Written by Emily Card |
Tom Card has been involved with building all of the sets needed for the Morgan Musicals. Over the years, he has constructed sets for The Wizard of Oz, Oliver, Annie Get Your Gun, How to Eat Like a Child, and many more. This year he is building the sets required for Fiddler on the Roof, the 2012 musical, directed by John Lampe. How did Tom Card get involved with such an important, not to mention, volunteer, job? Every year he is contacted by Lampe and is given a brief overview of what will be needed for this year’s musical. Then, on his own time, Tom Card heads into his work shop down stairs at home, and begins to nail, saw, and measure away at creating a perfect on-stage set. Tom has his own business involving construction making it so the magnificent set pieces are of no difficulty to put together, although very time consuming. However, because each of the set pieces is well made, many of them are able to be re-used, and repainted to fit any production.
Once the props are built and complete, Tom loads the sets into the back of his truck and transports them to the High School stage. From here, Liz Egan, a very talented painter, puts the finishing touches on the plain ply wood, and 2×4’s. With aptitude, creativity and a great deal of paint, Liz creates outstanding works of art. She transforms simple boxes into elegant tables, and tall towers into rotating backgrounds that adjust to fit every Act.
With Tom Card’s carpentry skills, and Liz Egan’s artsy gift, together they make a good team. Because of Tom Card’s hard work, and dedication to the musicals, it takes a great deal of work off of Lampe’s shoulders, so he can devote his time entirely to working on scripts with his actors. No work, even behind the scenes, put into the making of the musicals, goes unappreciated or unnoticed. Come watch the play opening night March 30th through April 1st and be sure to notice the brilliant stage sets constructed by Tom Card.