Once Upon a Mattress was our musical entry in the Tommy Tune Awards this year. It proved to be something of a challenge in terms of set design for our theatre. We needed a castle setting, obviously, but it needed to be flexible enough to change from the "throne room" to Winifred's bedroom. I chose to use an idea from the Ancient Greeks called "periaktoi". Three sided free standing units that would simply turn around to another panel to change the look. This is the model of the set in the bedroom configuration. Keep in mind that a model is just a plan, and the finsihed product might vary slightly.

The first step was to scribe the floor plan onto the stage floor for blocking and choeography purposes.

As always, careful measurements were critical, so that dance steps that have been practiced for months do not have to be changed when the actual units get built.

In order for Princess Winifred to feel the pea under twenty downy mattresses, we needed a unit the would have such an appearance, plus be mobile and sturdy enough to support the action she would perform on top of it. 2"x4" construction with heavy bracing and a plywood skin would be the answer. The plywood would also give us a surface that would hold the staple necessary to attach the "mattresses".

I learned a long time ago to never cut corners with cheap casters. Heavy duty 4" swivels were attached with heavy lag screws. Dependability is always an issue.

An open shelf was built into one end so that the "jousting equipment" could be placed between the mattresses.

The bed needed a headboard fitting for a princess. We constructed it from two sizes of copper tubing brazed together with a torch and solder.

The headboard was installed using plumbing straps and scews.

The mattresses were constructed by ripping 4" foam rubber panels into 4"x4" strips and covering them with different fabrics. About 5000 staples were used to attach them to the box.

The finished product looked pretty good. Go ahead...count them. All twenty mattresses are there!

A chalk line was used to mark the stage floor for painting. We found this was easier to do before the construction of the plaftrom decks got in the way.

I wanted the contrast to be striking.

What is castle without a red carpet? I used this idea and its converging obliques to draw visual focus through center stage.

With the paint dry, we began consruction of the platform decks. The substructure was constructed in the shop ahead of time.

The walls were 12' flats covered with panels of 2" polystyrene styrofoam. Fortunately, we had a lot of it left over from a previous show!

Stiffeners were necessary from the backside to keep everything flush and sturdy.

The styrofoam was installed onto the face of the flats using screws and fender washers to keep the screws from pulling through the foam.

The plywood for the circular deck was measured and cut in the shop ahead of time, so that installation would go quickly once we were able to begin construction on stage.

A large piece of sharkstooth scrim was used to create a section of the castle wall that would appeare to dissolve away and become transparrent. It was stretched over a simple 2"x4" frame.

The parapet towers were constructed in the shop ahead of time.

It is always a relief to get the decks in place and see that everything fits as planned.

The capitals for the parapet towers were constructed entirely from styrofoam scaps.

Small pieces of styrofoam scraps were installed along the top edge of the castle wall using pins fashioned from dowel rods.

It is seemingly an endless task!

Large heraldric banners were hung on the castle walls to give some color and interest to the drab stone paint job.

Fabric was draped on the "bedroom" panels to give them a more feminine look.

There was no blending the scrim section of the wall, so I decided to paint a coat of arms on it. The really cool thing about scrim is that it works even when painted!

We found that small circular brush srokes worked best on the scrim so as to not fill in the holes of the weave. If that happened, the scrim would not be effective.

Banners were added to the castle side of the periaktois as well.

I wanted large tassles on the fabric in the bedroom to give it a finished look. Premade tassles were cost prohibitive, so we made our own. They looked pretty good from the distance of the audience!

Another critical prop for this show is the birdcage. It must be large enough to accommodate the actor playing the bird! We used a plywood deck on casters, 3/4" pvc pipe, spray paint and glitter.

the platform decks proved to a little on the plain side, so I dressed them up with some cut felt fabric.

In the end, I think center focus was achieved nicely.