SUGAR 4

Here are the only other color production photos that I have from the TWC productions of the musical SUGAR. RAY PIERCE & AUBREY ALLRED as Daphnie & Josephine with LANA HOOVER as Sweet Sue the band leader and HOLLY WAHLSTROM as Sugar Kane.

SUGAR 3

TEXAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY was no bush-league college in the Dramatics Department in the 1970's. Although TCU and SMU often claimed the glory, TWC was known as THE place to go for a Broadway Caliber education and that is why I was able to get a scholarship to attend after graduation from R. L. Paschal High School and my early work at Casa Manana in Fort Worth.

Here are some publicity photos taken prior to the production itself. I don't claim to have designed all these clothes ( oftentimes my job was as costumer...finding and fitting the right existing garments) and not just a designer. TWC had an extensive attic full of past wardrobe which I could pull from, and I also borrowed from Casa and the Forth Worth Community Theatre, where I had connections. Some numbers, like the Title Tune required special costuming. In the "Sugar" number a line of 15 chorus boys in identical yachting outfits to the leading man were required. I ended up scouring the town for 16 pairs of white slacks, blue blazers, and white caps...along with the appropriate patches as insignia and in the required sizes, to outfit the men's chorus for that one number. It was worth it though as they casually stepped onstage in support of the leading leady as she sang the title tune
( see pic 3).
The actors seen here fron the top photo left are: Mike Wood, Ray Pierce & Aubrey Allred. Holly Wahlstrom, Lana Hoover & David Floyd. Ray Pierce & Holly Wahlstrom. Lyle Knause & Aubrey Allred.

SUGAR 2

I had designed and built costumes, props, sets and puppets for productions before...I was not exactly an amateur at this point. But I had never headed an entire segment of a production before and never had to account for my contribution for college credit before. I begged, borrowed ( almost stole) and finagled every favor I could, but in the end I had to deliver and that meant hours hunched over a sewing machine. And I learned what being a designer was all about. And I Loved It!

SUGAR TWC 1975

I cut my teeth on production design at CASA MANANA from 1972 on, but I really studied design and staging when I went to college at TEXAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY in Fort Worth, Texas in 1974. By the next year I was fullfilling my major requirements by designing and costuming the spring musical "SUGAR" which was based on the film SOME LIKE IT HOT and set in 1920's Chicago.

Here RAY PIERCE and AUBREY ALLRED, two terrific performers as males...are transformed into Daphne & Chloie as they hide out in the all-girl band on the run from the mobsters. The costume designs were only the start. As any decent drag queen knows...the secrets are in the foundations. Turning Guys into Gals in the space of 5 minutes on stage is no mean feat...doing it in the period clothes is even harder. I really learned a ton working with our Director, Mason Johnson and Technical Director, Cecil Cole. No one could ever want a better theatrical education than we all got there.

In Watermelon Sugar 4

I hope you've enjoyed your 360 degree tour of what once was the Oak Acres Amphitheatre. It's all still there just off Loop 820 on Las Vegas Trail, although you can't see it from the road anymore and  there is nothing magical about the space now that the HIP POCKET THEATRE has moved on...

Still, sometimes in my dreams I find myself back there... in the dark... with the stage lights glowing ...and the music playing... and it is a very comforting place for me to be.

I'm sure I am not alone in that dream...

In Watermelon Sugar 3

The :"Forgotten Works" at far stage right was a hideous conglomeration of crap...the entrance to some sort of city or factory that was once the focus of the human's lives, but is now completely foreign to them...a place not to venture into. These daylight photos don't do it justice. I had weird lighting and smoke pellets going so it steamed it's fetid atmosphere...just off stage...during the entire show.It is also an example of bits and pieces of old sets from previous productions...a bit of personal irony thrown in for good karma...

In Watermelon Sugar 2

My sets sometimes resemble art installations because I like to add "texture" especially in the outer regions of the space which might not be used as main performing areas, but are there nonetheless for the audience to see and experience. In contrast i sometimes tend to understate the main acting spaces.

IN WATERMELON SUGAR takes place in a post apocolyptic time when humans have gone back to a simpler way of living and items of technology that crop up are foreign to them. It is a very "Hippie" mindset and the show plays out in that way. The comfortable old relics which adorn the walls and main stage area reflect this in the upper photo. In the lower shot, the main characters "House" is spartan and simple as befits his personality. This ramp which sprang up sometime in the 1985 season leads to a small platform built next to the existing light booth structure. We used this space repeatedly as the actor to audience dymanic was heightened by the energy generated there.