Legally Blonde
Prop Designer Maxwell Martin
Director Laura Waringer
Scenic Designer Adriana Pinkerton
Costume Designer Ketti Shum
Sound Designer Benjamin Stickels
Lighting Designer Gordon Olson
Stage Manager Rexy Brundige
'Legally Blonde' preformed at UNC Charlotte in the spring of 2024. During this show, as the properties artisan and designer, I needed to provide, source, or create majority of the furniture and hand props as a one person team.
Due to the fast paced dynamic of the show, all set dressing and decor needed to be secure to the moving areas, however, we wanted Paulette's space to feel lived in, and messy even though it was such a small space. Our 'Hair Affair' was seventies inspired, and so we pulled our inspiration to the salon dryer we found, as well as the salon chair, that was spray-painted, and had wheels attached. We added various 'hair salon' related items to the set, to make it look more fully realized than just a plain wall.
Hair Affair Set Dressing
'Elle Woods' Briefcases
In the musical 'Legally Blonde', there is a moment in the song 'So Much Better' where the director wanted her name to be spelled out with the briefcases at the end of the song.
The front of the briefcases were detailed with leather strapping, and painted shadows to add depth and communicate to audiences that they were oversized briefcases.
'Rufus' Dog Bone Cake
In the show, Paulette makes her dog, Rufus, a birthday cake in the shape of a dog bone. In order to get the shape, I took two pieces of three inch insulation foam, and glued them together with contact cement, and then cut the dog bone shape on the bandsaw. I used featherweight spackling for the icing, mixed with paint for the blue. The cake was supposed to feel rustic and homemade
This was then glued onto a plastic cake holder, and I used a hot glue gun to trace the word RUFUS and painted it with a thick acrylic paint before applying it to the cake itself.
The briefcase was made out of two 17" by 20" pink foam sheets, and one 1/2" plywood sheet of the same size. The pieces were stacked and glued with contact cement with foam on the outside, and the wooden sheet samwiched between. I used 2 inch drawer pulls as the briefcase handles, screwed into the 1/2" ply.
The brief cases were then taped out to paint the letters, and semi gloss mod podged over the top to give a nice sheen, and a little bit of protection.