2022-23: Beauty and the Beast

In our first full year back after the pandemic, we decided to send a message to the community. We used the iconic story of Beauty and the Beast to establish the level of design and detail that we were going to put into every single part of the show.

This year, we added the Fashion Design class onto the team, and they were responsible for designing and manufacturing all of the costumes, except Cogsworth, the Wardrobe, and Lumiere's hands; we kept those projects in Theater & Set Design.

One of my favorite parts of the class is challenging students to do things most people would think impossible. A great example of this can be found here, with real running water in the fountain found in the village scene. Or real working windows like the ones found in Belle's cottage below.

Extra attention was placed on the ideas surrounding texture and dimensionality.

As a former architect, I believe that environment is a powerful source of inspiration. Crafting a realistic setting for the actors enhances their ability to portray their characters more deeply. Our students paid attention to every detail, right down to the finials on the torches. For this musical, they created over 20 unique torches, each adding authenticity to the performance.

Like the setting around them, the costumes the actors wear provide inspiration. Lumiere came alive when he learned he could turn his candles on & off with a tiny switch found near his fingers. All props, including Lumiere's candles, were designed and built in the MakerSpace.

Prior to building and sets or props, designs are created in Cad for a deeper 3D analysis.