Spinning Into Butter--Scene Design

Scene from Spinning Into Butter

Spinning Into Butter by Rebecca Gilman was produced Fall Semester, 2004 in the Kirkham Arena Theatre at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

Synopsis
Sarah Daniels is the dean of students at a mostly white, fictitious private university in Vermont.  One of the African American students has been targeted for hate crimes.  He has received threatening letters addressed to "Little Black Sambo."  It is Sarah's responsibility to get to the bottom of it and punish the perpetrators.

In the meantime, one of the white student body officers comes to her to propose a seminar against racism for the student body.  They hold the seminar and the black students find it patronizing and demeaning since none of them are really invited to participate and it ends up being a bunch of privileged white kids saying we shouldn't be racist etc...

Sarah works hard to do her job to ease racial tensions, but in the meantime we learn that when she was hired to be the dean of students, the university had been under fire for having an all white faculty and administration.  Sarah had been working at an all black university in Chicago and the administration hired her without an interview, thinking she was black.  They were all surprised when she showed up as white.  This caused some consternation among the other administrators.  They felt lied to even though she hadn't lied.  They assumed she was black.

In a moment of honesty and clarity, Sarah confides to her one friend on the faculty that she left Chicago to come to Vermont to get away from black people.  She loathed herself because she was a closeted racist.  She tells him when she rode the bus she'd first look for a white person to sit by.  If one wasn't available she'd look for a yellow one.  She'd stand rather than sit next to a black person.  She wrote some of this down on a notebook and then they left to get dinner.  While they are away, one of the administrators who disliked her entered her office and snooped through her stuff and found the incriminating evidence.  Confronted with this evidence Sarah decided to resign.

In the meantime it is discovered that the black kid who received the threatening notes had written them himself.  He claimed to have been out of his body while he saw himself writing the notes and tying them to the brick and hurling it through his window.  Because of this, he is expelled.

While she is packing up her office, Sarah tells her friend the story of Little Black Sambo.  The story goes that Little Black Sambo was walking through the forest in his finest clothes.  A tiger saw him and threatened to eat him.  Little Black Sambo gave the tiger his fine new coat in exchange for a promise not to eat him.  The tiger went on his way thinking he was the most fabulous tiger in the forest.  Little Black Sambo encountered another tiger with a similar result.  This happens over and over until Little Black Sambo is left only in his underwear.  Meanwhile, the tigers all encounter each other and each thinks he's the most fabulous tiger in the forest.  They are all jealous of each other and start clawing at one another.  As the fight, they start spinning around in a circle and the spin faster and faster until they spin themselves into butter.  At that point, Little Black Sambo collects his clothes and puts them back on and scoops up a bunch of butter and takes it home.  His mother makes pancakes for the family and they spread the tiger butter that Little Black Sambo has collected.

Sarah and her friend realize that the black student who wrote the note was manipulating the administration, causing them to spin themselves into a frenzy.  As she leaves, she makes contact with the black student and tells him not to be so hard on himself.  As a result of her being there, things actually got better, and because of her confession, she felt cleansed.  We get the sense that even though she is going away, Sarah Daniels will be okay and will be less racist.

The play takes place entirely in her office.

A Note About Little Black Sambo
When I was a boy in the 1960's, there was a restaurant chain called "Sambo's."  It was a pancake house.  Every time I went to Utah with my family and spent the night, we'd get up the next morning and eat at Sambo's.  I remember they had good pancakes.  There was a wallpaper frieze in the restaurant that told the story of Little Black Sambo and the tigers, and you could purchase the children's book from them.  It was a different time, I was just a little boy and had no conception of what all of that meant.  It was just a story to me.  I liked to go there because of the good food.  All but one of the Sambo's restaurants have either been sold to other chains, had the name changed, or closed for good.

Concept
As I read this script, on about page thirty I had a very clear image of what this set should look like.  I continued to read and the further into it, particularly when Sarah reveals her inner racist I knew that my inclination was correct.  I read it again and could see the play done in no other way.

