JACKSON BERKLEY

This G*d Damn House is based off of playwright Matthew McLachlan’s real life experience attempting to move his mother — a bona fide hoarder — out of her house. This job was my first time working with The Chain Theatre as Technical Director.

David Henderson’s scenic design featured two practical doors and several angled walls; the floor treatment was a large roll of beige shag carpet. I led this build with a crew of 3-4 hands over three days. We began by staging our flats, rolling out our carpet, and taping out our wall placements. On the second day we constructed the set, patched seams and began paint treatments, and the third day was devoted to finishing painting and beginning the colossal task of moving a hoarder’s home worth of set dressing onto the stage (Props Supervisor David Kaplan assisted with much of that lift!).

This build was smooth and successful, and the beginning of a great relationship with The Chain Theatre.

Fun moments included: embracing the sloppiness of a hoarder’s dwelling; creating a seamless purple wall out of a hodge podge of stock flats; spilling lavender paint on our carpet center stage and using copious amounts of Simple Green to pull it out.