Assistant Designer to Deitra Kalyn for Third Street Theatre’s I Am My Own Wife.
Deitra Kalyn’s concept for I Am My Own Wife was a full wall of custom built bookshelves, to be filled with line drawings of various objects referenced throughout the play.
After establishing the overall dimensions for the space, we developed a draft layout of the shelves, varying the size and aspect ratio to provide visual interest.
Initial layout sketch of shelves
Once the layout had been set, a 3D rendering was produced in Sketchup to get a better handle on the scale of the unit, make adjustments to the sizing of the shelves, and to ensure that the unit could be effectively divided into panels for transport and install.
The rendering also provided a complete cut-list of all materials for use during fabrication, speeding up the overall build process.
3D rendering of shelves
With the drawings approved, construction began. The shelves were stained before cutting to avoid the time consuming process of staining once it was assembled. With the aide of the rendering, it was a simple matter of assembling the numbered pieces, and fastening them to the shelf backing.
Build in progress
The wall unit was built in 3 pieces to facilitate transport and to fit through the doors of the small venue. Crown moulding trim was installed after fit-up in the venue.
Final show state
Production Photo. Credit: Bree Gardner