Staging a scene
<p>Michael McGiveney, set designer and production manager for Coeur d'Alene Summer Theater, talks about his experience working on sets Monday at the shop on Building Center Drive.</p>
<p>Jett Bingman, set builder, cuts lumber to length while working on a stage prop during his shift.</p>
<p>Set building starts with scale models like this one that was used for "Mary Poppins."</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - The theater experience extends well beyond the smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd. A visit to Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre's set design and production facility makes that abundantly clear.
There are sounds and smells - freshly cut lumber, wet paint, hammers, saws and drills - that no audience member will ever experience, but they are just as much a part of the magic of theater as the actors on stage.
"You have to create an illusion," said Michael McGiveney, Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre's set designer, production and technical manager.
McGiveney, with the production company for 15 years, is working with his build team on the stage scenery for this summer's four productions: "Big River," "Mary Poppins," "Romance/Romance" and "9 to 5: The Musical."
Before any set building begins, McGiveney digs in, reading the scripts, doing research, studying style requirements and talking to the director, while determining ways to reflect time and place on stage.
"Set design is all about how to add to the actor telling a story," he said.
McGiveney then creates small model stages with his concepts. The miniature sets are used for planning, during discussions with the director and actors.
The set design process begins in November, and the building begins in February.
For "Big River," which opens June 13, Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre did something it has never done before. They purchased a set from Village Theatre, a musical theater production company based in Issaquah, Wash. They were able to buy the set, valued at $60,000, for less than $5,000.
Based on Mark Twain's novel, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," much of the play takes place on and around the Mississippi River. The set pieces include docks, buildings and of course, a raft that will move along the river, carrying Huck and Jim.
McGiveney's build team is working on the set for "Mary Poppins" right now. That show will make its Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre premier on July 5. CST is one of a handful of companies awarded the rights to perform the show, the most recent stage adaptation of the story about the London nanny in the early 1900s.
"It's one of the most elaborate ones we've ever done," McGiveney said.
His team is putting the final touches on a three-story house that will appear on stage. The building will be seen by the audience from the outside, and the inside.
"We had to be a little creative," he said.
The set had to be designed in a way that will make it appear that a character is dancing on the wall.
That type of creativity comes naturally to McGiveney. He grew up around the theater, and has been involved in it since he was 7 years old.
His dad, Owen McGiveney, was a vaudeville quick change artist, and Michael followed in his father's footsteps. Quick change is all about illusion and creativity as the artists perform multiple roles, changing costumes and makeup in a matter of seconds.
Super speedy costume changes were Owen McGiveney's hallmark, so much so, that the phrase "He did a McGiveney," became theatrical jargon for a fast costume change.
Eventually, Michael McGiveney began working on lighting and production for Johnny Mathis, Vikki Carr and the Ice Follies. He later moved on to work on set design for Disney at the entertainment giant's theme parks.
Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre's production facility also serves as a storage area, with props, equipment and set pieces tucked away throughout the rooms.
A large pointing finger from "Spam-A-Lot," hangs on a wall above the design team as they work. Nearby, images of parachuting soldiers cascade down another wall, a remnant of "The Producers."
A winding, white staircase leads up to a loft, a fixture leftover from the company's production of "Cinderella."
Like everything else in the design production facility, there's more to the staircase than meets the eye. It doubles as a dressing room, so Cinderella could do one of those quick changes and go "poof" at midnight, transforming from princess back to commoner.
"Yes, we do have all kinds of things in here," McGiveney said.
Tickets for this summer's shows are on sale now and can be purchased online at www.cdasummertheatre.com, or by contacting the box office at 769-7780 or in person at the box office, 880 W. Garden Ave., in North Idaho College's Boswell Hall.