L'Etoile
Technical Director
Directed by Robin Guarino
Scenic Design by Erhard Rom
Wolf Trap Opera Company, 2007

This show had some fun twists and turns: three concealed doors, a spiral staircase, a 19’-0” climbing pole, and a 12’-0” long spinning screw that appeared through a secret opening in the side of the SL wall.

The back wall of the set is a painted drop (approx. 38’-0 x 22’-0”) that was stretched, secured to the floor and sides of the theatre. The drop was then secured to the tructure behind it which supported the three concealed doors. For the side walls, (not shown here) because the entire set had to travel in a box truck, several flats were built. The paint treatment was done on muslin, which was then wrapped over the assembled flats. Constructing the walls this way hid the seams in the flats and allowed for quick
installation of fiber optics creating a three sided star drop.

The 12’-0” long screw was constructed by a foam fabrication company locally, so the tricky part came in fitting it into a very small backstage area. The foam was assembled around 2” pvc core which slipped over 1 ½” pipe welded to an upright steel member attached to a 3’-0” long base. 110 lbs was added to the platform to balance the cantilevered screw. Arm strong rotation.



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