I phoned the director, Hyrum Conrad and asked to come to his house and talk about the play.  It was a Saturday.  That's how excited I was by this concept.  It was very early in the process.  We had just barely received our perusal copy of the script and Hyrum had not yet created a production concept.  I told Hyrum how I felt about the show and how I felt it should be done.

I thought we should actually build her office on the Kirkham Arena Theatre stage.  All four walls with two doors.  A front door and a back door.  I though there should be a wainscot and a crown moulding around the top.  Where the walls should be, between the wainscot and the crown moulding would be gone.

Hyrum didn't bite immediately, instead he asked me to justify and intellectualize my feelings.  Up until that time, my thoughts on this show and this design were just feelings.  Hyrum often wants to hear from a designer's creative side and intellectual side.  If those two aspects of the personality can come to agreement, it's often right.

From an intellectual point of view, I decided we needed a barrier between us and Sarah.  I wanted each audience member to have an individual response to this play, even though they may be sitting next to their spouse or best friend or a boy or girl they were trying to impress.  I coined the term in that meeting, "Audience as Voyeur."

I wanted every audience member, as Sarah talked about not wanting to ride the bus next to a black person, to ask themselves, "Have I ever done that?" or "Would I ever do that?"  I wanted the audience members to confront whatever demons they had inside of them on this issue.  I felt that placing the barrier between them and the actors would help them do just that.

I also wanted the audience to look across the set and see the other audience members, like a mirror.  Sarah says some very regrettable things about herself.  I thought the audience needed to feel like they were looking through a keyhole or listening in on a conversation they shouldn't be and feeling a little guilty about it but not turning away.

Hyrum agreed and we went ahead with the concept.  This is one of only a handful of times in my career where I came to a production concept ahead of the director.  Typically the director comes up with it and the designers design within it.  Hyrum had just started working with this script and hadn't come up with the production concept.  That was the first and only time while working with Hyrum that I came up with a concept before he did.

Execution
I built a white model for this play.  Sadly, none of the pieces of that model exist anymore.  When I took it to the meeting, I brought along a pair of scissors, an exacto knife and some masking tape.  It was a very nice white model.  Hyrum and I and the other designers had been working with this material for awhile and we had agreed on things in principle, but this was the first time anyone had seen it in three dimensions.

I could tell that Hyrum was hem-hawing about something on the set, but because it was a pretty model, he seemed reluctant to say anything negative about it.  This was in a production meeting with all of the faculty, not just the ones working on the show.  Finally I asked him, "If there was one thing on here that you would change, what would it be?"  With that invitation, Hyrum mentioned something at the top of the set that he thought shouldn't be there.

With that, I reached into my back pocket, grabbed the scissors and hacked it off.  One of the other faculty members threw himself across the table trying to stop me from hacking it up.  He was too late.  It was pretty funny.  He appeared to me to be in slow motion, shouting (also in slow motion) "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Once the model had been desecrated, we were then able to go to work.  I got out the tape and the scissors and the knife and made it available to Hyrum and the two of us hacked and taped and worked over the model together.  I love working in this way.

When we had the design the way we wanted it, I then drafted it and made a painted model of it.  Here are some images of the painted model.  This was many years ago and many of the model pieces no longer exist.  All that is left of this one is the skeleton.  Still, it shows the concept we were working with pretty well.

Model for Spinning Into Butter

From another angle

And another

And another

Detail of the door

The idea of the barrier was visceral, but we also wanted to treat this in a very realistic way, so I had to justify and rationalize everything in it.  In addition to the basic set design, Hyrum suggested that there be an indication of tiger stripes here and there.  I decided that all of the paneling in the office should be painted to look like crotch figure mahogany.  That particular woodgrain has inherent tiger stripes.  In addition I painted a marble floor with burnt orange veins, also to represent tiger stripes.

