Tag: FAIR

At the start of a meeting I had last week with a director I was graced with the general pleasantry of “what have you been working on?” I had been working on an unrelated show at the time which lead to a question I had not expected. “Well, what can I thank you for?”

When it comes to model making, rules and guidelines are virtually nonexistent. Yes, books are sold giving tips and advice on how to construct a “realistic” looking brick wall or a standard dining chair in a variety of scales and sizes…but sometimes these instruction manuals don’t provide all the answers. From time to time, you get that one project that is so complex and difficult in function or shape that you don’t know where to begin.

Four years ago I got roped into a project, helping to develop a new play about these journalists during WWII. Let me begin by saying that I’m not a history nerd, nor do I know the first thing about journalism, WWII or play development. Yet somehow I became involved with creating this script.

It’s been an incredible journey, working with an artistic quartet comprised of a playwright, two actor/dramaturgs and me. The four of us have bonded over this project and it will be something that ties our friendship together for the rest of our lives.

I’ve been in the shop for the last two months. Physical work, sawdust, everyone focused on their own project, everyone in their own dedicated world. And now I’m doing a 180. I’m stage managing the FAIRplay project. What’s FAIRplay you might ask? Well, all of us interns, assistants and fellows are putting on a fully realized, fully produced play in two weeks. Impossible, you say? Not at all! Crazy, you say? Quite possibly.

What I’m enjoying most about working in the scene shop are small projects that require some sort of creative problem solving. I like being given a task and told to figure out how to best create the piece. The first one I did was an arched piece to be added on top of the Animal Crackers portal.