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In Focus: Setting the Stage

Bigfork Summer Playhouse technical director Greg Kendall builds the set for the upcoming performance of "Annie"

By Greg Lindstrom
Technical Director Greg Kendall builds sets for the upcoming performance of "Annie," which opens at the Bigfork Summer Playhouse on June 23. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

Greg Kendall was looking for one last summer stock when he found work with the Bigfork Summer Playhouse. But for the past eight years, Kendall keeps returning to Bigfork each summer to help construct stage sets.

During a recent afternoon at the shop in Bigfork, Kendall and the crew transformed two-by-fours, plywood and paint into the New York City skyline for an upcoming performance of “Annie,” which opens on June 23.

As technical director, Kendall oversees the construction and maintenance of the scenery. The sets must be completed at a quick pace, since the company performs four shows at a time.

One of the most rewarding aspects of his job is teaching others. Summer Playhouse actors come into the shop to help build and design pieces of the scenery, and Kendall appreciates that the experience gives them more insight into what goes on behind the scenes. He enjoys looking at the pride in their faces when they make something, knowing that it’s theirs and they created it.

“When they’re on stage and backstage and we are changing over the shows they’re very protective of the things that they made,” Kendall said.

Technical Director Greg Kendall builds sets for the upcoming performance of "Annie," which opens at the Bigfork Summer Playhouse on June 23. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon
Technical Director Greg Kendall builds sets for the upcoming performance of “Annie,” which opens at the Bigfork Summer Playhouse on June 23. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon