A Look Behind the Scenes at Studio Tenn’s Evita

It’s never been done before-  Studio Tenn, a professional theatre company based in Franklin, heads to TPAC to open their Broadway series with Evita. Studio Tenn is the first ever local theatre company to produce a show on the series in TPAC’s 34 year history. With any production, the set tells as much of the story as the actors themselves. And in true Studio Tenn fashion, the set for Evita will not disappoint. We sat down with Technical Director, Mitch White, one of the first employees of Studio Tenn, to talk more about the scope of the set and what it takes to move it from their home base at The Factory to TPAC.

Tell us when you first started working with Studio Tenn? 

I’m actually the original employee of Studio Tenn. I’ve been here since the very beginning back in 2010 when we did our original production, Hello Dolly. That was six years ago, in the fall of 2010.

For a long time, it was really just me, Matt and Jake and we were all wearing $10,000 hats. Now that the company has grown, I think that we’re all wearing $20,000 hats. It hasn’t really gotten better. What we do continues to grow, and everything is on a completely different scale than where we started. I think it’s been an explosion of growth over the past couple years.

Each Studio Tenn  production seems to look flawless from the costumes, to the set, how is that vision cast for each production? 

It’s different with each production, but Matt always comes up with what he’d like it to look like aesthetically. And not only does that include the set -that includes the lighting and costumes. Matt already has a blueprint in his mind so to speak. He’ll bring me a picture and I will take it and I put it in proper context in terms of scale, make it 3D. Throughout the building process we change all kinds of things and it seems to evolves organically. I think the way that we work is pretty unique in the industry. A lot of designers work apart from the director. I think that aesthetically, that makes Studio Tenn a different animal.

Do you have a signature piece in all of your sets? 

There’s not a specific element other than what I would call purposefulness. Everything you see, you see it for a reason. In that way there are no accidents. If something looks out of kilter, it’s because it’s supposed to look out of kilter because that’s what the scene or production calls for. This is the first time we’ve ever worked with foam for stone work. It’s an organic process. You do a certain amount of work, you treat it, put it up and take it back down. We never stop until it’s right.

What will the process be like to move the set to TPCAC’s Jackson Hall? 

We have one piece that is 34 1/2 feet tall that we can’t fully put together here in Jamison Hall. We have two semi trucks that we will use to move the set. We’ll start tearing down all the foam, then the cast can rehearse on the steel structures. Over the weekend, one of the trucks comes and we load all the foam up.  Then in the second truck, we then add in all of the foam pieces, wardrobes and anything else we fit into the truck.  And then we start to place everything into Jackson Hall. We actually have a real tech week. When we come into Jamison Hall, and with Schermerhorn, we load in the night before our performance so its nice to have this extra time.

What are three words that you would use to describe EVITA? 

Mammoth, detailed and grand. I think you can be really big and not be grand.

EVITA opens at TPAC’s Jackson Hall on September 9-18.  Featuring Broadway powerhouse Eden Espinosa (“Wicked,” “Brooklyn The Musical,” “Rent”) will star as Eva Perón and Tony Award-Winner Anthony Crivello. Tickets prices start at $20 – $60. Purchase your tickets online here. 

All photos by Samantha Hearn

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