JWHS Choir Receives Grosh Scenic Design Award

Joliet West High School Choral Director Tim DeBoer accepted the Grosh Scenic Design Award at the Broadway Playhouse in Chicago on behalf of the JWHS Musical Monday, June 1. The prestigious award acknowledges outstanding scenic design and is presented as part of the fourth annual Illinois High School Musical Theater Awards.

DeBoer learned about the Scenic Design Award as a result of JWHS student Alexis Smith’s participation as one of 24 finalist selected to compete in the awards program. The Illinois Chapter of the National High School Musical Theater Awards serves as an annual national celebration of outstanding achievement in musical theater performance by high school students. Alexis participated in a professional workshop at the Broadway Playhouse and auditioned in front of a panel of casting agents and theatre professionals. The top two Illinois performers will be invited to attend the National High School Musical Theater Awards with an all-expense paid trip to New York City.

Douglas Hawksworth has designed and built the musical sets at Joliet West since 2008. “In 2012, Douglas moved to Oregon, which has been a challenge, but one that we have been able to work around,” said DeBoer. “This year, Douglas, his wife Christina, and their two daughters came to Joliet for about a month while they constructed the set.”

Joliet West received The Grosh Scenic Design Award for its most recent production of “Into the Woods.” The history behind the set is complex and dates back to 2014 when Hawksworth worked on the set for “The Music Man” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in St. Charles. One of the elements to this set was two trees large enough to hold and hide musicians during the show. “That idea led to our idea of placing the pit orchestra on stage in the set,” said DeBoer. “The group in St. Charles was nice enough to give us the trees Douglas built there, and we expanded them in order to hold three wind players.”

The largest challenge for the set of “Into the Woods” was the trees themselves. Building trees to look realistic requires a lot of creativity. “Douglas built the frames first, then wrapped and sculpted chicken wire to create the shape of the branches and trunks. Next, he and Christina drew the conclusion that builder’s paper would be the right product to construct the bark, so they twisted several rolls of paper in order to get a crumpled effect. Each tree was wrapped in layers of paper, and then gently painted to create shading.”

While the trees were being constructed, Douglas and Christina led scores of student volunteers in leaf making. They used green paper and various shellacs and spray paints to make the leaves, which then were woven into strands and turned into large sections to be attached to the branches.

Additionally, the set calls for houses of Cinderella, Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk), and their neighbor, a baker. “For our set, we made large storybooks that opened and became the houses,” said DeBoer. “Each book gave the illusion of a storybook, partially painted with the text ‘Once Upon a Time…’ and partially constructed to look like the interior of a home. The books were built by Douglas and several parent volunteers. Alumna Liz Darlin and choreographer Lori Bowen decorated and painted the books.

“The sets from the last several years have been special; ranging from the trees of ‘Into the Woods,’ the castle of ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ and even to the old west from ‘Crazy for You,’” said DeBoer. “It is a blessing to have such a strong set building team led by Douglas and Christina to work with. Each year they amaze me with their creativity, skills, and ecological responsibility.”