Behind (and in) the scenes

Can an actor on an empty stage summon up a whole world? Certainly. The best piece of theater I ever saw had a man and a woman in a tiny blank canvas of a Berkeley venue, doing a scene that took place on a pyramid in Egypt at night. To this day, the stars and the roughness of the ancient stone are still vivid in my mind.

So think how much more real the world becomes when you've got an amazing set.

Recently, I got a sneak peek of the set at the Palo Alto Players production of "Urinetown," which runs through May 14. Hammers and paintbrushes were still going, but I was impressed with the gritty intricacy of the set. It has huge dank pipes for the actors to scurry through and a richness of dark color that's perfect for the musical's gloomy world.

For the uninitiated, "Urinetown" is about a futuristic world in which there's a horrible drought and an evil corporation controls all the toilets. Pay to pee, or the cops will drag you off to the dreaded Urinetown.

Kuo-Hao Lo, Palo Alto Players' technical director and resident scenic designer, took a few moments in the midst of the sawdust to chat about how he dreamed up the "Urinetown" set. Ron Evans, a member of the cast, caught him on video. Check it out below.

(In the spirit of full disclosure, Monsieur Evans is my significant other. He also shoots a mean video, not that I'm biased.)

Got other ideas for audio and video files on the arts? Drop me an email at rwallace (at) paweekly.com.