Theatre is a collaborative art. The adage goes, “Many hands make light work.” And in our world, it takes the actions of many individual artists uniting under the director’s visiom to bring to life any work, be it play, musical, opera, or more. But Shelf Life, our upcoming Master Mystery Production, presented us with a new opportunity. Theatre depends on the talent and knowledge of those more experienced to be passed to the next generation of rising artists. So for this show, we let our students–some of whom mark this as their first production ever–take the design reins and learn firsthand how a show is designed and built. Let’s take a look at what our student artists developed for Shelf Life!

WRITING THEIR OWN STORY: The Making of Shelf Life (Part 2)

When we first designed this production, the idea was always to allow the students to do creative work for it. Master Mystery Productions believes in passing knowledge forward to upcoming generations of artists. We wanted to let the kids have authority in the aesthetic decisions of the play, so it becomes THEIR show, not just OUR show. However, we also were aware that many of the kids had little to zero working theatrical experience, so we used Shelf Life as an opportunity to teach them the essentials of production under the guiding hand of Educating Theatre Artists. These artists–past MMP veterans with long chains of theatrical credits behind them–were specially chosen in certain technical areas of expertise. We want to extend heartfelt thanks to Calvin Johnson (Voice and Accent Coach), Janis Kunz (Props and Set Dressing), Beth Sparks-Jacques (Costume Design), Olivia Holm (Makeup Design), and Devanne Fredette (Scenic Paint Boss) for giving the gift of their knowledge and experience with these impassioned students.

With the director, Daniel Stallings, providing a general brief to his student designers of “What would fictional characters look like on their day off? Costume meets loungewear,” they went to work. Kaylee Erb, who plays INH in the show, designed the costumes, taking inspiration from traditional depictions of the characters melded with ideas like pajamas and slippers for younger characters. Little references abound such as red paint smears on Alice’s dress from painting roses. Skilled costumer and seamstress Margit Stallings lent her skills to fabricate many of the specialty pieces such as Alice’s homemade bunny slippers and King Arthur’s tabard and (faux) fur cloak. Devanne Fredette, a talented crochet artist, contributed with hand-crafted belts, reticules, and snoods.

Some of Kaylee Erb’s costume designs.

Journey Curran, who plays Jane Eyre, doubles as the Makeup Designer for Shelf Life, and she was inspired to turn these people into paper through cosmetic means. In the script, we have many fun allusions to the characters being mere paper-and-ink. Highlighter is found on a character from a play whose lines have been highlighted by an actor. The characters are annotated with scribbled notes from readers and students. Journey also used makeup to simulate the concept that the characters’ “skin” is really paper. For added detail, Journey also learned how to create a vampire bite for a certain part-vampire from Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Some of Journey’s makeup designs.

Reegan Hall serves as our Prop Master in addition to her role as Sherlock Holmes. She worked on planning and designing the props and set dressing needed for the production. The kids made everything from a Holy Grail to a book-themed vase to the legendary Excalibur crafted from “medieval manuscripts.” Our idea was that, as book characters, their belongings would be paper too. So our student artists forged Excalibur and a scabbard for King Arthur out of cardboard and papier-mache. We allowed them to decorate and design as they saw fit.

Of course, the biggest project–especially physically–was the giant magic book. We dreamed about our literary figures emerging literally emerging out of a big book to start their after hours adventures. The actual design and build of the big book comes from Set Designer Michael Stallings, but the painting of the characters on the front cover came down to the kids. Not just the actors, but the kids working on the crew are also represented. And the director and assistant director got a little nod as well. Scenic Paint Poss Devanne Fredette also offered a drawing class for interested students.

All of these efforts blend to make a fully realized production. When the kids look back, they’ll be able to say “I did that. I made this show happen.” We’re so proud of them. The show really is their own. Come appreciate the amazing work of these talented new actors and artists in the first major show!

If you can, please consider coming to the Shelf Life to show your support for these budding actors and artists. Performances open Friday, November 8 at 7:30 p.m. at Red Rock Books. We have additional performances on November 9, 15, and 16. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Tickets are on sale at Red Rock Books and online through this link.

We’ll see you at Shelf Life!

–Master Mystery Productions