South Pacific: Staging a World War II Military Base

November 30, 2006

Anne, an upper, painting palm trees onto the backdrop

Pacific islands and New England Decembers are hardly a match – unless you come to Fisher Theater for this year's student musical, South Pacific. Adapted from James Michener's Tales of the South Pacific, the musical revolves around two love stories and takes place on an American-occupied island during World War II.

"The idea is that you enter a military setting as soon as you come into the theater," explains Sarah Ream, the production's director, of the staging. "A Quonset hut dominates the stage. It leads up to the exposed rafters of the theater ceiling, which is constructed like a hangar, and arches over the stage floor."

Ream and Cary Wendell, designer and technical director of Fisher Theater, met during the summer to brainstorm staging ideas. After settling on the Quonset hut as the unifying concept, Wendell got to work fast. "I did lots of research on World War II huts, and created a model to help Sarah visualize the scale of the set I was hoping to create, and how it relates to the theater space." Wendell worked with lighting designer, Brad Seymour, teaching fellow in the department of theater and dance, and costume designer, Vivian Brown '75, wife of Exeter's director of alumni/ae affairs, to round out the overall conception.

Next, the hard work of building the set began. "The main material used in the set is corrugated PVC," explains Wendell. "We used 68 sheets, each measuring at least 2' wide and 8' tall." The sheets are mounted on a lumber framework, which reaches high into the rafters. To keep it all upright, Wendell and Seymour stretched aircraft cable from the theater's roof beams to the top of the Quonset hut's tall wall at the back of the stage. The wall has sliding doors that open and close as needed to suit the action.

It took hours of painting to turn what was basically a large, white plastic structure into a first-rate Quonset hut. "First, I spattered the PVC with gray paint, and then students put a gray glaze over it to make it look like metal," says Wendell. He worked closely with a small student crew, consisting of Peter, a senior; Anne, an upper; and Fisher Theater proctors.

"One of the challenges of this set was conveying a military feeling while still being romantic," explains Wendell. "In traditional productions of South Pacific, as with most musicals, this is done with backdrops and scrims that allow for different settings to be quickly changed through a flying system for scenery. Fisher Theater doesn't have a flying system, so it forced me to come up with other ways to suggest multiple settings without slowing down the pace of the show by bringing on scenery. Here's where the director gets to play designer, using modular rolling units to suggest different locations."

The staging calls for a multipurpose shower/washing machine, which rolls on and off stage as needed. For Anne, who has worked on many student productions during her two years at Exeter, building this unit was an exciting challenge. "Mr. Seymour came up with the concept of a multipurpose object," she explains. "He thought it would be great to let the student crew members do the design work. He made the frame and then gave it to us with a whole bunch of junk. We decided what to put on where." The combined shower/washing unit resembles a Rube Goldberg contraption, with shower heads, faucets, boards and hardware jutting out in all directions. On stage, it draws the eye and provides an effective backdrop. Nellie Forbush played by Kasey, a senior, uses the shower stall to great effect as she is caught unawares singing, "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta my Hair."

South Pacific ranks among the most celebrated of Rodgers and Hammerstein's acclaimed musical masterpieces. First produced on Broadway in 1949, the issues of racism and diversity and war and loss remain particularly relevant today. One need only listen to the lyrics of “You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught” to see that the show has not lost power over time. 

Nellie Forbush washes that man right outta her hair            Nurses and sailors rehearsing

The production runs Friday, December 8 through Sunday, December 10. 

Learn more about the production ...