BWW Interviews: Nashville Rep's Props Master Evelyn Pearson Talks THE WHIPPING MAN and More

By: Feb. 17, 2015
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When I saw Nashville Repertory Theatre's production of The Whipping Man last weekend, one of the first things that I noticed was the amazing set design. A beautifully designed set by Gary C. Hoff, The Whipping Man had so many amazing things about it that I wanted to take the time to find out a little more about how the set was designed and made.

Thankfully, I got the opportunity to interview Evelyn Pearson, properties master for Nashville Repertory Theatre. Evelyn shared quite a bit of insight onto some of the most distinct (and sometimes the smallest) details of the set design and the creation. Asked about her role as properties master, Evelyn had this description: "As property master I do all the set dressings for all of our shows. I find the bottles and the ropes. I get to go up into stock and look for things that we have that are distressed or that I can distress a little bit more."

When I sat down with Evelyn, one of the first things we talked about what the home that the play takes place in. Evelyn says, "This is right after Richmond was set on fire by Confederate soldiers leaving Richmond." She says when Gary C. Hoff was looking at the set design in the summer (according to Evelyn Pearson, most of the sets for the entire season are pretty much decided in the summer) they talked about some things such as the fact that as a Jewish family, they would have lived in more of a town home. "They had some money, so you can kind of see where the house once was. Elaborate wallpaper, etc."

There were some pretty amazing things that I noticed about the stage itself when I saw the show. There were things under the stage! Dirt, old bottles, rope, and other things. I was curious as to how far back those things went. Evelyn filled me in as well as giving me some additional insight into that aspect of the set. "It's not all the way across the bottom. It's about eighteen inches deep around the stage." Evelyn also let me know that the dirt that was seen under the edges of the stage was actually rubber mulch!

In process: blowing hot glue spider webs.

"I don't know if you noticed that there are spider webs under the stage?" Um, no. I hadn't. If I had, I might have run from the theatre screaming...but that's another story. Evelyn shared these pictures with us and gave a little background on the process. "The hot glue spider webs were blown by me onto the ladder using the blower attachment for our compressor, a hot glue gun, and lots of patience. They were then placed in various spots underneath the floor on the set and spiders were added to complete the look."

I always wonder about things in the show that might be important to the feel of the show, or the world of the actors. I also wonder how much I miss as a casual observer. I asked Evelyn if there was anything about this particular show that she felt was something that most people wouldn't notice, but she felt was an important part of the story.

Finished spider webs under the edge of the stage.

"With this show there are little things like broken vases piece that make sense to have been knocked over and pieces of things that others might not notice, but that make sense that they would be there. There is a really kind of cool thing that we hid upstage, where on the porch entrance area, right behind the door, in the tree, when they open the door there is actually a canvas tent that I had made out of large piece of canvas we burned holes in it and put grass stains on it and then it's all caught up in the branches of the tree like the wind blew and it got tangled in the tree from one of the soldiers camps nearby and I doubt anybody will ever notice it," Evelyn shared.

There were also other little things that Evelyn shared with me that I WISH I'd noticed when I saw the show. In particular, some of the debris on the stage, including burned Confederate money. She shared a picture of the debris in process and how it was achieved. "The Confederate money was created in Photoshop, printed out, and then cut out. I then burned all of the money along with a reproduction Confederate newspaper that we had in stock and several Confederate army/navy recruitment posters that we could mix into the set dressing as things that had been destroyed during the fires and then had blown into the house."

Confederate money and newspaper used as debris on stage.

Another one of the amazing things I noticed during my night at the show was the beautiful medallion in the ceiling, when everything else looked as if it had fallen down around it. I mentioned this to Evelyn because it was one of my favorite parts of the set. I learned yet another piece about the history of the show. "One of the really cool things I learned from Gary through this process was that back in that era the ceilings and walls would be elaborate, but during damage they wouldn't hold up. But the medallions and other decorative pieces would, because the ceilings were one layer of plaster and the decorative pieces were multiple layers with horse hair mixed in so it made them more structurally sound. So literally all your walls and ceilings could fall and the medallions and decorative pieces would because they were made better."

I am so glad I got the chance to interview Evelyn Pearson at Nashville Rep. She was such a wealth of information and little tidbits of behind the scenes information about the set and the design process of this beautifully staged production. You can still see The Whipping Man at Nashville Repertory Theatre through February 21st. You can purchase tickets by visiting the website or by calling the box office at 615-782-4040.

Pictures courtesy of Evelyn Pearson, Properties Master at Nashville Repertory Theatre.



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