Kurt Boetcher's filling cabinet floor set design allowed for quick set changes in location as well as traps to hide props and even dispose of a body.
The Theatre at Boston Court produced the world premier of Laura Schellhardt’s Courting Vampires in May. Set Designer Kurt Boetcher stopped by TheatreFace.com for a chat interview to talk process and how they solved the problem of burying a body onstage.
Jacob Coakley: For your last show at Boston Court, Courting Vampires,
the set floor was filing cabinets. Which, as near as I can tell, isn't
specified in the script. So how'd you come to that choice?
Kurt Boetcher: The description of the set in the script is literally
something like "The courtroom of Rill's mind" and the time is "before,
during, after.” It's difficult to boil down, but director Jessica
Kubzansky (who is amazing) and I sat down for three hours and just
broke down the script and tossed around ideas. We had to figure out
what the “Courtroom” of this rigid character's mind would look like,
feel like, etc. So we came up with filing cabinets that could also
feasibly double as a “graveyard”—so they also represent morgue drawers.
The script moves REALLY fluidly from courtroom (files, paperwork) to
graveyard (graves) and the scenic elements couldn't slow down the
movement of the text at all, or something is lost. The lighting
designer, Tim Swiss and the projection designer Jonathon Stearns also
contributed enormously to the look of it all.
Kristen Sabo-Foures: Would you say there is more technical skill or artistry involved in scenic design?
Kurt Boetcher: Well I think different designers bring different
strengths to the table. I think I work more in the “artistry”
department; and I love to have a really wonderful technical director on
board to help me solve any complicated technical elements.
Jacob Coakley: What was the most complicated bit in Vampires?
Kurt Boetcher: The floor that was made up of filing cabinet faces was
also full of traps, so there were drawers that pulled up to reveal
props (because everything in the world had to come from this
character’s mind). And we also had to shoot and bury an actual
person/vampire into the floor. So Pete Sauber, the tech director at
Boston Court, built a slide that, when revealed, led down to a crash
pad in the trap room. Two of the files pulled up to reveal a grave full
of dirt that one of the actors got “buried” in.
Jacob Coakley: Was that a box of dirt, and then the whole box slid down?
Kurt Boetcher: No. Pete found a place in the LA area that makes faux
mulch and dirt out of recycled tires. It comes in various colors, so we
had that layered on top of thick black spandex that had a slot in it
that the actor could squeeze through without letting light out. And
it's not messy so that's great for the actor.
To read the transcript of the whole conversation, head over to www.theatreface.com/boetcher
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