Backstage at the Playhouse: Building Fences

Well, it's been a couple months since I've posted anything in my critically acclaimed 'Backstage at the Playhouse' series, and I'm getting tired of all the letters asking for another amazing and insightful look into the magic of theatre. So, here is part 2 of my continuing series, 'Backstage at the Playhouse.'

In theatre terminology, right now the Playhouse is 'dark.' We closed the Marriage Musicals on August 6th, and we don't have any performances scheduled until our first preview of Fences on August 25th. While it may seem from the outside that nothing is happening, we're all pretty busy back here. Here are a few pictures taken by Fluffy (the Playhouse Prop Master) with his phone:

That's the bare stage of the Playhouse. (Hey, it's a picture taken with a phone. Squint if you have to.) It's pretty rare for us to have an empty stage, and it's already starting to fill up with the set of Fences.

Speaking of the set, that's a picture of part of it in our shop. The brickwork you see is actually a plastic mold of a brick wall - samples can be found here. It shows up a boring grey color, and our scenic artists paint the plastic to give the illusion of actual bricks. On the right, you can see our paint frame. It's basically a big frame you can attach a drop or large scenic piece to, and then move the whole frame up and down so the scenic artist can stand on the floor and paint the whole piece, instead of having to use ladders or scaffolding to reach the top. It's a nice thing to have.

I guess that's it for now. Any spelling or grammatical errors are the fault of, oh, I don't know, Conwell. Definitely not me.