| Project by tooldad | posted 226 days ago | 616 views | 0 times favorited | 9 comments |  |
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Here is our fall play set for the Diary of Anne Franke. This set involved nearly 50 sheets of plywood, 3 levels and nearly 800 square feet of stage. In fact the director even said the set was larger than the real annex. He tried to keep it as close as possible to the real thing including color schemes, but had to make it a little wider for theatrical reasons so that actors wouldn’t have their backs to the audience.
About half of this set didn’t exist one month before the show. We had to build 14 platforms (2×4frames with 3/4 ply) and 12 wall flats (1×3 wall with luan), in addition to the base coat paint, texture paint, and woodgraining.
This set took approximately 40 hours on stage by myself, a student teacher, and several student actors and crews. Who knows how many man hours actually went into it?
9 comments so far
lew
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4483 posts in 649 days
posted 226 days ago
This looks like soooooo much fun!
We have a summer theater here and I have often thought of volunteering to work on the sets.
MNbuzzdust
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99 posts in 245 days
posted 226 days ago
Great project and a great story to keep retelling so future generations know their history!! Thanks for posting.
CharlieM1958
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7615 posts in 1112 days
posted 226 days ago
Great looking set!
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
a1Jim
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16695 posts in 470 days
posted 226 days ago
looks great .That’s a big unique project
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon
flomp
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25 posts in 541 days
posted 226 days ago
this is what i am going to be studing at university scenic construction hopefully one day ill be able to do such sets.
Karson
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posted 226 days ago
That is so great. Thanks for showing it.
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
SCOTSMAN
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2238 posts in 478 days
posted 225 days ago
I would love to see that show.very sad story I have seen the film several times.Alistair
-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease
tooldad
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454 posts in 608 days
posted 225 days ago
Thanks for the compliments. I see people posting project after project and wonder to myself, what is my hold up? I am in the shop all the time and nothing really comes out. Then October or April rolls around then I am reminded of what I have been doing and why I had no extra time.
Flomp email me any time. It is literally a 3-D puzzle built in as many 4×8 sections as you can. We do have the 4×4’s and the 4×6’s, but keeping it module is the key to reusing.
One of my graduated technicians who went onto theatre in college came back and said the biggest thing she can’t get over is the sets at the college level are destroyed rather than reused. They also get to build onstage which makes a huge difference. Since our auditorium is a district auditiorium serving 2 high schools, 6 middle schools, and several elementary schools, our stage time is limited to 2 weeks or less. the kids are often rehearsing with chairs and other easily moveable objects. Then we have to figure how to store it all backstage and do quick scene changes.
Again thanks for the compliments. More projects that are more “true to woodworking” are coming soon!
MsDebbieP
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14156 posts in 1054 days
posted 223 days ago
extraordinary! Very impressive
-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)