- [Announcer] Coming up on "ART inc.," the art of stage combat, Rhode Island, mapped in wood, and the art of set design.

(static crackling) - [Announcer] If you want to know what's going on... (swinging upbeat music) (water splashing) (cat meowing) (bird cawing) (birds chirping) (audience applauding) (TV static crackling) (horns honking) (TV static crackling) (TV clicking) (upbeat surfer music) (TV crackling) (dramatic music) (sword swooshing) - I'm Michael Liebhauser.

I'm primarily a stage performer, and then I also teach stage combat and do choreography.

And here I'm specifically the choreographer for "Treasure Island" at Bishop Hendricken.

Retreat.

(footsteps clattering) Double retreat.

A stage combat choreographer is the person who creates the simulated violence that happens on stage in a play and ideally does so in a way (swords clanking) that is safe and repeatable and tells whatever story it is that the play needs the violence to tell.

And you're stepping up onto the platform high to low.

If I was gonna teach like the most basic cut with a weapon like this, it's gonna be what we'd call the fishing line cut.

It'd be the start of most bits of choreography.

You would have a student find an en garde, which you would do by, get your feet just a little wider than hip-width apart and take a step back with your right foot so that you've got a nice three-dimensional stance.

Then bend your knees so that they're comfortable.

Take your hips like I've got spotlights pointed at the person you're fighting.

Your shoulders are in line with your hips.

And now get your hands out in front of you and nice and alive.

And that's an en garde.

(blades clanking) (sword swooshing) I was initially drawn to stage combat because it's cool.

When I was in college, the storytelling element of it became something that was really fascinating to me.

(sword clanking) Just got out of the way.

And that momentum comes right to the hip 'cause you're gonna now run her straight through.

(swords clanking) Good.

So these are a couple of the swords that we're using for "Treasure Island."

They're stage-safe replicas of cutlasses.

With a weapon like this, especially for this show, we're aiming for something quite swashbuckling.

So the exact historical accuracy of how the weapon would've been used and what is exactly martially dangerous and correct, that goes by the wayside.

The most common combat you get asked to do is either what dueling arts broadly calls contemporary violence.

It's like sort of a hyper-realistic approach to contemporary fighting.

- Okay.

(bottle clanking and clattering) This show doesn't live there.

This lives in the golden age of sail, so everyone's got a big old cutlass and in some cases a very pirate-y gun.

That you're working like this, just big swing up and down.

- I have a rifle that I use, and after I fire at one of the pirates, I like kind of wield it as a club, and like, I swing down on people.

(chuckles) - You just have to try to teach exactly the techniques you're going to use for the fight.

Comes in there.

- [Kiernan] Jacob, just learning our moves, just using our swords, just making sure we have the right footing, good stance.

(blades clanking) - You're gonna get shot right away.

- Oh goodness.

So I'm a beggar that's like in the very beginning of the first act.

- I'm Blind Pew and Calico Jack.

I'm using like the firearms, so like the movements of like the shot and like the timing too and how, like, you have to, like, move back.

- Well, he's very good at explaining things, and he's a great demonstrator.

And I learned a lot of like musket reloading stuff from him 'cause that's pretty much all I do 'cause I die.

(gunshot booms) - Dead.

Nice.

(performers exclaiming) - There's a lot of like intense like scenes between either just like one or two people and then like a big group scenes where we're using like swords and guns and all that.

- Dink, dink, chase, and then those two can exit that way.

Those two are exiting that way.

Don't know what we do with Long John Silver yet, but something, something really good and cool.

(dramatic ominous music) - All right, folks, so we're gonna do a fight call for the full show, so sequential order from the first prologue scene.

(performer yelling) - [Performer] Got him.

Buddy, hold him down.

- [Performer] Stop your score.

- He saw the set, and he saw the scene.

He's like, "I think it would be really cool if they fight up the stairs."

And I'm like, "Okay, you're the professional, so I'm gonna trust you."

And it was always the one that was a little nerve-racking because it's a big set.

- A lot of the steps are different heights, and we have one performer who's got to fight walking backwards up that the whole time.

So that is definitely, definitely biggest challenge we have.

If I have a nemesis in this production, it is this stair unit.

It has given me more trouble than anything else.

The swords are great, kids are great, but this guy, this guy's really, he's got it out for me.

