When I walked into the shop to help out with the set, I was unsure of what to expect. I had had zero previous experience with any type of woodworking or building, and was curious as to how I could possibly be useful. I did not actually think that whatever David would have me do that day would have any real impact on the set. I figured maybe I’d sort nails into a pile, organize tools, sand some wood… whatever. However, I was pleased, surprised, (and in the end quite proud, once I saw the final product) to have been handed a stapler and to have been given the job of sawing and stapling planks of beautifully treated wood onto the floor of what would become the map room. I truly felt my contribution in the completed set.
…Which is part of what made tearing it up during strike so hard! Not just that my own hard work was being torn out, broken, and shoved into a bin, but that the entire beautiful, collaborative project was being destroyed all at once. The lovely painted window in the window room, the grand archway… everything that had been so meticulously planned in the early stages, when we all admired Sonya’s designs from the Clum room before rehearsals had even begun, was being broken down and thrown away. That is the process though, and that’s part of what makes the show so special. It is temporary. You “had to be there.” To witness the beauty of the set, to watch the story unfold. So, just as we closed the play, it is natural that the set should “close” as well. Though—I have to say—I feel really bad about wasting all that wood! I wish we could do a better job of reusing or recycling… All in all, though, a great experience! Yay—I’ve used power tools and built stuff!!!
