Creating a giant vacuum tube, a wishing well, a magical boat and a glass elevator are just a few of the many challenges facing theater arts teacher David Hashley's block 1 class.
A combination of tech theater and acting, the theater arts class is undertaking the huge task of creating a believable world for the characters of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a play that runs Oct. 19-24.
Hashley and the play's director, Greg Adkins, reviewed the script and decided what could feasibly be designed and modeled.
The plans were then passed on to the students, who sawed, painted wood and dyed and cut fabric.
The atmosphere of the play is created with the use of copious amounts of dyed fabric.
"The theme is a soft, puffy, animation-type look." said Hashley.
Many sheets of fabric are cut, then dyed in five gallon buckets of liquid concentrate dye.
Sometimes this dying process is so intense that students are colored red, green, blue, yellow, and tangerine by the end of class.
The play will have many special effects, most consisting of illusions that rely on the audience's belief.
"It's really a children's play," said Hashley.
The glass elevator and the magical boat will have handles so the actors in them can pick them up and appear to float.
"We screwed up making the boat, so now we're restarting," said sophomore Peter Bailon. "When we're done it will move anywhere in the theater."
In the play, character Veruca Salt will fall into a well which has been painted to appear full of water.
Appearing to disappear, she will instead be carted away to appear in a later scene.
Another scene calls for a tube to suck up Augustus Gloop, a character in the play.
"It will actually look like he's being pulled up the tube," explains sophomore Beth Sybert. The secret to making this happen won't be revealed here; you must watch the play and make your own guesses.
The students welcome the chance to construct an alternate reality; after all, theater is an art parallel to real life.
Said Sybert:
"Being part of the whole experience is great."