We asked some of our incredible Production staff a few questions:
1. What is your role in Young Frankenstein?
2. What’s been the most challenging/interesting/fun thing to tackle?
3. Anything else you want to share with the audience?
Abbey Mosely – Scenic Designer/Technical Director
I am both the scenic designer and Technical Director for this show. So basically, I am both making problems and solving them!
This show is full of lots of fun surprises and magic. Rosie (Director) mentioned in the first meeting wanting things to spin (specifically counterclockwise) and it has been fun to see how many things I could make spin, have interesting transitions or be incorporated into the set. My favorite surprise we incorporated is definitely the Trident.
The bookcases include books from the Missoula Public Library that they were going to get rid of. We cut the ends off and glued them to the bookcase along with books made of cardboard and wood.
Linda Muth – Costume Designer
I have designed the costumes for the cast of Young Frankenstein.
A surprising aspect of this show for me has been the amount of costumes required for the ensemble! With few exceptions everyone in the ensemble has a different costume for the various roles and/or characters that they play. That added up to 3 or 4 costumes per person! The most fun costumes to design were the ones that I had to think outside the box, so to speak. For instance, how to emulate the backside of horses that are pulling a hay wagon! And how will the actors wear them?
Blain Radford – Lighting & Scenic Artist
I have a couple different roles for Young Frankenstein being the Lighting Designer and Scenic Artist. As the Lighting Designer, I beautifully painted the stage with lights, as you will see! After watching the play multiple times, I record hundreds of cues in our light board which are plated back during the show. As the Scenic Artist, it is my job to paint all the scenery you see onstage. For Young Frank that means making sure that the rocks, wood, and
everything else are painted realistically, in grayscale. Not an easy thing to do!
The most interesting thing for this show has been painting the scenery, like you see, to be grayscale. Using only black and white, we have to convincingly detail all the scenic elements while still making the pieces easy to identify. The massive door to the castle, for example, is made of different kinds of rocks, so they have to stand out from one another and still accentuate the structure.
I want to let the audience know that there are over 250 light cues for this show! Over the course of each performance (maybe 2.5 hours), our light board operator in the booth is hitting a button to trigger almost every single one!
Lesley Washburn – Properties Designer
I am the Properties Designer for Young Frank, meaning I am responsible for building, borrowing, or buying any of the prop needs for the show. I also create some of the set dressings for the show and reupholster furniture if needed.
Brains, so many brains…….