Set Designs by George Hartpence
George most frequently appears with the ActorsNet of Bucks County in Morrisville, PA.
He has begun designing sets for it's "postage stamp" size stage...
The stage is basically a 20 ft deep by 24 ft wide "black box" style stage with a 8ftx8ft chunk carved out
of the upstage right corner footprint to accomodate the building's boiler room.
Below you will see photos of the completed sets & plans.
While there is a construction crew to do the carpentry work,
George does most of the finish painting and has a large hand in choosing set pieces to decorate the finished product.
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, adapted by Anthony Burgess
ActorsNET of Bucks County
April 4 - 20, 2008
Five acts with dramatically different locales with room to accomodate 20 actors. The atmosphere for the "heroic comedy" needed to be evocative of the period (1640's) while transporting the audience from a theater to a pastry-shop to a garden to a battlefield and ending in a convent. I chose to have the stage left and right walls painted black to give a "black box" feel and free the imagination to go from one locale to another without too much distraction, but anchored the whole stage with a false rear wall (and thereby giving us a stage right entrance). This wall had entrance doors on the ground level and in the second story and stopped 3 feet short of the stage right theater wall (to create that stage right entrance). The wall was placed 3 feet from the actual rear wall of the theater and a platform (with escape stair) was run the entire length behind the wall 7 1/2 ft above stage level. For texture I decided to do something new at the NET - that false wall was created with wooden siding - stained to reveal the weathered grain - instead of the usual flat luan panels painted. This gave the whole stage a warm and aged look with a textured depth. And since real wooden siding was out of range for the NET budget, we cut down luan to 8 inch by 8ft strips and nailed it up just like ordinary siding. The floors were simply treated with a double roller technique of golds and browns, further warmed by a reddish brown loose-brushed over-glaze.
Three large free-standing set pieces were created and stained to echo the same wood tones.
1. the "siege engine" (as christened by Cheryl Doyle) on rollers
2. flying staircase on rollers
3. a balcony
Special rollers and wagon brakes were utilized.
These three pieces were then moved to different locales to evoke the unique settings of each act. All movements were choreographed and performed by the actors as part of the performance - to the audiences' delight.
An 8 foot thrust into the house along the stage right wall extended the playing space & the drop platform over the ramp stage left served as the stage in Act 1 and as Christian's billet in Act 4.
Special thanks to Dale Simon for structural advice in constructing the "siege engine" and flying staircase design concept, to Jamie Bradley for "pre-fabbing" and assembling the flying staircase, to Jim Cordingley for constructing the benches and tables used throughout - especially Act 2, and as usual to Ted Fletcher and Wally Collender - the NET set construction crew.
Act 1 | the Theater Beaujolais | Paris, 1640 |
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The "siege engine" was placed up-center beneath the second story entrance and the staircase stage right to allow egress from the second floor. Theater chairs were placed inside to create "box seats". This maximized the downstage area for the fencing that was to come later in the scene. | Act 1 populated. We held 20 actors & it didn't seem crowded on that 20'x20' stage. | The "balcony" was positioned stage left to act as the "box office of the theater |
Act 2 | Ragueneau's pastry-shop | the following morning |
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Cast member Jim Cordingley constructed two sets of tables and benches to create the island in the center of the stage | The "balcony" was moved between the two stage left entrances to create a tiny office for Ragueneau in the shop... just enough room for a desk at which to write his poetry | The "siege engine" was moved up right to create another room in Ragueneau's shop and the stairs placed in front of it to provide a second story. |
Act 3 | Outside Roxane’s house,
in the old Marais | some weeks later
a summer evening |
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The "balcony" actually becomes the balcony. The "siege engine" is moved to up stage left entrance to become the neighboring house and the stairway moved below that to give Cyrano a perch from which to leap upon deGuiche. | The second story entrance thus becomes Roxane's window. The balcony has a built in ladder (stage right side) to assist Christian in his climb to paradise. | de Guiche de squeeshed |
