2016 Illinois High School Theatre Festival’s Allstate Production of RENT

Note: All photos are click to enlarge for closer viewing.

It all started when…

I received a phone call to be the Technical Director and Scenic Designer for the Allstate production of RENT. Having always wanted to bring RENT alive onstage I was immediately excited to begin working on the process and thinking through the design.

The joy of this production was the ability to work with the best of the best in student technicians from all over the state of Illinois. I was able to meet and audition hundreds of students and see their work on productions in regards to lighting, set design, costuming, props, hair and makeup and more. It was a wonderful experience to see and have my choice from such an amazing group of talented students.

Once 50 amazing students were chosen to be a part of the technical crew for the production the six months process of designing and creating the set began.

The Design Process

When designing a show like RENT with the amazing crew that we had working on the production it was easy to come up with a plethora of designs to challenge the talent and skills of the technicians. In working with the artistic team we settled on the idea of going “big and bold” with the design to fill the massive stage at Illinois State University’s Braden Auditorium.

Having experience building such massive sets before it became a question of how to make this one unique and special utilizing all the talents and resources available to us. My initial thoughts landed on the ideas of abandoned warehouses, large windows, and making the set into a piece of “Art”. In doing research and planning I began to look at various images of the East Village in New York, warehouses, crumbling infrastructure and more. The idea was to create a world onstage that brought to life the colorful and artistic lifestyle of the Bohemian characters, but kept to the grittiness and realness of the time in New York City in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s.

I decided to start in my own backyard and explored various neighborhoods in Chicago (that had similar vibes to the East Village) and took in the feel and sights each area had to offer in helping to create the set I had envisioned. On my walkabouts I began to look intently at street art, graffiti, and abandoned buildings and took a verity of photos. The photos I found in my research and tours of Chicago revealed warehouses and buildings brought to life with graffiti and artwork and I decided I wanted to incorporate these aspects into the set.

From these initial photos and tours I designed the set focusing on large warehouses and loft buildings. The design also utilized large paneled windows at the rear of the set mimicking many of the warehouses and lofts I saw in my research. After the set was approved by the Artistic Team I began creating a model and renderings (see photos above) and then began to move into construction and implementation of the design.

Student Artwork

One of my favorite aspects of the final design was the decision to add grit and realness to the set by adding graffiti, grime, street art, and more. I decided that instead of using pre-made artwork or copying things found in my research I wanted to open up the designing process to the technicians working on the show. I encouraged all of the technicians to submit multiple pieces of artwork in the style of street art, grunge, and graffiti found in the East Village in the 1980’s/ early 1990’s with their personal flair.

There were so many amazing submissions brought forth that I could have covered multiple sets with all the art. After some tough decisions on which pieces were to be used I worked with students on how and where to utilize the designs on the set. The technicians worked with me and their fellow crew members to decide on placement and sizing as well as colors and what medium was best to use. The technicians then took their renderings and designs and made them come to life all over the set.

On top of the original artwork the technicians also created beauty out of “normal things” like wooden planks covering the holes in walls and the dirtying up of windows to make them seem unwashed. When looking around the set one would notice the vast amount of details that went into painting techniques, detailing, and the dirtying up the set from the walls to phone booth stickers to cracks in the cement sidewalk. These additions to set brought some large grey boxes to life and added the texture, vibrancy, and the grit needed to make the show feel alive.

Bringing the Show to Life

Working on an Allstate show is always a challenge. Students are coming from all over the state on long weekends from the beginning of the school year to early January. Students come and work long days and into the nights building, painting, fitting costumes, testing makeup, assembling and constructing props, and more. This task is a challenge in its own right, but add the pressures of storing and taking down the progress each weekend along with the commitments the students had to school and working on productions at their home schools and it is a long and testing process. Luckily everyone involved was passionate, hardworking and a pleasure to work with.

The show not only was built and rehearsed over several long weekends throughout the six month timespan, but it also needed to be brought downstate and assembled in another space. We had the pleasure and privilege to perform in the Illinois State University’s Braden Auditorium. This massive 3,000 seat auditorium was a perfect place to bring our East Village set to life. With this in mind we did not have the complete pleasure of assembling the full set until we arrived downstate in early January.

Even with these challenges the technicians were amazing. They came to every long weekend to assemble pieces of the massive warehouses in order to bring the East Village street to life piece by piece. They created sidewalks, sliding doors, billboards, massive brick walls, platforming, and so much more. Once built students began to paint and create the artistic grit and artwork/graffiti.

Once the set was built the technicians had to practice assembling and disassembling the set each weekend, as well as learn the logistics of loading and unloading a semi truck and moving vans. The hours and energy put in by these technicians was astounding and truly was fueled by their joy and passion for theatre.

Though the process was long and the steps to get there were sometimes unknown and seemed impossible the technicians worked to achieve this massive project and transport it down to Southern Illinois. The unloading and assembly of the set took about half of a day and was performed on for two dress rehearsals and three shows.

The student technicans learned so many valuable lessons throughout their time working on the show. They learned about all the various aspects of technical theatre, time management, putting detail and passion into ones work, and working together as an ensemble. One of my favorite aspects of the process was working with students from various types of schools and learning how each student was taught and what they brought to the table as far as ideas and skills. I learned so many new “tricks” and ways of accomplishing various painting techniques, building hacks, and more!

Working on a show like RENT with such amazing technicians was such a joy and an experience I will never forget.