Keep it quiet.

Okay.

Flynn.

- Yeah?

- Even further, even further over.

Minute to minute, my task, did you learn something?

Did you get a sense of what this is like as a thing to learn and to do in the world?

(performer yelling) And do I feel good about walking away from this and leaving a sword in the hand of a teenager who's gonna swing it at another teenager?

(swords clanking) - Jim, where are you going?

Hold right back by Jonas.

- He'll have you run through it slow.

For example, the other day I was working with my stage partner Jacob once again.

And when I went to go stab him, he was telling me that's almost at performance speed.

- You have to be thinking about what is safe, what is repeatable, what's clear to an audience.

- [Kiernan] You have to slow it down but make sure that it's more fluid and more smooth when you're doing it so that you're actually perfecting your movements.

And then eventually you can bring it to performance speed.

- [Performer] He's got the map!

(performer grunts) - There's been so much improvement in what they're doing.

It's really cool.

It's really great.

I find it's obviously a big reward of doing the thing.

One second, it's gonna be the big fight.

I'm gonna sneak and just take a quick peek at something.

(dramatic music) (footsteps clattering) Now that was way better.

That was way better this time.

(tense music) - Yeah.

- And then action.

- Okay.

Oh, look up like that.

- Hi, my name's Jacob Madriaga.

I play George Merry in Bishop Hendricken's... What's this play called again?

"Treasure Island," "Treasure Island."

Sorry, a lot has happened.

A lot has happened.

If I'm gonna be completely honest with you, there is a lot of emotions going through me.

Regardless of how many times I tell myself I can't do it, doubt myself that I'm gonna mess up, I tell myself, "No, this is what Miss P has been talking about."

Miss P was always, "Why not you?"

"Why not me?"

And always focuses on a positive mindset.

(audience chattering) (ominous music) (hurried dramatic music) (performers yelling) - Michael couldn't be here tonight for our opening.

That's kind of how it works with fight choreographers, especially in educational theater.

He came and set this for us, and then we had to go off and fly on our own tonight.

(performer yelling) - Now!

- Michael has been walking us through, been very patient, especially through how emotional and such a physical and mental toll it takes on me and Lucas on our bodies.

(performers yelling) It's very amazing to finally see this come into fruition.

- Bam, so we can see it was like fingertips across cheeks.

(dramatic adventurous music) (sword clanking) (sword clanking) (sword clanking) - And his back.

(object thudding) Ooh.

And forward you go.

(performer yelling) (swords clanking) - Come on!

(yelling) - [Jacob] Michael really brought out the best of me with that performance.

(performer yelling) - He opened up a way for me to express myself.

(triumphant music) (audience applauding) - Oh, 100%.

Hello, Miss P. - Hey Jacob.

- I'm here.

- [Interviewer] So how do you feel like it went?

- I think it went very well, very well.

The sword fight went amazing.

- I got a little anxious for a minute when you started that you guys were like really high energy in that that something, a sword might go flying.

- Maybe I was a little bit too aggressive at first, but we toned it down.

- [Interviewer] Anything you'd say to Michael, who taught you some of your moves?

- Thank you, Michael.

I wish you the best of luck.

You made a star.

See ya.

- (laughs) You can't make this stuff up.

(upbeat surfer music) (static crackling) (lively music) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) - Bathymetry is like topography but for the ocean.

So it just shows like the ocean layers.

Surfers, for example, look at that type of data to try to find like the geological areas of that like ocean shoreline to see like if there's a good wave there.

Like, I try to bring like some science into it and some like somewhat educational stuff just 'cause I think it's interesting.

(waves lapping) (gentle dreamy music) The ocean floor for me is like something that tells like a big story, like just how it looks.

And like when I look out into the ocean, I look at like what's underneath the water.

Like, what does it look like?

And I'm always curious about that.

Each map's like totally different, and they tell so many stories.

You know, my background is also in filmmaking, so like telling stories is something that I enjoy doing, and this is just a different avenue of doing that.

A lot of people look at like Cape Cod or something like that, but I'm looking for like the smaller bays and stuff because everybody does like a lot of Block Island, a lot of like Providence, but none of the little areas.

And that's the ones that, like, I think, touch people.

(laser hissing) I started this off with just doing all my favorite places.

