Greetings from the Barn! Since my last column, the entire staff has arrived, which includes our Core Company (formerly called the Interns or Second Company). Education is built into the mission of the Players, which includes hiring paid apprentices to work throughout the summer on all five productions.

These 14 early career artists hail from around the country, from California to North Carolina. Most are focusing on a particular area (for example, costumes or scenery) with a few “floating” between departments. They arrived Memorial Day weekend and began work after a barbecue attended by many of our board members.

The heads of the technical and design shops arrived first, so that they could get their various shops organized and ready to go. That way, they were ready to incorporate the Core Company and hit the ground running working on getting “Boeing Boeing” (our first show of the season) ready to open on the 18th.  The last important group to arrive on Hadley Road are the cast, as well as the fight and intimacy choreographers.

Some of the crucial and simultaneous tasks being done are constructing the set, hanging the lights, building and/or renting the costumes and props, collecting the sound cues and rehearsing the show. Using the set designer’s ground plan, the stage managers “taped out” the rehearsal space before the actors arrived; this involves putting down tape on the floor to specifically designate where the walls, doors, steps and windows will eventually be on stage.

This way, the actors know exactly where they will be for every moment of the production, even before the scenery is in place. This precision is needed for the lighting designer to know where to place the lights, which allows our technical rehearsals right before opening to go as smoothly as possible. All the above are examples of the collaboration required by so many artists to get a show like “Boeing Boeing” ready for you to enjoy!

I want to shine a light on the incredible set designer Charlie Morgan. Charlie, who has a long history with the Players, is designing the first two shows of the season: “Boeing” and our thriller “Dial M for Murder” opening on July 2. As the director of “Boeing,” this has been my first time working with Charlie, and it’s been a joy. He’s smart, highly experienced, and has a dry sense of humor that sneaks up on you. I asked him to share some thoughts about his life as a designer in general and working on a farce like “Boeing” in particular (which requires eight doors onstage)!

BF: How many seasons have you worked at PP, and what do you think is special about that theater?

CM: 29 years.  I consider The Players to be my home. I have grown up here professionally and personally. The people I have worked with have been extraordinary, and the work has been exciting. The theater itself has an intimate and simple feel, no fancy bells and whistles, just a barn and a stage. These keep me coming back - it is all about the barn, the artists and the audience.

BF: What’s the first thing you do when you start working on a set design for a play? And what’s the challenge of designing "Boeing Boeing"?

CM: The first step in designing a set is the script. Read it, understand it. Find interesting staging moments. Collaboration with the director is next, listening to their approach to the script and the characters described. Next, research into the particular period and/or location of the script. Once all of this is done, I try and tie all these elements together and design. The challenge of this play? Doors, doors, doors! It’s a farce. Doors -- where do they all go in this small theater?

BF: What’s something you wish more people outside of the theater world would know about the work set designers do?

CM: I am amazed at how little people realize that the final product onstage is a collaboration between many people: set, lights, costume, sound, props, director, stage manager, technical director, craftspeople, crew and actors. All these groups and people influence one another in a collaboration. We all share ideas and change our designs in response. Theater is unlike any other art form; it is based on collaboration.

BF: By the time people read this, the set will be fully constructed. How do you interact with the technical director and those who are building it between the beginning of the build and when the show goes up?

CM: Before construction of the set starts, I compile renderings, draftings and color elevations for the technical director. He responds with questions and budgetary restraints. After we have finalized the details, construction begins. I will visit the shop every few days as construction progresses and review what has been built and painted. When the set is installed in the theater, I check in. Once final set dressing and lighting takes place, I answer questions and collaborate with the other designers to add final touches. Actors arrive onstage, I watch technical rehearsals and take notes on things that need to be adjusted. After every technical rehearsal we have a meeting of all designers, the technical director and director to review everyone’s notes and decide what the next steps will be.

I hope you enjoyed these insights into the world of set design. Remember, you can be an important part of supporting all this incredible work by buying tickets as well as making a contribution to The Players at any time. I’m off to watch the first rehearsals of our next show coming up, the stylish noir “Dial M for Murder!”

Brendon Fox is artistic director of the Peterborough Players.