Create Reuse Recycle Set decorator turns left-over set pieces into abstract works

By MAX LECKIE

At Metro Theatre, a few materials go a long way thanks to a set decorator who uses the left-over set pieces of past plays to create abstract paintings.

Tracy-Lynn Chernaske created the Artful Theatre collection to help fund the theatre after she noticed how much material was thrown out.

“I thought that’s such a shame because there are beautiful things that can be made out of those things,” Chernaske said.

Metro Theatre, which is located at 1370 Southwest Marine Dr., has been in operation since the early 1960s and has faced many financial struggles in its half century of operations.

The theatre supports itself mainly through ticket sales and donations from patrons, Alison Schamberger president of the board of directors said, but those revenues aren’t enough.

“It does make it extremely hard to maintain two buildings,” she said.

Besides the building on Marine Drive, the theatre company also has a second building, the Oak Street Scene Shop at 8690 Oak St., where most of the sets for Metro’s productions are created and stored. That’s also where Chernaske’s main base of operations was set up for creating the artworks made entirely using reclaimed materials from the sets of former Metro Theatre productions.

The materials range from leftover paint and extra lengths of plywood to moulding, and even sawdust.

“A lot of the inspiration kind of came from the colors or the shape of the offcuts, looking at those pieces and seeing something that wasn’t there yet,” Chernaske said.

In many theatre companies, re-using materials is common practice, said Debra Danny, whose incharge of digital media at Metro.

“If we have leftover wood, we use it for the next project,” said Danny.

“If we have leftover paint, we find a way of mixing it with something else so that it works for a project, perhaps even a year down the line.”

Because the work done at the theatre is broad in scope, everyone juggles a few different jobs at once, Chernaske said. She’s a prime example: painting and decorating sets, working in the box office and helping the publicity team.

“Everybody who does work here kind of is willing to put in and do a lot of work, which is awesome.”

In order to stay afloat, the theatre also has a range of fundraisers like the occasional garage sale to sell old props and costumes, as do, including the actors and directors, are also a big part of the cogs that keep Metro running, Danny said, putting in hours before and after to get their productions going.

“They put in so many hours into the show. You know, they start rehearsing literally months before and the rehearsal schedule is at least three days a week.” Artists tend to be pretty thrifty, and have been reusing materials for ages, Chernaske said, and the theatre is no excep-

Volunteers who love what they

“[You take] something that already has character and you’re just making it a little bit better or tailoring it or highlighting it,” she said, “That’s what I love to do.”

CLOCKWISE: Chernaske and her dog Hudson in the River which she created using paints and setpieces from paints and materials from the play by the same Yard. SUBMITTED BY TRACY-LYNN CHERNASKE

BELOW: close-up of the set of The Gazebo. MAX