IN WATERMELON SUGAR - Hip Pocket Theatre - July 2017

Well, never say never again! Early in 2017 I was approached to design one more production for my old alma mater, The Hip Pocket Theatre. And since it was to be a revival of the first show I had done for them back in 1977, I agreed with some trepidation. I never enjoy repeating myself and always try not to do so. My friend John Murphy helped to convince me that this version of Richard Brautigan's IN WATERMELON SUGAR would be totally new and fresh and I have answered the call to help him make that a reality on stage.

I designed puppets for the first production of this play back in 1977, and did the set design for a revival in 1986 ( with costume design by Diane Simons ).

This time out the play is being presented in the Theatre's current outdoor amphitheatre in Fort Worth, Texas. I designed an all new set, costumes and puppets for this new version. With massive amounts of help from the eager young cast and crew, I am happy to say that this final design work of mine was brought beautifully to life.

These photos show the scale model which I created to assist John Murphy in staging the play. We were only able to have access to the stage for two weeks prior to opening the play, and so this model proved invaluable in helping the cast and crew envision how the set would look and the space they would be inhabiting once the full set could be put in place.