Painting Willow Quartet

Those of you who know me know that I’ve done a helluva lot of set painting for Alumnae Theatre, especially last season and mostly with set designer Ed “Eduardo” Rosing. And, like working for the mob, you don’t really quit working with Ed – or Alumnae for that matter – just when you think you’re out, they keep pulling you back in.

This season, I’ve cut my scenic painting back to two productions: one an indie production of Willow Quartet (with a group of mostly Alumnae folks) and Alumnae’s spring production of Cosi.

So yesterday, I met with Ed and builder Mike Vitorovitch (who we last worked with on the GuineaPigging set at Alumnae last season) at Mike’s parents’ house – a lovely home in Rosedale – to get to work on the Willow Quartet set. The garage is set up as Mike’s workshop and the weather was so nice and sunny that we were able to set up a drop cloth on the driveway in front of the garage to do some painting there as well. We got a lot done in three hours – the play is set at an old family farmhouse – and because we’re painting as pieces are built, we’ll be back next Sunday for more.

There’s something about performing a familiar task in a different setting that makes it feel new somehow – and the experience of painting outdoors on a lovely fall afternoon was invigorating.

Willow Quartet was written by Joan Burrows and directed by Jane Carnwath, and features actors Patricia Casey, Andy Fraser (who I believe is also producing), John Healy and Chris Owens. The dream production team includes Margot “Mom” Devlin (SM), Paul Hardy (lights), Richard Jones (sound), Ed Rosing (set) and Alice Torrance (costumes).

Willow Quartet runs November 18 – December 3 at the Papermill Theatre at Todmorden Mills. I’ll be back with more details closer to opening.