Ride the Cyclone

By Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell

Presented by: West Virginia University (2023)

Metropolitan Theatre

Director and Choreographer: Ryan Scoble

Music Director/Assistant Director/ Choreographer: Spencer Hansen

Stage Manager: Rachel Rock

Scenic Designer/Props Manager: Jess Ford

Costume Designer: Emmalee Berger

Lighting Designer: Maren Taylor

Sound Designer: Alan McEwen

Projections Designer: Jada Pinsley

Puppet Designer: Jackson Berhow

Technical Director: Pat LoRicco

Concept Statement

We find ourselves in an abandoned amusement park warehouse, where the remnants of joy and laughter linger amidst the decay. There is a trove of forgotten treasures that reflect the fleeting nature of life and memory. To the side of the set is a weathered fortune teller booth, containing Karnak who is the guide to understanding the strange purgatory in which the unfortunate students find themselves in. The surrounding shelves overflow with relics of amusement, dilapidated toys, faded game prizes, and whimsical décor. Each item is a testament to a life once vibrant but now left behind. The small proscenium stage ,draped in tattered curtains, symbolizes the fragility of unfulfilled dreams. Overall, my concept for Ride the Cyclone was to emulate the bittersweet feeling of a life that, although brief, was rich with meaning and wonder.

The Fortune Teller Booth for Karnak had me working directly with our Puppetry department. The box needed to fit two puppeteers as well as a half torso of a puppet designed by Emmalee Berger (built by Jackson Berhow). The booth has an open exit in the back of it which kept it breezy and gave the puppeteers a little extra leg and arm room. The Puppeteers were masked by a translucent fabric that they were able to see through. We hung the fabric while they were sat in the booth to make sure they could still accomplish their job comfortably.

There were three motors used during the production. I facilitated the communication between the Director (RyanScoble), TechnicalDirector (PatLoRicco), and FlightDirector (StevenNeuenschwander) to coordinate JaneDoe’s flight. Anothermotor was used for the turntable to create a chilling visual of the “round and round” the characters sung about throughout the musical. A small motor was built from scratch by AJ Mueth for the pinwheel on the small proscenium, which was used as a visual during the “back story moments” of each of the characters. Overall the automation elements came together to create stunning and eerie spectacle truly bringing life to the space.

Prop Management: In addition to being the Scenic Designer I was also the Props Manager for the production. While Ride the Cyclone may not have many listed hand props, there sure can be a lot of set dressing. For the production I designed four shelving units that needed to be dressed. The set itself needed to represent aware house filled with items from a board walk amusementpark. I examined our stock for all crates and trunks that would fit the aesthetic I had in mind. I had some help from the students at our school and the community of Morgantown West Virginia for my culmination of the boxes. I also scoped out Goodwill for my stuffed animal prizes. While dressing the set I overheard some of the other design areas wondering where they were going to put certain fixtures/costume pieces, tools, and equipment. “Put it on the shelves!” Was the response I happily gave. The shelves themselves not only had decorative dressing on them but also hazers, hampers for soft goods, lights, two of the three projectors, costume pieces, and storage containers for strike. A lesson I took of this is that being openminded and collaborative leads to simple solutions that keeps your whole team happy.

WVU’s production of Ride the Cyclone had many different areas of technical theatre working together. One of my duties as the scenic designer was to create projection surfaces for our Projections Designer, Jada Pinsley. There was a total of four projection surfaces including the 2 back windows, the small proscenium arch, and the proscenium curtains.