THE CHALLENGE
For the Broadway tour of Shrek the Musical, Stuart Thompson Productions called on Kinc to refurbish existing set pieces and create new ones in time for the show's opening night at the Cadillac Palace Theater in Chicago.

With only one week for the in-house repairs, Kinc's charter included repainting the entire stage floor,

building an entirely new prop suitcase for one of the "Three Little Pigs," and completing an extensive list of props and scenery repairs, including refurbishing the  exterior of the trick Cathedral Altar, which had been destroyed when the piece was re-sized to fit the Cadillac.

 

Great! Now how do we do it?

KINC COMES TO THE RESCUE

Paint samples were ordered from the NY production team, and Kinc hand-mixed matching colors to execute seamless repairs.  Working nonstop each morning prior to the actor rehearsals, Kinc's staff refurbished the old pieces to like-new, and in some cases, improving on the original paint jobs to add theatricality or realism as needed. 

One of the team's favorite assignments was to design a new suitcase prop for the Little Pig character "Sticks." The original suitcase resembled wood planking which did not effectively reflect the character.  Kinc designed and delivered a hand carved tree twigs suitcase, with dimensional leaves, twine binding, and leather handles.

The largest and most demanding project was Kinc's refurbishment of the Altar. Oversized, and housing cumbersome but delicate machinery for a levitation effect, the piece required careful handling throughout the process.

Using the remaining casing as a template, Kinc's artists built and installed arched panels on the Altar's destroyed sides, and painted them to match the rest of the piece. Then the entire Altar and its matching stair platform were freshly repainted and sealed. The completed Altar set was then painstakingly delivered to the theater witthout a scratch, dent, or loose screw.