As far as the room went, I decided that this was a building that was more than a hundred years old, in the east, and one that was built before central heating, plumbing and electricity.  As a result, I had a two inch water pipe in one corner, and a raised wooden dais in a different corner with a heating vent in the middle of it.  There was also a long unused fireplace in another corner.  These signified that they were placed here after the fact, after the building had been built.  Retro-fitted if you will.  We wanted this to be old.  An old place with old ideas.

The dais with the heat vent in the front of it where the desk sat

The water pipe in the corner

Tiger striped panel in the crotch figure mahogany

The marble floor

The fireplace

I don't remember why I painted it green and black marble but I do remember I wanted it stripey

The door with vinyl letters on bubbled plexi-glas

Sarah was the dean of students but it was well known to her and the administration that she was supposed to be the dean of ethnic students.  They were trying to shed the allegations of racism at their university.  Trying to shed it without actually trying to make inner changes.  There was a certain hypocrisy among the administrators as well as within Sarah.  Because of this, I coined another term called "ethnic chic."  I decided all the set dressing should appear to be from other countries, particularly Africa, Asia and Australia, but if you looked on the back you'd still see the Pier 1 Imports price tag.  I also placed some National Geographic Magazines on the fireplace and found one with Bengal Tigers on the cover.  That one went on top.

Ethnic Chic.  To show that she didn't get it, I added a "Cigar Store Indian" to her office

Ethnic Chic.  Indonesian basket in front of fireplace.  African masks and National Geographic Magazines on top of the fireplace

The set from one direction

From another direction

And another

And another

The cast of Spinning Into Butter

A Concluding Thought
One of our colleagues did not like this set design.  He told Hyrum, "I would never let Gary do THAT to me!"  Hyrum asked him what he meant by that, and he said his students told him that the set made them uncomfortable, like they were Peeping Tom's.  They told him how they felt ashamed when certain lines were said and that they didn't feel a group dynamic with the rest of the audience.  Hyrum said, "Oh, that is exactly what we were going for."  The other colleague seemed disappointed by that.  I felt vindicated.  I always try as a designer to help to tell the story, rather than just creating an environment where the story can be told.  I feel that I succeeded on this one.  I loved this play, I loved our cast, I loved this design.  This was a good experience for me.

Production Details
Directed by Hyrum Conrad
Scene Design by Gary Benson
Lighting Design by Ray Versluys
Costume Design by Susan Whitfield
Technical Director:  Ray Versluys
Costume Shop Director:  Patty Randall

Quilters--Scene Design

The cast of Quilters

Quilters by Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek was produced Spring Semester, 2012 in the Snow Black Box Theatre at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

Synopsis
Quilters is a musical about the frontier life of women in the American West.  The play is more a series of vignettes rather than a straightforward narrative.  Each vignette is titled for a particular quilt block.  In the end, the sixteen blocks are assembled into a giant quilt.

The vignettes deal with winter, fire, childbirth, marriage, death, spinsterhood, tornadoes, among other things.  All aspects of women's lives in the settling of the west.

Concept
I suggested in our earliest meeting that we have a giant quilt without blocks in the shape of a mountain as a backdrop and each scene, when they were done with the block they were working on they would place it on the quilt backdrop.  That idea was considered and ultimately discarded for a better one.

Original idea for the set of Quilters

Hyrum Conrad, the director of Quilters said he wanted representations of each of the quilt blocks named in the play.  He wished to present the play in the round and wanted to see each of the quilt blocks on frames behind the audience, with each of them being lit individually when they were featured in the music.

I suggested building a quilt block out of wood decking material as the basis of the set with furniture and set pieces used throughout.  We also agreed that some of the more abstract moments of the play could be accomplished with fabric.

Design
For the stage deck, we decided upon a hexagon quilt block to give a central platform at 12 inches above the main deck with a secondary square level at six inches off the main deck.  The platform would be painted like wood rather than fabric.  Just the shapes of the quilt block would be apparent.

