Me Again… at some point I will make this a regular habit…. but until then what I have to say will still be sporadic. I thought I would share a recent project that opened last Friday. I was the scenic designer for Thornton Wilder play The Skin of Our Teeth. Wilder’s play is wild to say the least. The Antrobus house falling apart and coming back together again was a huge hurdle given that the theatre space for this production did not have a functioning fly system. This was a journey, however I think the team worked together to create a wonderful story. The visual world was beautifully augmented by the media designer Ian Evans, lighting designer Bryan Nortin and the costume designer Paige Wilson. Below are the Front Elevation renderings for the entire show:

The is the Top of Show News Reel projected on to the front scrim

Once the Scrim goes out, we reveal the Act 1 Antrobus house in it current state. I always like it when I can utilize the color costume design renderings for my renderings. Thank you to Paige Wilson for the beautiful renderings.

The Act 2 Boardwalk was a visceral display of color and characters found at the Atlantic City Boardwalk. For this rendering I used some stock figures from the internet. I ned to go back an add in Paige’s rendering to finish this one out.

I really fell in love with the image of the gable and door. The low gable created a claustrophobic space that our characters find them selves in at the top of this Act. the house and world in ruins and slowly coming back to life. The smoldering projection image created a phenomenal backdrop for the scene. I borrowed a research image for the costume designer for this final image. 

While this was the original rendering for the new house, the media design team ended up creating the rising house at the end of the play. Kudos to Ian Evans and Cara Oates for taking one of my research/inspiration images for the Antrobus house and making it look like new. It was a stunning to watch the house rise behind the actors at the end of the show. I was once again able to use the costume designer rendering for this rendering.

Many thanks to all those involved that made this show come to life, fall apart and then go back together. 

The University of Houston

Directed by Jack Reuler
Costume Design by Paige Wilson
Lighting Design by Bryan Nortin

Media Design by Ian Evans 

Sound Design by J. Middents

Scenic Art by Lauren Davis

Technical Director Jacob Reynolds

Mentor to Technical Director Kalliope Vlahos

Assistant to the Media Designer Cara Oates 

Stage Manager Joseph Blanchard

Mentor to Stage Management team Rachel Bush