Act 4 | Siege at Arras | some months later |
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The "siege engine" was rotated and move slightly instage to allow for exiting up left. It became the camp shelter and Cyrano's writing room. The stairs were swung up center on the platform to create a look-out. The "balcony" became the sentry box. | Cadets in place at Arras | Homesick |
Act 5 | Convent of the Ladies
of the Cross garden | Paris
fifteen years later - 1655 |
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The "siege engine" was rotated again and pushed up against the up left exit and the "balcony" moved to the stage right side of it to create a "cloister walk" entrance. The stairs were moved up center beneath the second story door for dramatic entrances. | "Cloister walk" entrance. The scene was dressed with chairs, a tapestry frame and red leaves scattered over the ground. | A lighting gobo was used to give us the tree in the convent garden |
Watch on the Rhine by Lillian Hellman
ActorsNET of Bucks County
November 16 - December 2, 2007
"Watch on the Rhine" is set in surburban Washington DC just prior to WWII. The action takes place in the home of a former Supreme Court Justice. So the overall impression had to be one of gentrification and "old money". In order to provide two stage right entrances a false rear wall was constructed with a two foot passthru and a three foot wide passageway was enclosed along the stage right wall. The rear false wall likewise served as the canvas for a "bucolic" mural to indicate the rolling hills of Virginia. A raised platform was constructed upcenter and a wall of "floor to ceiling" Palladian windows and French doors was built 3 feet in front of the false wall, thus creating an outdoor veranda and raised entryway landing. A small 6 foot thrust was extended into the audience downstage right to accomodate the fireplace. A color palate of light yellows added to the "country house" feel with very pale, almost white painted "wainscoating" below the chair rail and a richer yellow tones above. The floor was finished off by painting "floorboards" in a rich reddish wood tone and the veranda/landing was painted with white marble tiling. Ted Fletcher and Wally Collender provided the carpentry and Jamie Bradley cut crown molding to frame the entire stage. Joe and Cheryl Doyle, Virginia Barrie, Tom Smith and Carol Thompson Hartpence provided painting assistance.
Opening weekend audiences remarked that they'd like to "move in" to the set!
view from mid-house |  mid-house view | 
front row view |
view from lighting booth | 
stage right wall & thrust note: painted wainscoat detailing | 
stage left exit |
veranda mural stage left | 
veranda mural stage right | 
veranda showing platform detail |
crown molding along stage right wall showing new SR exit | 
fireplace showing floor board detailing | 
fireplace area on down right thrust |
Cast of "Watch on the Rhine" in-situ
Damn Yankees words and music by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross
book by George Abbott and Douglas Wallop
ActorsNet of Bucks County
May 25 - June 10, 2007 Although unable to assist in the execution of the set for this project, George provided the design concept for this large musical production with 20 scene changes into 10 different locations during two acts. The false rear walls from the previous productions were removed and four 3-sided periactoids (30in wide & 10ft tall) were used to change locales. A baseball stadium crowd was painted onto the rear wall of the theater and additional painting was executed on various sides of the periactoids to indicate site specific locales or plain black walls. A free-standing, mobile structure that was lockers on one side and a baseball dugout on the other (designed and executed by Jamie Bradley) provided specificity, yet was removeable for subsequent scene changes. Actual construction was completed by Ted Fletcher and Wally Collendar (the Net's carpentry team), while Cheryl Doyle and Matt South executed painting detail. The numerous scene changes were performed by the cast.
Locker/Dugout detail:
Macbeth
by Wm Shakespeare
ActorsNet of Bucks County
April 27 - May 13, 2007
5 Acts, 29 scenes with nearly as many different locales, 28 actors on a 20'x24' stage with enough maneuvering room for a witches coven and a broadsword fight - all done with a minimum of furniture or props to set the scene.
