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The 25th annual Putnam county spelling bee
Scenic Designer: Rachel Daigneault
Role: Props Designer
Assistant: River Tomalko
Mitch's Rolling Chair
After discussions with both the scenic designer and the director, we decided to choose a chair with arms so that both actors and audience participants could hold on while Mitch rolled the chair across the stage. Further discussions yielded a brightly colored and highly saturated orange that would match the orange stripes on the back wall while still visually popping. This was a nice opportunity for me to use my skills in reupholstery and to teach my assistant (an underclassman) the skill.
Judges' Table
For the Judges' table, there are many elements that had to be thought about. The first of those was what was going to be on the table, in discussions with the director, we decided to pare down from what was listed in the script. We decided that it would be visually cleaner too only have the necessary objects on the table. The number cards were done in collaboration with costume designer Eileen Breenan, and the microphones in collaboration with sound designer Jaden Leverett. The table cloth and the two table runners were an opportunity for me to use my skills on the sewing machine and were designed in collaboration with scenic design and directing.
American Flag
This flag required two 9'-0" x 5'-0" American flags to be cut and sewn in order to create a surface area large enough to be bisected. By doing this we could have a flag for everyone to look at while doing the Pledge of Allegiance and then later part to reveal Jesus after Marcy prays to her. This required that I learned how to use Austrian curtain tape so that we could pull the two parts up nicely.
Snack Box
For the snack box, my assistant and I worked closely with the costume designer in order to make sure that the colors would work well with both the actors' costume as well allow the actor to be the focus of the moment. Working with the scenic designer helped to ensure that the box lived in the same world of the play. In order to do that, I used the same font that was used on the banners, used the same layout of colors in the stripes on the sides and the strap, as well as brought in the same beaver mascot from the floor treatment on both sides of the box.
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