Ground plan for Quilters

We researched all of the named quilt blocks and found photo images and patterns for each of them. Susan Whitfield, our costume designer is also a quilter.  She worked tirelessly finding the right vintage fabrics and patterns.  We had to sew two of each block, one to be loose and the other to be bound in a quilt.

Execution
While the stage deck was being built, we stretched muslin over 6' X 6' steel frames and the scenic artists matched the fabric of each block with paint.  We painted two of each of the sixteen blocks and hung them behind the audience.  Then the lighting designer, Ray Versluys could feature each painted block with a theatrical spotlight when it was sung about.

Quilt blocks everywhere.  In addition, furniture pieces from our stock, found objects and fabric were used to create settings within the main quilt block.

Opening number

Heading west in a covered wagon represented by giant quilting hoops

That first winter

Baby's Block

Childbirth

Pinwheel

Abstract representation of windmills

The general store

"Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb"

"Pieces of Our Lives"

The Schoolhouse Block

Four Doves Block

Double Wedding Ring Block

One of the darker scenes

The clothesline with all the large quilt blocks

Nice lighting moment

Same song

Mama's sermon

Abstract representation of fire

Spreading out the completed quilt

The tableaux vivante 

Our costume designer, Susan Whitfield was nearing retirement.  She had always wanted to do quilters sometime during her career.  Hyrum Conrad directed the play as a favor to her.  This was a labor of love for us for Susan.  It was a joy to work on, I'm glad we did so.

Production Details
Directed by Hyrum Conrad
Scene Design by Gary Benson
Costume Design by Susan Whitfield
Lighting Design by Ray Versluys
Sound Design by Antonia Clifford
Technical Director:  Ray Versluys
Costume Shop Director:  Patty Randall

She Stoops to Conquer--Costume Design and Actor, Mr. Hardcastle

Hastings, Marlow and Mr. Hardcastle

She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith was produced Spring Semester, 2013 in the Snow Drama Theatre at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

Synopsis of She Stoops to Conquer
Mr. Hardcastle, a country gentleman has arranged for his daughter to meet the son of his best friend, Sir Charles Marlow, a wealthy Londoner.  He hopes the two of them will marry and join the two households and fortunes.

Unfortunately, young Charles Marlow is painfully shy around young women of his own class, preferring instead the company of lower class wenches and serving girls.  On the road to Mr. Hardcastle's home he and his travelling companion, George Hastings become lost and seek directions to the Hardcastle estate at the Three Pigeons, an inn close by.  They meet Tony Lumpkin, Mr. Hardcastle's stepson and ne'er do well.  Tony is a prankster and when Charles and George unknowingly insult him, he decides to give them faulty directions.

He tells them Hardcastle's estate is too far to travel to that night and they will have to spend the night at an inn.  The innkeeper, who is in on the joke, tells the boys there is no room in the inn and they are directed to an inn down the road.  What they don't know is the 'inn' they are directed to is in fact Mr. Hardcastle's home.  They arrive and meet Mr. Hardcastle and believing him to be an innkeeper they treat him rudely.  Mr. Hardcastle is understandably unhappy with the treatment.

Meanwhile, Marlow and Hastings run into Miss Hardcastle and Constance Neville.  Constance is the ward of Mrs. Hardcastle and is also being wooed by Mr. Hastings.  Charles and George still believe they are at an inn.  Constance and George leave Marlow and Miss Hardcastle alone in the drawing room and they have a very uncomfortable conversation.  At the end, however, Miss Hardcastle thinks he's attractive enough to give a second chance and decides to pose as a serving girl.

At this point, Constance lets George in on the joke.  Everyone is in on the joke except Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle and Mr. Marlow.

Things go badly between Hardcastle and Marlow and the former catches the latter being very forward with his daughter.  Moreso than would be acceptable.  This goes on until the elder Marlow, Sir Charles arrives and the whole thing is put to rights.

