An American in Paris

Music and Lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin, book by Craig Lucas

Jerry’s Painting

Music Theatre Wichita

Directed by Jeffry Denman

Scenic Design by David L. Arsenault

Projection Design by Michael Commentadore

June 2019

For most of Music Theatre Wichita’s production of An American in Paris, the paint team had to do general touch ups, as the scenery was purchased from Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine. One of these existing pieces was a large “painting” that was used as a backdrop for a dance performance. On the night before the show opened, the director revealed that he wanted the existing painting redone in order to make it match the new projections that had been designed for the MTW production. When it was decided that the existing painting couldn’t be covered up, a new flat was built and delivered to the paint shop in the early hours of the morning. When the paint staff arrived in the morning, we immediately got to work. We acquired a rendering from the projections designer, and spent the entire day getting the piece done. Colors were mixed as we went, and we had a small army of fans running pretty much nonstop. By the end of the day, when stage management was arriving to begin preshow duties, the painting was done and handed off to the scene shop to be hung up onstage. Overall, we spent about eight hours from layout to finish on this single piece, but it made all the difference when we go to see it onstage.

Paint Process

Projection Comparison