Backstage Bruins: Stage designer uses creativity to revive rural Oklahoma
Stage designer and third-year gender studies student Amy Cummings spent her spring break building the “Oklahoma!” set. She researched early 1900s scenery and found props like corn and barrels to bring the set to life. (Owen Emerson/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Paula De Oliveira
March 29, 2016 11:47 p.m.
The commotion of cast members running back and forth backstage was drowned out by the distant sound of a drill. Stage designer Amy Cummings, with the drill in her hand, was focused on attaching the missing legs of a wooden table.
Along with several other HOOLIGAN Theatre Company members, the third-year gender studies student spent her spring break building the scenic elements for the company’s upcoming performance of “Oklahoma!” premiering Thursday at the Little Theater.
The revived Oscar Hammerstein II musical tells the romantic tales of two Oklahoma couples in 1906. One tale is about a cowboy named Curly and a farm girl named Laurey, who stubbornly admit their love for each other. The other tale is of a young woman named Ado Annie who has to choose between a passionate cowboy, Will Parker, and a ladies’ man, Ali Hakim.
“It is such a pivotal musical in the history of musical theater because it’s really the first modern American musical as we know them today,” said Josh Briggs, a fourth-year history student and director of the “Oklahoma!” production.
The scenic design team, led by Cummings, faced a challenge in bringing “Oklahoma!” to life because of their unfamiliarity with the time period and setting.
Cummings was responsible for building a set that fulfills the director’s vision and accommodates the actors’ lines and movements. She said with a limited budget of around $1,000, compared to an average of $5,000 for a professional theater company, Cummings had to find creative ways to bring the iconic Western feel to the stage.
“The interesting thing about being a scenic designer in HOOLIGAN is that we reuse a ton of stuff from stock,” Cummings said. “Instead of completely starting from scratch, I keep in mind a lot of what we already have.”
The lack of scenery and overall objects in the original musical production left Cummings with a creative challenge. With much of the play taking place in structures like churches or barns, Cummings had to think outside the box. She ventured to Jackson Shrub Supply in North Hollywood to find the most realistic looking props of corn, and borrowed hay bales and giant barrels from a local professional theater company to add to the scenery.
The most time-consuming part of staging “Oklahoma!” was the extensive research needed to bring a historically accurate rendering of the setting and era to the show. The company did not have photographs from the early 1900s they could use for visual references to build the set, causing them to rely mostly on first-person accounts from the time period.
Cummings prided herself in removing the assistants’ fear of using tools like chop saws and drills, especially when it came to the women, who she said tended to be reluctant to use tools they were unfamiliar with.
“When you drill you feel so powerful, especially when you’re able to build all this stuff just by yourself,” said Bahar Salih, a first-year economics student and member of the ensemble.
Though Cummings’ spring break was hectic as the company prepared for opening night, she reflected on how her love for set design originally emerged during her first year. When her lettering styles appeared on the 2014 production of “Legally Blonde,” Cummings said she felt proud to see her creation on stage.
“I love seeing people really claim their project and feel so proud when they see it on stage, whether they’re in the show or not,” Cummings said. “I just really love seeing people being proud of what they particularly worked on.”
