THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME

SET DESIGNER / CARPENTER / HIRING MANAGER

For my final production at Stanford, I designed and built the set for Stanford Light Opera Company’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (dir. Logan Gaines and Kailey Worner).

This was unlike any show I had built before. After obtaining the blessing of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, we were granted permission to stage the show in Stanford’s own Memorial Church. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity simultaneously expanded and greatly restricted the show’s design possibilities. Chief among the constraints was the requirement that we load the entire set (along with most of the audio and lighting equipment) in and out every single day. This meant the set I built had to fill the cavernous space that was “MemChu” - and fit through 30” doors on the way in.

The centerpiece of the design was “the rose window”, an 8’ diameter stained glass facade lit up with individually programmed LED’s. This allowed me to transform the space with multiple “looks” without the ability to rely on the usual rolling or flying set elements.

Past honing my design and carpentry skills, this project also allowed me to grow as a leader. I took on the additional role of Hiring Manager, in charge of hiring the 100+ person team that would eventually make up Hunchback.