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30th Anniversary Blog: A Letter From Props Designer Danna Segrest (Part Two)
March 13th marks the final day of working on “Roadsigns” by Jeff Daniels in 2020.
It was our 111th in-house production (not counting Onstage & Unplugged; moving “Escanaba in da Moonlight” to The Gem & BoarsHead Theater or moving “Duck Hunter Shoots Angel” to Second City)
In the last blog I talked a bit about getting started at The Purple Rose. Once hired in, my titles were Administrative Assistant and Production Manager. That means by day I worked in the office and was in charge of all the “things”, and at night helped the production teams put together the shows. A look backstage is covered very well by Cynthia Furlong Reynolds in Chapter 5 “Behind the Scenes” of The Purple Rose of Chelsea 25th Anniversary book.
As the Production Manager on those first few shows, I coordinated needs for the Designers and Technical Directors. The designers will create blueprints and drawings for the set and lighting, but it was the TD (Technical Director) who takes those designs and converts them into practical execution within our building, budget and timeframe. At first, we had a different TD for each show, many times it was the set designer. We started out with friends that T. Newell Kring had invited up from his past work in Florida. But the harsh February winter of “Blush at Nothing” convinced them that Michigan was not a place they wanted to stay.
Showing a new TD the building and the systems we had in place fell mostly to me. This took up a lot of time on both our parts and happened every 2 months. Along came my birthday brother, Dan Walker just in time for the strike of “The Tropical Pickle” by Jeff Daniels. What a fountain of knowledge Dan is, and he would share that with everyone around him. In October of 1992, he started work on “Possessed: The Dracula Musical” and sharing that knowledge with our first class of Apprentices. I work closer with the TDs than the set designers, since we were there together in the building and the designers tend to be outside contractors, with other day jobs.
It was very nice when we hired a full time TD that stayed for years.
Bart Bauer, David Siljander, and crew members Scott Westphal and Steve Radant, looking down on the build as they discussed “More Fun Than Bowling” by Steven Dietz
Each of our past TDs has had their own style and strengths. After Dan was Andy Gorney who started as a member of our running crew; pushing props up through the grave in the middle of the “More Fun than Bowling” set. Dennis Crawley is a master carpenter who came walking in the front door (son on his shoulders) exactly when we needed him. Our current TD is the smooth & steady Gary Ciarkowski, our real-life Rocket Scientist. He came to us in 1996 from UofM, when I was on maternity leave. Dan Walker needed someone to handle the Master Electrician side of the tech and Gary had been working at the Power Center for the Performing Arts throughout college as he earned his degree in aerospace engineering. That type of thinking has come in handy on engineering many of the sets and special effects over the years, as well as equipping the theatre to be ready for you to return in this post-COVID world.
Backstage in the original Garage Theatre was a narrow cross-over walkway that looked down into the scenic shop.
Expanded backstage made by putting a full deck over the shop. It was still wide open on the ends and no work could be done (or even whispering) when the stage was in use
Once we had the TD and Master Electrician in place, I could concentrate on getting everyone the things they needed, from lightbulbs to props to coffins for lobby decor. Before our first Apprentice class we had Terri Czarney (Fisher) as our first university intern. She came on a summer internship from Siena Heights University and then was in the first Apprentice Class after graduation.
Danna Segrest and university intern, Terri Czarney. during the product of Kuru by Josh C. Manheimer
More next month!
Danna Segrest
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