As a subplot, Mrs. Hardcastle is trying to arrange a marriage between Contance and her son, Tony.  They despise one another but pretend for Mrs. Hardcastle's sake.  Constance stands to inherit her mother's jewels, but for some reason they are tied up in the supposed marriage contract between Tony and Constance.  If Tony refuses his cousin when he comes of age, she keeps her inheritance.  If Constance refuses, Mrs. Hardcastle gets to keep the jewels for herself.

When the romance between Hastings and Miss Neville is exposed, Mrs. Hardcastle attempts to take her to the spinster auntie's home far away from Hastings.  Tony drives them, and as he had prearranged with Hastings, takes them over logs, through sloughs, and finally ends up with the carriage overturned in the horse pond.  Mr. Hardcastle happens to be taking a walk when he sees them.  Mrs. Hardcastle believes him as a highwayman (because Tony told her so.)

That is all sorted out, finally but when Hastings and Miss Neville confront Mrs. Hardcastle about the inheritance, she claims the jewels for herself because Tony isn't of age to refuse.  At this  point, Mr. Hardcastle makes a confession that both he and Mrs. Hardcastle lied about Tony's age, thinking he could use another year or two to grow up and become responsible.  Tony enthusiastically refuses Constance's hand and everyone gets what they want in the end.  Well, everyone except Mrs. Hardcastle.

Concept and Design
Since this was a period piece and a light comedy, we decided to play it pretty straightforward.  I decided to put the country folk in earthier colors and the city folk in brighter colors.  All except Mrs. Hardcastle.  She fancied herself to be a city girl exiled to the country.  She is a character that can be played larger than life.  Early on in the design meetings I suggested to Hyrum Conrad, the director, that I wished Mrs. Hardcastle to change her clothes and wig for every act, each outfit more outlandish than the last.  In the script, she shows Mr. Marlow the fashion magazines she has sent in from France. She then proceeds to tell him that she has her own clothes made from her own designs based on the fashions from across the channel.  I decided she needed to have bad taste.

As I read the script, I found myself liking the character of Mr. Hardcastle.  He talks about a "great flaxen wig." and his bald head.  As we discussed this character, we agreed we should try age appropriate casting for him.  I also told Hyrum whoever played him would need to agree to shave the top of his head for a male pattern baldness look.  In addition, I wanted him to have a kind of Teddy Roosevelt belly on him.

In that meeting, we tossed around several different names of local men who might play the part.  We didn't agree on anyone and a half an hour after the meeting was over, Hyrum came to my office and asked me if I wished to play the part.  I immediately said, "Yes."  Then I asked if that meant I had to shave my head.  He just nodded.  Prior to that conversation, I hadn't even considered myself to play the part.  When I told my mother, she told me that was the same part my father had played in 1966 at the Playmill Theatre.  That made the whole thing much sweeter.

Study of some of the male characters

Hardcastle

The rabble

The young gentlemen

The girls

Mrs. Hardcastle after the carriage ride

Mrs. Hardcastle wig designs

Execution
Over the years we have had a good relationship with BYU's theatre department in Provo, Utah.  Most of the members of our department have at least one degree from there.  From time to time we have borrowed costumes from them.  For some reason, they didn't have many male costumes from the Georgian period.  At least not then.  I believe they must have had them rented out.  I was able to use several costumes for the young ladies in the cast which meant we did not have to construct all of the gowns.  We ended up building the two young men and Mr. Hardcastle and several dresses.  The rest of the men and chorus folk we outfitted from our inventory.

We have a fabric store here in southeast Idaho called Home Fabrics.  When I design a period play, I always start there.  Mostly upholstery and drapery fabrics, but the weight and pattern work very well for period work.

We moved the design into the shop and between building costumes, memorizing lines, pulling and fitting chorus members and nightly rehearsal we got the job done.

I'd like to give a shoutout to my colleagues, Richard Clifford for his wonderful set and lighting design and to Kathy Schmid who constructed all the wigs for the show.  Thank you my friends.

