Stagehands craft set for Minnesota Opera’s ‘Grapes of Wrath’

"We\’re all very proud of what we do here," says Mike McQuiston, technical director for the Minnesota Opera for the past seven years and a ten-year member of Local 13 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).

The Minnesota Opera\’s IATSE crew includes six full-time staff and two "over-hires," temporary staff brought on to help build the set and props for this show.

"We take longer to build a show than the Guthrie Theatre," explains Rod Aird, scene shop foreman for the Minnesota Opera for 10 years and a 20-year IATSE member. "We have smaller crews and longer build times."

Another difference between building opera sets and theatre sets: the size of the set. "The scale is much larger in opera than theatre," Aird says.

"Opera is spectacle," stagehand Mike McQuiston observes. Minneapolis Labor Review photo

"Opera is spectacle," McQuiston observes. "It\’s about the singing, it\’s about the music, but it\’s also about the spectacle."

The Minnesota Opera\’s scene shop is in Minneapolis — but the shows stage at the Ordway Theatre in St. Paul.
"We don\’t have the luxury of building anything on stage," Aird notes. Once the sets are built, he adds, "everything has to be dismantled and fit into our elevator and a semi-trailer."

Stagehands began working on the "Grapes of Wrath" set around Thanksgiving for the Feb. 10 premiere. The show will run for only five performances Feb. 10-18.

Then the set will be dismantled — and stored for future use in a northeast Minneapolis warehouse.

"Because of the nature of opera, "Aird explains, "everything we build has a future at a different opera company."

The repertoire of opera is limited, McQuiston continues, so when one opera company creates a set, props, and costumes, they often will be rented by another company staging the same show. "Sets, props and costumes will travel."

"Sometimes there will be a year between when we build it and when it shows elsewhere," McQuiston says.

"Our sets need to be more durable because they\’re shipped," Aird also notes.

Aird usually travels to supervise set construction when another opera company rents a Minnesota Opera set. "It\’s a pressure-packed situation," he says, working in a new venue with a new crew under a limited timeframe.

The Minnesota Opera might restage a show two or more years later, but the same set normally would only be used twice for a Minnesota production, Aird says.

The opera version of Grapes of Wrath will be "very, very true to the novel," promises Lani Willis, Minnesota Opera communications director. "The story is so epic it works as opera really well."

The John Steinbeck tale — first a 1939 novel, then a movie —follows the Joad family as they flee drought-stricken Oklahoma during America\’s Great Depression. Seeking better fortune in California, they instead find themselves struggling to survive as migrant farm workers.

The show presents challenges for the union Stagehands building the set and props. "It\’s huge — We\’re trying to do a movie on stage. It\’s like 30 scenes," said McQuiston.

Local 13 member and propmaster Dean Hawthorne built the Joad\’s truck, adapting a 1929 Ford stake truck for the needs of the show. "The truck is almost another character in the show," he comments.

The Minnesota Opera\’s world premiere of The Grapes of Wrath will run Feb. 10-18 at the Ordway Theatre in St. Paul. Tickets are $35-$132. For reservations, call the Minnesota Opera Ticket Office at 612-333-6669 or visit www.mnopera.org

Dean Hawthorne, Minnesota Opera propmaster since 1998 and member of IATSE Local 13.

Hawthorne displays the designer¹s model of the Joad truck. The final product, he says, is "a lot of smoke and mirrors."

The Joad family\’s truck is central to the story, "almost another character," says propmaster Dean Hawthorne.

In Grapes of Wrath, Tom Joad comes home to find his home destroyed. Rod Aird, scene shop foreman at the Minnesota Opera and 20-year member of the Stagehands union, stands near the set for the house.

Tools of the trade hang in the Stagehands\’ work area. Photos by Steve Share, Minneapolis Labor Review

Steve Share edits the Labor Review, the official publication of the Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council. Visit the CLUC website at www.minneapolisunions.org