So I did Point Judith, Narragansett, East Matunuck, my favorite beach, Pawtuxet Village, which is where I live.

From there, people have just like been telling me what they want.

(traffic humming) (horn honking) You know, I was at home designing, and the Washington Bridge was shut down, and on the news, they had the map of the detour.

And I was like, "Oh, how funny would that be to have like an ornament of that detour map."

(playful quirky music) (machine humming) Rhode Islanders have a good sense of humor, and I think it's something to laugh about a couple years down the road from now, hopefully.

(playful quirky music continues) (cover thuds) So I did it that night, went to the studio here, made that ornament, posted it online.

In that one day, I sold it close to 50.

So people were stuck in traffic ordering this ornament 'cause a couple of big Instagram accounts shared it out.

That one ornament really set me off to expand to where I am now where I'm doing larger maps.

(playful quirky music continues) (wood rustling) So I originally started this business in a 100-square foot studio.

I'm an artist, but I'm really starting a manufacturing business, which I didn't really realize till I started doing this.

(drill whirring) Manufacturing's important, and it's like you can bring art into that field and not make it look so manufactured, make it look a little organic, a little natural.

So that's something I'm excited to explore.

(upbeat music) All right.

Coastal Carve Engravings back in business.

And now I'm in a 400 and like 60 square foot studio, and what made me do that move was is I needed to expand.

I'm getting a lot of orders.

I wanted to do bigger maps, which I'm getting a lot of requests for, and I needed the space for that.

(Kyle blowing) My love for woodworking would come from my dad.

He's been a woodworker himself.

Like in the basement, he has a whole wood shop, and I've been down there still to this day, you know, using his tools, (laughs) using his clamps, using his table saw, and then using his, like, expertise as well.

My family's been completely supportive and helpful throughout this whole process.

You know, they come in on the weekends, They both work.

My parents still work.

And they come in after they're working.

So, yeah, thanks Mom and Dad.

(laughs) Yeah, this one looks pretty good.

It's just dirty.

I can sand that off.

But that looks nice.

Like that little feature there could look cool like on the island itself.

Today I have a custom order of a Maui map.

A couple is getting married there this May.

I'll be cutting it on my laser, on the big guy.

(bright music) And then once that's cut, I'll stain it.

(brush swishing) I'll do a glue-up of it.

Yeah, I already realized I messed up on this guy.

This guy should be up one.

I glue it together by putting little spaces underneath of it so I get the ocean layer.

So it's kind of making like a 3D puzzle.

And I'll use glue for the back of it.

And then once that's all dried, I'll put it in a shadow box frame and then put all the framing on it.

Oh yeah, this is reversed too.

This should have gone up.

Yeah, I totally messed this up.

Oh, that's why we get three shots.

(stapler clicking) This is my first time framing, so it's, you know, proof of concept, and I think it's there.

I wish nothing but the best to Jackie and Joel, who are getting married in Maui (laughs) I wish I could be at the wedding, but this will be on their wall hopefully their whole lives.

(bright music continues) (static crackling) (upbeat surfer music) (static crackling) (board thudding) - Today is strike of the "Amadeus" set.

(hammer tapping) Show's over.

(board clatters) (board thudding) - So it feels like, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe it's going."

(board clattering and thudding) What I wish people really understood when they're sitting in their seats and watching a performance is everything that led up to that performance.

(elegant music) (tool chattering) - Early on when we started talking about what plays we were gonna do for the season, I knew that "Amadeus" was in it, and it's a favorite of mine.

This is a perfect play.

It's a perfect play for The Gamm.

- Recluse.

- What horrors have you heard?

- [Performers] Tell us, tell us.

Tell us at once.

What does he cry?

- [Performer] What does he cry?

- [Performers] What does he cry?

- Mozart!

- In general, set design is the stage and all of the fixings that come with that.

- Set designer will come in, and they limit the space and therefore expand that space for you, right?

They kind of create the environment in which the story can kind of unfold.

- I was constantly turned to the ceilings of the palace, in particular the palace chapel, which has this most gorgeous ceiling right here.

And then it's lit up.

And it felt like, "Well, why don't we put that in The Gamm?"

- I think set design plays a huge role in terms of audience draw for buying tickets and coming to see a production.