The Players

Tony Lumpkin

The idea behind Tony's clothes was that he would rather be hunting, so I designed a hunting shirt based on historical research.  Add breeches, boots and a vest and Tony is off to poach a brace of coneys.  In his first entrance, actually he was carrying a pair of rabbits.  Later, when he goes to the tavern, he changed his shirt and put on a coat just a little too small for him.  Tony was not supposed to care much how he looked.  A prankster, but a fun person to hang with.

Tony in his hunting garb

Tony at the Three Pigeons

Tony in the yard

Miss Hardcastle

Miss Hardcastle had two basic looks.  First she was dressed as a country girl, but when she met Marlow for the first time she dressed in her best city clothes.  When she decided to stoop to conquer, she went back to her country clothes and affected a country accent which he of course found charming.  Her country clothes were pretty but in earthy colors.  Her city look was more in pastel blues with red and maroon accents.  Both of her costumes were borrowed from BYU.

Miss Hardcastle in her city look

Hat and wig by Kathy Schmid

Miss Hardcastle in her country look and her maid

Miss Neville

We decided that Miss Neville was probably older and more worldly than Miss Hardcastle so her dresses would be more refined.  We borrowed her first dress from BYU but I designed and we built her travelling clothes.  The clothes she planned to sneak off with Hastings in.

Miss Neville

Miss Neville in the gown I designed

Marlow and Hastings

The two young gentlemen each had one basic outfit which they had supposedly traveled in.  They deigned to change their clothes, instead hoping to keep their best outfits for when they reached their destination, Mr. Hardcastle's home.  There were small changes, hats, gloves, cloaks and boots that were worn at different times.  Marlow got very comfortable at the 'inn' and took off his coat and vest sometimes.  Very casual.  Mr. Hardcastle did not like that.

Hastings and Marlow in their outfits made of sofa material.  Marlow is in Mr. Hardcastle's chair.  They had quite a battle over that chair.

Sir Charles

Mr. Hardcastle's best friend.  Sir Charles shows up at the house in the evening and everything gets set to rights.  We decided he should be the most richly dressed person in the play.  His subtext was that he was a government official.

Sir Charles Marlow

Mrs. Hardcastle

Mrs. Hardcastle began the show as a country wife, but when she found out they would be hosting her husband's best friend's son, she decided to try to impress him.

In the script, Mrs. Hardcastle said she bought all the latest fashion magazines from Paris and she designs all of her own clothes based on what she sees.  I decided Mrs. Hardcastle did not have particularly good taste and that her clothes would be a mishmash of the style.  In addition she really liked lime green bows.

Whenever a few hours of time had passed in the narrative, Mrs. Hardcastle would show up in a different outfit and a different wig.  At the top of the show, she wore a fairly conservatively styled blond wig.  Her dress was borrowed from BYU.

Mrs. Hardcastle

This urn contained the ashes of her beloved first husband, Mr. Lumpkin

Her second costume was the heaviest costume in the show.  It was made of yards of heavy upholstery fabric.  All told, it was probably twenty-five pounds of fabric.  It was heavy and it was hot.  Luckily, she only wore it for a short time.  This was the first of her outfits she tried to impress the company with.  She also changed her wig for this scene to a black one.

Mrs. Hardcastle trying to impress Mr. Hastings.  Her servant is in the back.
Notice the lime green bows

Her third outfit was more outrageous still.  It was also borrowed.  The dress was an evergreen taffeta with plaid trim.  Of course I had to wig her in pink.  Had to.  In this scene she discovers the betrayal of Miss Neville and Mr. Hastings and decides to take her ward to the spinster aunt to be kept away from her beau.

Mrs. Hardcastle, betrayed

Her second to the last dress was her traveling dress which we decided would be her most fancy one since she was traveling to see her rich auntie.  When I showed the actress the design, I found a clip of Carol Burnett in her famous parody of Gone With the Wind on Youtube and showed it to her.  I told her that the only way this costume would work is if she played it like Carol Burnett on her descent down the stairs wearing the curtains.

