Broadneck Elementary School was performing Seussical Kids and I was asked to provide some set pieces for the show. The director had seen another performance where truffula trees framed the stage in a kind of archway. We figured that four stand-alone trees plus enough tree-tops suspended from the ceiling would do the trick. Both started as scale drawings on graph paper which were then transferred to 4’x’8 sheets of either 1″ rigid foam (the suspended tree-tops) or luan plywood (the stand-alone trees). The pointy tops were a particularly frustrating batch of short cuts with the jigsaw. The stand-alone trees were reinforced with some 2x2s and then it was time to start painting. Given the cartoony nature of the show, I tried to keep the colors faithful to the illustrations in the Dr. Seuss books. I think they turned out great. (Many, many thanks to my wife who doesn’t like to paint, but chipped in anyway.) Installing the tree-tops at the school was fairly straightforward. I pushed floral wire through the “stems” and simply safety pinned them to one of the curtains. I made sandbags to help keep the stand-alone trees in place with all the kids performing. Overall, it was exactly what we were looking for and the kids loved it.
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