The Gamm Theatre has been around for 40 years.

This show at this stage looks to be pacing ahead of any show that The Gamm has ever produced in the past.

- I present to you for one performance only my last composition entitled "The Death of Mozart, or, "Did I Do It?"

- I start by reading the script many, many times, and then I do in fact go from my brain to this.

(laughs) And I'm lucky enough to be designing for a space that's kind of my home because The Gamm Theatre is my home.

I immediately look to architecture.

My background is in architecture, and so those tend to be my reference points.

- Creating that foment of Vienna, that kind of, and the richness of what Jess is doing in terms of the colors and the architecture of the set.

Remember, this play is called "Amadeus," which means lover of God.

And ultimately the play is about the composer Salieri commits a war against God on the body of Mozart.

The focus is in the play where he talks directly to the audience, and he looks up, and he talks to his God.

- What is the need in the sound?

Is it your need?

Can it be yours?

- Then to how do we create that, well, I just knew we're gonna have to have some sort of ceiling because everybody has to feel that sense of looking up.

This is a somewhat three-dimensional way of reflecting what's in my brain.

I am also drawing it using my computer.

With the computer, I am absolutely to the inch or to the half inch or quarter inch, even, saying, this is exactly where this is going to be.

Eventually, it results into a sketch that I can then make a model from.

(elegant classical music) (spray can hissing) This is what people are gonna walk on, and this is what people are gonna see.

I mean, people are gonna walk into The Gamm as an audience member, and I'm saying to them, "You need to believe that this is the 1790s in Vienna," and they do.

(upbeat orchestral music) (saw buzzing) (nail gun popping) We're looking at seven days for getting folks on the stage itself with another seven days after that for finish work.

(elegant classical music) (drill whirring) - So let's build more.

- [Jessica] Tomorrow we'll start building the template for the large ceiling.

So that's what Michael and I will work on this afternoon.

- Oh God, I'm tired.

A lot of people don't even understand that there's so many people behind the scenes doing what they do.

You know, they think of the people that they see on stage, but, of course, there's a huge support staff.

- A show like "Amadeus" ranges upwards of $200,000 to produce because of the number of bodies involved in standing up the show, the music involved, the instrument involved.

- We had to decide kind of early on, how are we gonna handle the music?

We knew that we could accomplish the things that we wanted to accomplish if we had the right person.

(performers singing) Judith Stillman is brilliant, and when we were able to bring her on to the process and say, "Okay, she's going to play through every show.

We need a piano," that's when we were like, "Okay, now we have to have a piano."

(wheels clattering) The piano came today.

So we will learn a lot today when Judy gets to sit down and play a few pieces on there.

(classical piano music) - When the proverbial curtain rises, we want to captivate the audience at once with seeing the evocative set and hearing the genius of Mozart.

- [Jason] So the music becomes part...

It's so important and integral to this play, it becomes part of the overall design.

(audience applauding) (tool humming) (tool clicking) - There is a, I don't know what it is, 40, 42-foot ceiling piece that has to be built and hoisted and hang in the air, and that's probably the biggest challenge.

- Whoa.

(piece thudding) (chorus singing) - Yeah, that ceiling is huge.

That ceiling took us two days to get up and safe to occupy under.

Having it maintain its own structural integrity was a lesson.

(laughs) (rousing classical music) Tonight is a big night.

It is the first rehearsal that we invite an audience in.

So this is when we have to release it to the public.

- So the last element that finishes it all off, right, is the audience because you have worked in that space, and they've come to understand that imagined space as this reality we create in their heads.

- Signori, let me be a composer.

- It really has managed to manifest as a very similar experience from looking at the little model to walking into the space.

And I think the ceiling unit is the reason why.

All the work and all of the stuff that has come along, including the solving the problems, that is fulfilling.

And then most importantly, it really serves the play.

The actors are beautifully presented.

The piano is incredibly well integrated.

I think it's a success.

(laughs) I hope it's a success.

(audience applauding) - [Announcer] Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time on "ART inc." (TV humming) (TV crackling) (upbeat surfer music) (upbeat surfer music continues) (upbeat surfer music continues) (upbeat surfer music continues) (upbeat surfer music continues) Watch More "ART inc.," a Rhode Island PBS original series now streaming at ripbs.org/artinc.