Tech work shines for 'Blithe Spirit'

Feb. 24, 2005
By Keith Claussen
Online Editor

For those of you who did not see Blithe Spirit this past weekend at the Galvin Fine Arts Center, unfortunately, you missed out one some great technical work.

For the past several weeks, the Theatre department was hard at work to prepare everything for the show to open on Feb. 18.

Plays are not just about the acting and the memorization of scripted lines. Scenery, lighting, costumes, sound, and special effects are the elements the elements that make up the technical aspect of the show. All of these components add to the experience when seeing shows performed live on stage. The most enjoyable shows incorporate all of these elements to interact and complement each other.

A designer is assigned to and put in charge for each separate aspect of the show, with the director usually having the final say.

For Blithe Spirit, two technical aspects stood out, the special effects and scenic painting.

One of the main set pieces in the show was a haunted table, which jumped and tipped during the show. The driving force behind this unusual item was Pneumatics Designer Sam Michael.

“The way it came about, I was talking to Kris Eitrheim [Scenic Designer] about it in December, right at the tail end of the first semester, about what we were going to do with it and this was going to be a project I was going to take on,” Michael said of how he was assigned the project.

“Originally we talked about using just push arms and that to operate it, and decided to try something different and use pneumatics on it,” said Michael.

Michael expressed that the challenge was not all in the design, but the resources he was allotted to complete the project.

“Anything is possible with enough money. It’s putting the limitations on it that makes things really interesting,” describes Michael. “My enjoyment isn’t in the actual production [show] of it for me. My enjoyment is in the building and the creation of it.”

The sets for shows in Galvin often feature standing walls to resemble rooms of a house, offices, and even jungles. These walls usually require something more than just glue and staples to depict the setting of the play.

Scenic Artist Erin Gayman put in several hours a day in order to finish the show on time. Construction on the show started later than usual for a main stage show because of the department’s participation in the American College Theatre Festival.

“Since about Saturday I started, and we’ve been putting in like five to ten hours a day ever since,” Gayman said. Amanda Bourn has helped with much of the painting and prep work.

Even though she had to balance a full class schedule and homework along with painting the set, Gayman enjoys the work in the theatre.

“I love to paint, first of all, and in general, it’s fun to make something look like it’s, what it’s not,” Gayman explained. “It’s the fact that I know I’ve worked on it that hard, and it’s something that I enjoy, and I just want to work on it that hard.”

“Fooling the audience is fun,” said Gayman.

With the close of Blithe Sunday, the work does not stop there. The Children’s Hour will be down in the Studio Theatre in March, and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead will be the final main stage show of the season in April.

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