On the “Merry Men” Set
When the curtain opens on the Upper School production of “Merry Men” — a wacky comedy of mistaken identity, music, sword fights, and poorly trained attack ferrets — all eyes will be on the actors on stage. But the actors aren’t the only ones that will have a starring role in the production; the set will as well. An integral part of a production, the set defines the vision, style, and tone of the show. It creates the mood and atmosphere, indicates a specific time and place, and provide possibilities for the actors’ movement.
The “Merry Men” set was designed by Brent Mason, who received the prestigious Jerry Herman Award for Scenic Design for the Upper School spring production of Les Misérables. Mason, who was a full time Milken faculty member for seven years before leaving to pursue a career in freelance scenic and production design, has designed the scenery for almost every Milken production for over 17 years. But what exactly is set design? According to Mason, set design is, “taking a world and creating a vision for that world that works for the environment.”
Mason explained his process for designing sets. First he takes notes on the script and conducts research online. Since “Merry Men” was based on “Robin Hood,” he delved into the fantasy elements and asked “how would Sherwood forest feel?” Everything was based on historical reality for the most part he noted, but it also favored some fantasy. He describes the “Merry Men” set as contemporary fantasy.
Meeting with the director is the next step and that is when Mason finds out what she has in mind for the show. It’s important that they are both on the same page. “The scenic description in the script called for a set that was ‘multifunctional, transformative, and playful.’ I wanted it to feel like a mixture between a renaissance faire, a playground, and a magical forest,” “Merry Men” Director Sarah Figoten recalled. She added that they needed to find simple solutions to move from one space to the next. Functionally, it was important that the set could be easily moved by the actors as the set changes are part of the fun. After the first meeting, Mason produced a set of drawings which included a slide, maypole/merry-go-round, a double sided pageant wagon, crates, trees, and more. “I love the set Brent created. It’s been so much fun to work and explore on,” noted Figoten.
Milken students in the Tech Theater Classes helped Mason build the sets. Brian Byrne teaches the Tech Theater 1 and Advanced Tech Theater classes. According to Byrne, “The students are primarily tasked with building and painting the scenery. We also cover lighting design, sound design, and other aspects of work behind the scenes in theater productions.” The students help construct sets for the four Upper and Middle Schools’ productions. For many students in the class, it is their first time building a set and once they start, they are hooked. They all seem to agree that they have learned a lot of new skills, and they are thrilled to see their handiwork come to fruition when the set is complete.
Rohm Stark ’20, remarked, “I really enjoy this class. I had never done this before, but it is fun working with other people and I love to see how awesome the set pieces look when they are done. It’s a blast!”
Ben Bricker ’18 has been taking Tech Theater classes since he was a sophomore. He’s enjoyed it so much that he is applying to college tech theater programs. “I like the hands on work and seeing what we’ve built when it is completed. I’ve learned about teamwork and collaborating to get things done. Also, I like being able to be able to advocate and have a say in what I think should be done,” he noted.
Once construction starts on the set pieces, there are various things to consider. Color plays an important role in sets. It is important to recognize how color works so that it doesn’t conflict with the costumes. For example, if the costume is red, a red set piece wouldn’t work, because the actor would be lost. But if the set piece was blue and the actor was wearing red, they would pop. Lighting also plays a role in the color scheme; Mason explained that you can get a better black if you paint a set piece dark blue; it will appear blacker than one actually painted black.
Mason used painting techniques to make two dimensional objects appear three dimensional. The ground row—the scenery in the back of the stage, shrubs, grass etc.—is painted so that the hard edges are a dark purple black shadow color and then softened by using water and a wet brush on one edge gives a sense of depth and a third dimension.
Mason’s advice to students who might want to get involved in set design is that it helps to have an artistic background and have the ability to imagine and improvise. He added that
some important skills to have include drawing, architecture, and research. Finally, he emphasized that everything that is designed has to have some historical fact around it or structure. Even if it is fantasy there has to be a reality.
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