Designers at work – Banton Foster & Gary Menendez

From my perspective, the designers have been tasked with making and finding a lot of difficult props for tonight’s show. Not so much from their perspective.

Banton Foster talks about his props.

Banton Foster commented that it’s been a calmer design weekend than most, and he would know. This is his 7^th or 8^th time designing for 14/48. He’s done it so many times that he’s forgotten the exact number. Today he’s working on a fake iPad with a banana on it and transforming a dart gun so that it looks more realistic.

Gary Menendez creates a picnic table.

 Gary Menendez on the other hand is constructing an entire picnic table and two matching benches. I was in the scene shop for less than 10 minutes and saw him routing, cutting wood, and even testing the strength of the table (by lying on top of it of course).

Gary tests the strength of the table.

 He’d only been working on the table for 30 or 40 minutes before I arrived and it was already in good shape. This time around at 14/48, he’s focused on the set elements, allowing other designers to take on the brunt of the props.