Stage is set for upcoming musical play Members of set design class prepare for season opener

Kat Wilson Roundup Reporter

The set-building crew works hard every Monday and Wednesday to bring the stage together for theatrical productions on campus.

Michael Gend, professor of the stage production class, distributes the workload to the eight or so students who sit before him each week in the fenced workshop and then sends them on their way to work in their groups.

The students get off their stools to start their projects, some staying outside while others follow Gend into the white theater tent.

Inside the tent, the crew worked on the set for “The Fantasticks,” a musical that will start the end of this month.

“It’s a very stylized set. Its design includes an aged-wood foundation, old trunks and rolling platforms,” said Ed Salas, a theater technician who helps Gend supervise the students. “We’re trying to incorporate some tricks for the show.”

The crew started gathering their materials as they moved chairs and props around the stage.

Gend stepped on a rolling piece of platform to test its structure. The platform would be Salas’ project for the afternoon.

With the help of two students, Salas was able to disassemble the platform.

Nursing major Stephanie Pineda, 18, helped Salas hammer and saw off bits of wood and nails.

“I can’t cut with this arm anymore,” Pineda said to classmate Kevin Tamay as she flopped it around. “It’s too tired.”

Tamay, 18, who is doublemajoring in medicine and sound and lighting, laughed at Pineda.

As they continued, the deafening noise of a hand-held power saw temporarily muted conversation in the tent as Salas cut off a few wooden corners.

“That thing just doesn’t want to be cut,” Tamay said. Salas grunted as he jiggled the saw. After a few seconds of struggling, a wooden piece had flung off, getting lost among the trunks.

The rolling platform will hold a screen that will enable interactive projections to operate throughout the musical, to add to “The Fantasticks” magical element, Salas said.

As Salas and his two students whittled away at their project, three other crew members started painting.

They swept a raised platform,

Free Thursday afternoon concerts for October:

The Pierce College Music Department hosts free music concerts every Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. in the Music Building room 3400. The concerts are open to the public. Doors open at 12:45 p.m. and will be locked once performances begin.

preparing it for a layer of paint and touch-ups.

Rachel Goodwein, 19, theater arts major, crouched next to safety goggles and paint buckets as she gathered sponges and paintbrushes.

Her crewmate, Karen Ashley, 18, also a theater arts major, positioned herself beside Goodwein, popping the buckets open so she could stir old trunks, and

“The Fantasticks”

Fact Box:

Tickets:

• $15 for students & seniors

• $20 for general admission

Parking:

Lots 7 and 8

Showtimes:

• Friday, Oct. 25 & Saturday, Oct. 26 at 8 p.m.

• Sunday, Oct. 27 at 2 p.m.

• Friday, Nov. 1 and Saturday, Nov. 2 at 8 p.m.

• Sunday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m.

“Stop ruining my masterpiece,” Goodwein joked.

“Your masterpiece that I made a lot better,” Ashley said in return.

Pertaining to “The Fantasticks” set, it’s originally supposed to be simple and minimalistic, Salas said.

“The director is trying to modernize it,” Salas said. “To make it more interesting.”

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