Mamma Mia

Role: Technical Director, Scenic & Prop Designer

Mamma Mia! was an absolute beast of a show to build. We had to manage a massive, multi-story set construction while simultaneously messing around with some really cool new tech behind the scenes. It completely pushed the limits of what our shop could pull off on a single stage.

The Build: Heavy Engineering & Massive Scale

Bringing a Greek island to life meant building big and building high to give the cast enough room to move.

• The Multi-Story Houses: I engineered and built two massive, two-story taverna houses on stage. To connect them, I built an 8-foot "love bridge" spanning the middle, reinforcing the whole thing with a heavy-duty steel under-structure.

• 600 Square Feet of Stage: When I did the math, the upper levels alone gave the actors over 600 square feet of rock-solid acting space to handle all that high-energy choreography safely.

• Donna's Secret Bed: For the stage-left house, I built functioning double doors on the bottom level that hid a custom, smooth-rolling trundle bed. When it was time for Donna’s bedroom scenes, it glided out onto the stage seamlessly.

Using AR to Paint the Floor

We had a highly detailed, complex mural that needed to go on the stage floor, and doing it the old-fashioned way would have taken forever. So, I tried something brand new.

• The Workflow: I grabbed an Oculus Quest 3 and used the AR passthrough feature to map our digital mural artwork directly onto the stage floor, pinning it digitally in real space.

• The Execution: With the headset on, I just walked the stage and rapidly traced the entire massive design with a Sharpie in a fraction of the time it usually takes. By the time my students came in to paint, they had a perfect, precise giant coloring book page ready to go.

3D Printing & Backstage Prototypes

We also had some unique prop and audio challenges that required a bit of custom manufacturing.

• 3D-Printed Bagpipes: Sourcing an actual set of bagpipes on short notice is tough and expensive. Instead of hunting them down, I just custom 3D printed a full-scale prop replica specifically for the show.

• The Universal Mic Ear-Piece: This show also served as the live prototype testing ground for a new piece of audio kit I’ve been developing. I 3D printed a universal lavalier ear-piece using a flexible, skin-safe rubber. It molds right to the performer's ear with a built-in channel to run any standard lav mic through. It completely eliminates the need for harsh facial tape, stays low-profile during intense dance numbers, and makes backstage mic swaps incredibly fast.