For the first in a series of company member interviews, I talked with properties designer Dre Moore. Find out how to make a giant glowing brain, why puppets are better than real actors, and which prop never goes out of style, all after the jump.
Seamus:
Thanks for being the first up. I think this’ll be a fun feature.Dre: I just hope I can type fast enough.
Seamus: I’ll attribute any slow typing to thoughtful pauses.
Dre: Excellent!
Seamus: So how’d you wind up working with Flying V in the first place?
Dre: Well, I got a frantic call from Jason for Incurable. I had known Jason for a few years, and so many other folks were already in with the V that I thought why not? I had never worked on a Fringe show before, and heard it was a blast.
And I also had a blast as well.
Seamus: Did you meet Jason at UMD like many of the other company members, or did you meet elsewhere?
Dre: Yes, we met at UMD, but I don’t think I really got to know him there. Most of the acting students are in their own curriculum, and unless they are specifically working in the props shop I don’t really get a chance to meet them.
Seamus: Let’s pull a Chris Nolan and go back even further. How’d you get interested in properties design?
Dre: Hooo boy, that my friend is a long story. To be brief but still exciting, I graduated with a fine art degree from VCU and started as a props master at Olney in 2003. By 2004 I was a freelance designer, and 2007 I struck out at UMD as a freelance artisan and friendly local Properties Designer.
Oh, by “struck out” I meant left the life of luxury/full time employment at Olney.
Seamus: Having done both, what’s your take on steady work as a properties designer vs. freelance?
Dre: Steady work was, well, much more steady and the reliable paycheck was fantastic. It was also much more lucrative than freelancing. But I love the freedom of my schedule as a freelance designer, and the fact that my husband has the health benefits at his work.
But at the same time, I am terrible with keeping a schedule, so I feel like I work a lot more. So I have a small shop at home where I can do small projects/basic woodworking, which cuts down on travelling a bit.
Seamus: That sounds like the dream.
Dre: Yeah, but the space constraint in working in a 2 car garage has its downfalls as well…
Like wanting to put cars in it.
Seamus: Let’s go back to Incurable, specifically those breathtaking paintings you and Andrew Berry whipped up, one of which you kindly let me hang on my wall. What was the process of creating those like?
Dre: Oh my, now that was my idea of fun! I love painting, but I never have the guts to paint a set… Andrew and I set out with canvases, brushes, and paint and had a good ol’ time (OK, I at least had a good time, we should check with Andrew to see what he really thought). Andrew had some research images that inspired me, and we worked together to make a decision on what the content and designs were going to be.
Seamus: And all the paintings were inspired by existing works but the designs themselves were original, is that right?
Dre: Most were originals. The Lichtenstein was a copy of an existing piece (unless that means I created a forgery, in which case it was completely original – nudgenudgewinkwink), the Miro was inspired by several paintings but was an original since we wanted the smiley face motif included in that one, the cityscapes and beach landscapes were also inspired by actual images but originals. And the doctor’s office cubism was a product of my fevered brain. And paint.
Seamus: Funny how often that formula works.
Dre: Indeed.
Seamus: What’s the project of which you’re the proudest at this point in your career? Flying V or otherwise?
Dre: Hmm, that’s a tough question…
Seamus: I’m facebook stalking you and I hope the giant brain [from Round House Theatre’s production of A Wrinkle in Time] is at least in the top five.
Dre: The giant brain was awesome to make, I have to admit! The paintings for Flying V were so much fun and creative, and my very first freelance design show at Rep Stage (which I am completely forgetting the name of at the moment….Arcadia!) was truly an amazing piece as well.
Living Dead in Denmark was probably the strangest show, in a tie with Venus at Olney.
And making fake latkes for Schlemiel the First at Theatre J was a good time, too.
Seamus: Want to elaborate? Walk us through some of the stranger props you’ve had to do.
Dre: For Venus at Olney, there was a female reproductive system in a jar (foam and latex), Living Dead in Denmark had a zombie stole for zombie Paris Hilton, (which was a hand puppet)-
Seamus: Which our company member Blair wielded, if memory serves.
Dre: My goodness, like a champ! Or should I say, she WORKed it!
