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ETROPOLITAN METROPOLITAN Serving Auraria for 31 years
April 21, 2011, Vol. 33, Issue 29
Online >> http://themet.metrostudentmedia.com
Constructing “A New Brain” Metro’s theatrical production team creates unique set By Ashley Moreland amorela1@mscd.edu Photos by Sean Mullins smullin5@mscd.edu Blue, magenta and lime green cloth hang from the ceiling above a brain painted on a turntable on the stage floor. Images appear on four large screens, and a large white clock projected on the stage curtain keeps the time. The lights dim and the show begins. But long before the actors took the stage for the Metro Theatre Department’s play “A New Brain,” the production ensemble was busy creating the unique set and putting together costumes. For Dana Huss, a junior technical theater major and the play’s assistant scenic director, design was new (she typically does technical work such as lighting), but she said she wanted to expand her horizons. “I wanted to learn; I wanted the experience,” she said. “It was definitely an experience — working, learning.” Last semester Huss asked Kelly Sorvig, a professor in the department and the play’s scenic director, if she could be his assistant for “A New Brain.” They discussed and researched during winter break and joined the rest of the production team the first week of classes this semester. One of the things she worked on was the photos projected on the screens. These screens served as the set’s background, and the projected images created the setting for each
scene. The department used similar technology during one scene of their production of “Rent” last spring, but this is the first time they’ve used it as part of the set itself. “It’s very different [and] we can utilize the technology,” Huss said. “And it worked well with the setup of the theater.” While Huss said there are many fun elements, her favorite is the black light effect in the “Brain Dead” scene where the surgeons’ hats glow. The brain painting also uses this effect.
TOP: Metro students Michael McManus and Erika Kae discuss their strategy April 19, before constructing props to be used in Metro’s theatrical production “A New Brain”. The show runs April 21-24 at the Metro State Studio Theatre in the King Center. RIGHT: Metro senior Zak Wziontka polishes the iron railings in the King Center April 19 in final preparations for the production. mscd.edu
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