She Kills Monsters

Technical Director

David Geffen School of Drama at Yale

Fall 2021

Written by Qui Nguyen

Directed by Adrienne D. Williams

Scenic Design by Miguel Urbino

Costume Design by Kyle Artone

Lighting Design by Neil Qiu

Sound Design by Bailey Trierweiler

Production Dramaturgy Patrick Denney

Technical Direction by Laura Copenhaver

Assistant Technical Direction by Nate Angrick & Nic Benavides

She Kills Monsters takes place somewhere between the worlds of Dungeons and Dragons and Ohio. Our production relied on projections to transport the audience between worlds.

This production was the first student show after the pandemic. Our company had to manage the challenges of returning to production with a new production schedule, a team that was out of practice due to the pandemic, and the uncertainties of continuing COVID precautions.

For the TD team, our biggest struggles came from rustiness--there were so many things we had forgotten in the year and a half since lock-down. Drafting took longer than it would have before the pandemic. We had also forgotten the quirks of our spaces and made some poor assumptions and had a bunch of oversights.

Through all of the challenges, I learned the value of keeping the team together and moving forward one step, one project, one challenge at a time.

Process and Product

Ohio

The set at the top of the show, fully embracing the 90s Ohio vibe.

A Lair

When the scene called for the "Dungeons and Dragons" world, the moving walls tucked behind the side walls, revealing a portal and cyc.

Our first journey into Dungeons and Dragons World

The set with the moving walls in the "closed" position. The ceiling lightbox and perspective walls created the illusion of greater depth.

The gelatinous cube

For the "gelatinous cube" moment, the moving walls were placed together to create the shape of the cube. The color and visuals were achieve with projections.

Chuck's Comic Store

The Ceiling Lightbox Being Assembled on Stage

The ceiling was built in 9 pieces and assembled onstage.

The Ceiling's First Flight

The ceiling hung at an angle to create the forced perspective illusion.

MDF Show Deck on the Paint Floor

The largest single purchase on this show was the MDF for the deck. The stage at the Yale Rep essentially requires there to be a show deck for every production.

Drafting for the Custom Head Block

The Yale Rep architecture includes a head block beam that sits at an angle in a cramped location. Stock head blocks were impossible to use in this situation.

Drafting for Arbor Modifications

The unique architecture of the Yale Repertory Theatre frequently results in a spot rigging flying units and creating custom linesets to handle the loads and movement appropriately. This meant creating a few new components and modifying several existing ones. This stock arbor, designed to operate on a single-purchase system, needed sheave blocks on the top and bottom to be used in a double-purchase system.

Drafting Overview for the Ceiling Unit

The scenic and lighting designer wanted the ceiling lightbox to have a small profile. For the sake of simplicity, I wanted to fly the ceiling unit on four pick points. I calculated the built up shape of the light box and did the structural analysis to locate the optimal location of each pick point. If math is to be believed, the bending moment (Mmax) on each beam was less than 2 inch-pounds. The installed unit had no deflection.