Billy-Club Puppets Set Design 1979

I was commisioned to design the set for this production as well as the 10 hand puppets required by the script. I began work on the show in the early summer of 1979 for a projected September opening.

My original sketch for the set was designed with the old Highway 80 performing space in mind, as this was to be the closing show there. I'm not sure where that sketch is now, or if it even still exists.

In any event, during the summer the spaces were changed and the troupe moved permanently out to the OAK ACRES venue, so things had to be altered to fit this much larger area. In my file on the BILLY-CLUB PUPPETS I found this sketch done by Director JOHNNY SIMONS showing me how he intended to stage the show in the new space, which at that time was basically a platform in the middle of a grove of oak trees...and little else. In fact it would be some yeras before we were able to construct a proper stage in this space ( see some of my earlier posts for pictures of the amphitheatre in the late 1980's).

I had already arranged for my friend MARK EVAN WALKER to paint some backdrops to represent a spanish village and plaza, and we improvised the rest when I arrived in Fort Worth in mid-September. I'll post some photos from this show soon so you can see how effective this set turned out to be.