Here we have the sketches for the storyboard to my union application. I chose to do The Rocky Horror Picture Show, mainly because I knew that when I started out on this journey, if I was going to listen to a show's soundtrack over and over for the next couple of months, it was going to be this one. What you are looking at mechanically, is a SketchUp model that was then taken into Photoshop for scene rendering. All in all, there were about 20 major scenes to get through, and I think I was able to do five or six in a day. At the time, I was working full time as a Production Manager.

Technically, this show was a project I began while still in college—but don't tell my professors! This production also marked my first experience combining technical direction with design, something I wouldn't have believed I'd be doing seven years later. The painting on this set was a lot of fun. From a very early stage, the director and I knew we wanted all scenic elements to maintain a storybook approach. We specifically tried to capture this in the floor treatment and the design of the flats we discussed.

"What happens to us when we lack the words to communicate?" This was the central question of what was technically the first show I ever designed. At the time, I had no idea what I was doing, nor what was truly being asked of me. Yet, I thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with the director to delve into the mind of a character grappling with so much internal conflict. To my surprise, this production hit incredibly close to home. It taught me the invaluable lesson of being fully present, and that my voice in the artistic finishing work of a project is just as important as it is in the beginning.