The answer = elevations and multitasking set elements. The first job of providing a variety of entrances was accomplished by false walls upstage to add two entrances to the fixed two stage left. A temporary ramp downstage right into the house provided a complimentary entrance/exit to the fixed ramp downstage left. An elevated platform upstage right and a ramp (later converted to stairs) thrusting into the center of the stage provided elevations necessary for proper sight lines, in addition to providing an additional entrance from beneath the platform onto the stage. Finally a six-foot wide circular platform resembling a cross-section of a huge tree trunk set on a stone pedestal and a hollowed out center with removable cap served as a bed, table, sacrifical altar, cauldron, well, and generic rocky elevation. The hollowed out center of the table also allowed us to hide the fog machine and lighting inside for special effects.
Set Props = one throne to indicate the castle throne-room, half a dozen benches for the banquet scene, and some mattress padding with bedding attached to create the Macbeth's bed-chamber, and a small side table to hold goblets and a wine carafe. To create the dark and brooding atmosphere of the play the walls and floor were finished off with a dark granite texturized paint job and the walls were fissured with jagged black and blood red crevices to physically parallel the breakdown in the moral fabric of of the lead players.
| Major set elements in place. |   |
| Close-up of central altar/table (left). Hand-made door (right) inserted into fixed down stage left exit and flat-screen masking up-left exit. |   |
| Detail of platform with exit beneath (left), central altar/cauldron open (center), and ramp into house stage right (right). |    |
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
ActorsNet of Bucks County
January 12 - 28, 2007
The goal was simplicity. How to design 4 different locations with minimalist touch and allow for rapid scene changes?
And provide upstage left and right entrances in a dead-end space! The answer: false rear walls and a wall of sliding, see-thru
panels. The crew built 3 sets of floor to ceiling flats - the center piece covering 3/4ths of the rear wall and set 2 feet downstage
of the back wall. The flanking flats were positiong left and right about 3 feet infront of the central flat providing the desired left
and right entrances. Then to finish that off, a large black silhouette of a bare tree - the hanging tree - was painted to look as if it
flowed continuously over the false walls. And to create the illusion of a change of scene, a wall of four 4'x8' sliding panels was
constructed stretching the length of the stage and set in front of the false rear walls. Three of the panels were constructed of iron
grid fencing and the fourth had a hand-made door inserted into it. The panels were suspended on gliders and the door panel on
wheels sat in front of the other three. All moved freely and provided 4 different configurations - hence the four different locations.
Then finish the rest of the stage off with black walls and a painted, wide-plank wooden floor. A few pieces of furniture for each
scene and the effect was complete.
Simple - Stark - Effective.
My Fair Lady by Lerner & Loewe and GB Shaw
ActorsNet of Bucks County
March 30 - April 15, 2006
For this ActorsNet production, George solved the problem of multiple lenghty scene changes by desiging a fixed Higgins'
study element up center in the back half of the stage and creating a series of curtain drops which were concealed in hollow
columns on either side of the stage. These painted drops allowed for minimal furniture moving when changing from Higgins'
study to Covent Garden, Ascot and the Embassy Ball scenes. This production transferred to the Washington Crossing Open Air
Theater for a summer run. A 20'x30' floor was built to raise most of the performance space off the gravel stage in the Park and
four 30" wide by 10" high periactoids (on loan from the Off Broad Street Theater in Hopewell, NJ) were painted to extend the set
beyond this floor to the rest of the park stage during the large dance numbers.
Covent Garden drop (10'x20' muslin curtain drawn btw hollow columns stage left & right) | 
Henry Higgins' Study |
Higgins's Study up right spiral stair & exit | 
Higgins' Study stage right fireplace and exit |
Covent Garden pub exit up left (two 3x8 flats hinged to fold on stage right wall when not in use) used in conjunction with the Covent Garden drop for Alfie Doolittle scenes | 
Ascot drop |
Embassy Ball drop (design by George Hartpence, painting assistance by Mary Spencer) | 
Mrs Higgins' Conservatory (four 3'x8' flats hinged to fold upon themselves against stage right wall when not in use) (designed by George Hartpence, painting assistance by Art Tolbert) |
The Petrified Forest by Robert Sherwood
ActorsNet of Bucks County
October 28 - November 13, 2005
To open up the small space, George designed the walls to stop at normal ceiling height and then painted an exterior
mural around three sides of the set so the audiences would see the desert SouthWest sky and mesas surrounding the
isolated Black Mesa Cafe in Sherwood's melodramatic gangster thriller.
