, make up design, sound maintenance, fly crew, costume design and stage props recognized. The university provides not only acting courses, but behind the scene courses like theatre design.  

Fine and performing arts director Chad Winters gave a brief description of what goes on in the theatre department at the university. 

“Light is influenced by its world, like other design elements,” said Winters. “Light helps to set the mood of a play. As a director, I typically am looking for a certain style of play, lighting helps with that. For example, the play “Oedipus” was made up of dynamic forms of shaded light to create various dramatic moods.” 

The Electric Prep crew is typically responsible for running lighting. 

Another group of behind the stage crew are makeup artists and costume designers. This group is responsible for making each individual character come to life and make the audience believe that the character is real. 

“It is important as an audience member to be engaged with the character’s design,” said Winters. “For example, makeup and costumes for a young actor who plays an elderly character is extremely important. The audience should not be able to tell that the old character is being played by a young actor or actress.”

For both makeup design and costume design, the artists all complete drafts on paper of what they envision. 

“The director or design manager can give specific designs of what they want the artists to have done for each character,” said senior art major and makeup artist Dominique Lopez. “Each makeup design has its own ‘face chart’ on paper that is hung up for the artists to work off of.” 

Building sets is a whole different department. It consists of the physical construction of the set, painting, setting up, taking down and props. 

“Scenically, you have to know what you want onstage prior to building, if you want your play to be realistic or abstractly illustrated,” said Winters.

According to Winters, realistic play sets “are like sticking a room like an ordinary office onstage,” while an abstract play set is trying to build a play set that is fantasy or trying to express an unseen emotion.

Winters expressed the importance of teamwork.

“The collaboration between scenic designers and the director is extremely important and they have to work together in order to create the foundation for a new world,” said Winters.

Prop design is important because it gives the audience a visual of what the characters onstage are trying to use in their performance. 

“Usually the job of a prop designer is a mix of shopping and crafting objects the character needs to illustrate the story,” said Winters. “It is the ‘jack-of-all-trades.’ It is a great way for artists of all backgrounds to produce work onstage.”

Other backstage work consists of jobs like sound engineering, board operators, fly crew (the person who is in charge of pulling ropes for curtains and other stage props), design assistant and stage manager. These extremely important jobs are essential to the success of any play.