Seamus: In true Blair fashion. Dre: -and several times in my career I have made novelty oversize candy canes.
Seamus: Is there pretty steady demand for novelty candy canes?
Dre: You’d be surprised! Santaland Diaries at Rep Stage, and most recently at Adventure Theatre for ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas.
Seamus: Struggling properties designers, take note. Learn to make giant candy canes.
Dre: Hahaha, yes, large candy cane construction is a must on the resume. Usually, I never make the same prop twice, so it’s always fun to make something and improve on it.
Seamus: I don’t know if props design is like writing in this respect, but is there ever a moment where you have no earthly idea how you’re going to create something? Or do you always have a plan from the outset?
Dre: Oh my no, there are a lot of times were my first reaction is, “How on earth is that going to happen on stage? Sure, writing it on paper it sounds great, but in reality?”
A lot of times there is compromise, mostly due to the laws of physics and budget concerns.
The brain, for one, I had trouble with what the best material would be for the construction. There probably was a better way to do it, but I settled on laminating lots of pink insulation foam together and free forming some vaguely symmetrical ridges with a sure form. Then some paint, EL wire, and Bob’s your uncle – a giant glowing brain!
Seamus: Oooh, how’d you get it to glow?
Dre: Not sure if it’s in the profile pic, but all the ridges on the brain were traced with electro-luminescent wire (EL wire for short), and could glow steady or pulse. We went with the creepier pulse option.
Seamus: A giant glowing brain is cooler than a giant brain that does not glow.
Dre: Truly.
Seamus: What are your big artistic influences right now?
Dre: Honestly, I love fashion and the Steampunk movement. I’m not all that into the literature (I am functionally illiterate – I read scripts for work and how-to books for fun), but the cogs and brass remind me a lot of stuff I enjoyed designing in school. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Art Deco and Nouveau.
And all of the Cheezburger sites. Can’t forget those! Probably less of an inspiration and more a popular and trite diversion. But the way they can use simple stick figures to evoke such emotion is fascinating.
Seamus: And now we have Disgusting Bachelor Frog, Courage Wolf and company.
Dre: Yup! And My Little Pony, but we won’t get into that…
Seamus: I’ve heard good things!
Dre: Oh, it’s awesome! Catch a few episodes, I dare you to not become a fan!
Seamus: You are not the first person to tell me that.
Dre: And I’m far from the last, to be sure.
Seamus: What’s your dream project? Properties design or otherwise.
Dre: Hmm. I’m really not sure! There’s such a dynamic sense to props it’s difficult to pin down something to be “the dream”, ya know?
I love when shows have spectacle, and lots going on, but there’s also something so moving about the almost bare stage and just emotions flying all over the place.
But probably something with puppets. As much as I hate on making puppets, they do so much more in some ways than an actor can do.
Seamus: Such as?
Dre: A lot of times (Julie Taymor aside), puppets are smaller than people, which makes them in a lot of ways more fragile, lovable, or just plain cuter. Depending on the style of puppet, they can fly with far less rigging than a person. The Puppet Company in Glen Echo has an amazing Puppet Slam every now and then, and it’s incredible with what people can dream up and build to express themselves!
OK, now we need to convince Jason to do a puppet show…
Seamus: I’ll back you up.
Dre: Hahaha, thanks!
Seamus: You can kill puppets onstage in more exciting ways, too.
Bunraku was huge in medieval Japan and that’s one of the reasons, I’ve read.
Dre: Very true. I had to build a puppet for UMD that fell from the grid as his entrance, then had his arms and legs pulled off.
Seamus: Poor guy.
Dre: I’m sure he had it coming.
Seamus: Okay, last question and then I’ll let you go. Which company member or guest artist would you most like to work with? Or who’d you most like to work with again?
Dre: I loved the playwright who did Incurable, his writing for that was incredible.
Seamus: Pfffft, I think he’s overrated.
Dre: Michael was a good director, I enjoyed working with him. Heck, I enjoyed the whole team from Incurable. Actors and everyone. Let’s just do it with puppets next time around.
Seamus: That’s what we’ll pitch to Jason. Incurable with puppets. Then we can show all those people getting their limbs chopped off instead of just talking about it!
Dre: Sounds good to me!
