Little Mermaid Jr.

The Little Mermaid Jr.

Actor’s Studio – Spring 2026 Production

Role: Technical Director & Lighting/Scenic Designer

Staging a magical, underwater musical like The Little Mermaid Jr. inside a compact Black Box theater environment required a masterclass in spatial efficiency and digital world-building. Because the physical space couldn’t support traditional, massive set pieces for dozens of rapid scene changes, we leaned heavily into immersive environmental design, smart projection mapping, and inventive mechanical props.

The Scenic & Digital Environment: Total Submersion

To immediately submerge the audience into the story, the entire black box environment was transformed from the floor up.

• Immersive House Design: The entire audience seating area was painted to resemble sand and shifting ocean depths, erasing the line between the stage and the house.

• The Multi-Use Apex: A central, elevated platform served as a structural chameleon, transitioning seamlessly between Prince Eric’s ship, Ariel's grotto, and the island beach.

• Precision Projection Mapping: Flanking the central platform were two massive 4′×8′ flats serving as digital canvas walls. Powered by two ceiling-mounted 5K laser projectors, we utilized QLab to pixel-map the imagery directly to the flats. QLab’s geometry correction allowed us to perfectly tune the image boundaries, ensuring crisp digital backdrops with zero light bleed onto the surrounding walls. The environmental backgrounds themselves were rapidly conceptualized and generated using Gemini AI software to keep up with the musical's demanding pacing.

Innovative Props & Special Effects

With a minimal physical footprint, the props had to do heavy lifting to establish location, scale, and stage magic.

• The "Kiss the Girl" Skiff: We sourced a tiny boat on Facebook Marketplace, cut out the bottom, and rigged it with a low-profile blue fabric skirt. This allowed the actors to physically "wear" and smoothly navigate the boat around the space like a pedal cart during the iconic lagoon scene.

• Ursula's Custom Cauldron: To create a cartoon-accurate, imposing cauldron for Ursula’s lair, I collaborated with a fabrication partner to 3D print a massive 3-foot-wide custom shell featuring emerging teeth and tentacles, mounted onto a stable bird-bath base.

  • The Details: The printed structure was augmented with pool noodles and a pink-painted suction cup bath mat to give the tentacles a grotesque, organic texture.

  • The SFX Rig: Inside the cauldron, we packed internal LED pixie lights buried beneath translucent pillow stuffing to create an eerie, glowing magical brew. A hidden, wireless remote-controlled photography fog machine was rigged inside, allowing a backstage technician to trigger dense bursts of smoke on cue whenever a spell was cast.