From the initial floor plans all the way to show day each detail of a YADA production is crafted with care. With an unwavering commitment to creating the highest quality children's musical theatre experience possible the owners, administrative team, directors, designers, artists and set builders all work together to help each YADA student find their voice. As you scroll down this page read all about each step of how the latest YADA production of Annie was put together!
In the early stages of each YADA production the owners meet with artists, designers and technicians that help them plan out how the new production will be designed and built. No detail is left to chance.
If each set isn't thoughtfully planned out at the beginning then when it comes time to buy the materials and build the sets things can go terribly wrong. That is why the YADA owners brought in professional set designer, Joel Daavid to draw up the plans and build the sets for the latest production of Annie.
If you look closely at the drawings you will be able to see the clever plan the YADA set designer Joel Daavid, used to create a way to reuse triangle-shaped columns so when the scene changes the columns rotate to reveal the next set in the Annie show!
Click on the image of the floor plans on the right and a slide show will open revealing each of the highly detailed technical drawings for the stage design for the latest production of Annie.
Set Renderings Bring The Stage To Life
Before a 2x4 is cut or a wood panel is painted, set designer Joel Daavid creates fantastically life-like 3-D set renderings for the owners. This helps him communicate his vision for how each detail of every Annie set will look when it's all finished, assembled, painted and decorated. It also gives the owners and other creative and production staff a chance to review Joel's work to collaborate with him and in some cases make suggestions for ways to make the sets for Annie even better.
Click on the image of the set rendering on the left to see images of all of the amazing details captured in Joel's early renderings for YADA's production of Annie.
Time To Build
In the slide show you see on the right you'll find professional set builders and painters following every step of Joel's carefully designed plans.
Each of the builders and painters are artisans of their craft and take pride in their work. To make sure they don't spill paint on the floors or chairs everything is covered as the workers diligently cut the wood, assemble the set walls and columns and paint all of the details in the set.
This is when the excitement starts to mount as they make all of the last minute stage preparations as Annie Show Day draws closer and closer!
Spotlight On Annie
What is theatre with out great lighting?! Well, besides the fact that all the actors would be stumbling into each other in the dark, without lights the audience wouldn't be able to see you acting on stage!!!
For the latest production of Annie YADA owners hired professional lighting designer, Christina Schwinn to help make sure every light was chosen carefully for each lighting cue of the Annie show.
The truth is in theatre, great lighting design can make all of the difference, taking a show from good to stellar!
Click on the graphic on the left to watch Christina describe her "plot" for the lighting design of this production of Annie.
Defining Each Character's Look
Next in the order of designing a YADA show are the costumes! This really is a fun part because costumes do so much to define the unique look of each production.
When it came time to design the costumes for Annie the owners turned to professional designer Orly Ruiz to define the "style" of this Annie production. For Orly, his costume designs for this classic musical started with sketches for each costume which was accompanied by pattern samples. It's always amazing to see how fashion designers are able to find just the right patterns and materials to match their vision for how to bring a character's costume to life.
Click on the thumbnails of the costume designs on the right to view the full slide show of all of Orly's gorgeous drawings and pattern selections that he used to define the look of the Annie show!
Each Costume, Custom Crafted
With all of the talented people working a mile a minute to make a YADA production come into reality, it can be easy to overlook the craftsmanship that goes into some of the finer details.
Hours and hours of effort goes into cutting and sewing the materials that are magically transformed into the costumes the actors wear on stage.
Click the image on the left to take a behind the scenes peak at Orly at work. You will see the magic of what happens when a true fashion designer uses his creativity to turn simple materials into fantastic costumes for YADA's production of Annie!
Getting Close To Done
It's almost Show Day!!!
As Show Day nears all of the hard work and preparation of the artists, designers, builders and directors is coming together to support each of the student shows.
In the photos on the right you will see YADA students as they receive instruction from their YADA director, practicing one of the songs from Annie with live musicians.
If you look closely you can see that the sets are almost finished being built and painted too!