I designed this dress.  It was red with a stomacher and large panniers.  The underskirt was gold and magenta.  Of course we had some lime green bows on this outfit as well.  For Mrs. Hardcastle, no outfit was finished without a wig.  This one had to have a ship, of course.

The infamous ship wig as built by Kathy Schmid

With an outfit this outrageous, there was only one way to top it.  Shipwreck.  Tony takes Mrs. Hardcastle and Miss Neville in the carriage to the spinster auntie's house, or so they think.  Instead, he drives the carriage over every rock and fallen tree he can find.  He crosses creeks and rivers, all the while going round and round the house and finally ends up with the carriage tipped over in the horsepond.

We made the red dress twice.  Our costume shop director was in New York when I distressed the second dress.  I took a picture with my phone and sent it to her as a text message.  I said, "This is what we do when you aren't here."  She sent me back a text that said, "You are the DEVIL!"  That delighted me.

Of course the wig had to be distressed as well.  I purchased two scale model ships and cut one in half on the band saw and gave the pieces to Kathy Schmid who then proceeded to scuttle the ship in the ruined wig.

I knew I could get away with all the wig changes and finally the scuttled ship wig on Mrs. Hardcastle because the actress we had playing her was strong enough to project her character through all of it.  When she came on stage there was no question who she was no matter what color her hair was.  It was great fun.

The shipwreck

Mr. Hardcastle.

Which brings us to me.  When I was designing the show, before I was asked to play the part, I kept coming back to Mr. Hardcastle.  By the time I was asked to play the part, I already had a connection to the character.

As I said earlier, I insisted that Mr. Hardcastle shave the top of his head because he says, speaking of Tony, "Why it 'twas just last week he fastened me wig to the back of me chair and when I went to make a bow I pop't me bald head in Mrs. Frizzle's face!"  When the part was offered to me, it was assumed I would do what I had expected someone else to do.  I did so happily.  The only tough part was shaving off my mustache.  I have worn a mustache for most of my adult life.  On a different blog, I posted a step by step progression of how I became Mr. Hardcastle.

My father wore a hairpiece later in his life.  He never went out in public without either his toupee or a hat.  When he was at home, however the hairpiece came off and would show up all over the house.  I incorporated that into my character.  The servants and his daughter may see him without his hair but no one else including the missus was allowed to.  Mrs. Hardcastle references his "...great flaxen wig."  Obviously it had to be a blond periwig.

Mr. Hardcastle, I decided was a practical man who did not care to keep up with the fashions.  Therefore, his suit was a little dated and so was his periwig.  The lapels and cuffs were wider and the back of the coat was fuller than the other men in the show.  The cut of their clothes was more modern and up to date.  To me, that is who Mr. Hardcastle was.  He valued the old ways and wasn't going to be forced to change just to keep up with appearances.

Mr. Hardcastle

Sans wig in a tender scene with his daughter.

Mr. Hardcastle selfie, because I can.  It's my blog.

Scene Design

My friend and colleague, Richard Clifford designed a beautiful set and produced a striking lighting design for this play.  The set was placed on the turntable and had three major locations.  The great hall, the drawing room and the Three Pigeons Inn.  In addition there was a French scene which was done on the front of the stage with a couple of foliage drops set in behind.  I'll show a couple of those images here.

French scene with Hardcastle dressed as a 'Highwayman'

The drawing room.  Notice Hardcastle's wig on Mr. Lumpkin's urn

The great hall was inspired by the Governor's Mansion in Historic Williamsburg, Virginia.

The Three Pigeons

This play was a joy for me to work on, both as a costume designer and as an actor.  It was made even sweeter when I discovered it was the same part my father played forty-seven years earlier.

Production Details
Director:  Hyrum Conrad
Costume Designer:  Gary Benson
Set and Lighting Designer:  Richard Clifford
Costume Shop Director:  Patty Randall
Technical Director:  Ray Versluys
Milliner:  Kathy Schmid
Assistant Scene Designer:  Patrick Ulrich