front view stage right
stage left overhead view of painted "wooden" floor
O'Keefe style mural stage left exits mural stage left exits
1776 by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone
ActorsNet of Bucks County @ Washington Crossing Open Air Theater
June 23 - July 2, 2005
For ActorsNet's first foray into the Open Air Theater George designed and painted a series of 16 4ftx12ft flats to be
arrayed across the back of the stage. The design is based upon the interior of Independence Hall in Philadpelphia
and was free-standing on the gravel floor of the ampitheater.
The Tempest by Wm Shakespeare
ActorsNet of Bucks County
April 1 -1 7, 2005
To add to the magical quality of the show, George chose to adorn the false wall with arch upstage center with a
silk screened rendition of Botticelli's Birth of Venus (sans Venus). The image was transferred onto a satin cloth
which was then tacked onto the flats that made up the false wall. Then a continuation of the image was painted
on the rear wall behind the arch and along the side walls.
Photo Left: front view with central arch & staircase and ramp right tunnel
Photo Right: stage left with monolilth and Calliban's cave
Photo Left: stage left ramp with cave exit below and Prospero's staff
Sleuth by Anthony Shaeffer
ActorsNet of Bucks County
October 22 - November 7, 2004
The English Manor House drawing room required a second story landing and staircase to allow for the "burglery
break-in" and the first act climax shooting and tumble down a flight of stairs.
Photo Left: front view Andrew Wyke's study
Photo Right: stage left
Photo Left: stage right
Photo Right: fireplace & exits stage left on either side of fireplace w/Jack Tarr
Richard III by Wm Shakespeare
ActorsNet of Bucks County
March 5 - 21, 2004
Realizing a long time personal goal of starring in Shakespeare's Richard III, George also undertook to design the
"Tudor-esque" set. In order to provide as many entrance/exit sites as possible for quick scene changes central palace
doors were constructed up center in a false rear wall and a second story platform above them with stairs onto the stage
became crucial for staging.
A series of platforms and ramps along the stage right wall also provided various elevations to insure adequate sightlines
with another large cast. The overall palate was kept dark and brooding.
Photo Left: stage right showing up center doors and platform above
Photo Right: stage left - stage manager cubicle converted into Hastings' house (shuttered window)
Photo Left: front view with Boar's Head emblem used for second half of show
Photo Right: overhead view showing ramps & stairs stage right
Kiss Me, Kate by Cole Porter
August 14 - 31, 2003
ActorsNet of Bucks County
George tried his hand at scenic painting upon his return from his honeymoon with his co-star for this production.
A big "show" curtain was needed to set the Fred Graham production of The Taming of the Shrew for the opening
of the show & throughout the performance. So a 12' x 20' piece of canvas was ordered and here's the final result:
Caesar and Cleopatra by George Bernard Shaw
March 7 - 23, 2003
Antony and Cleopatra by Wm Shakespeare
April 25 - May 11, 2003
ActorsNet of Bucks County
For his first foray into directing, George also designed the set for Caesar and Cleopatra. This set was also
used for the next play up at the theater - Antony and Cleopatra - in which he costarred with his wife,
Carol Thompson. The entire stage was painted to resemble sandstone blocks and the set incorporated many
moveable elements that did double duty as columns, sphynx base, seating and walls. Additionally, care was taken
to provide as many levels of elevations as safely possible on the small set to optimize sightlines for the audience.
Photo Left: Caesar (Jamie Bradley) at foot of Sphynx (gobo)
Photo Right: front view of palace (Caesar and Cleopatra)
Photo Left: stair elevations stage right (Tammie Koehler as Cleopatra)
Photo Right: Rufio (Curtis Kane) and Ftatateeta (Cheryl Doyle) observe Ceaser and Cleo
See the document below for set plans: