Delays
Time was running out to contract our rigging crew and order the necessary supplies. The search for a licensed and insured company to participate in this endeavor started when I initially estimated all of expenses associated with the project in August. Unfortunately, my preferred ETCP rigger and owner of 20/20 Theatrical was not available for the project. The next best option was Ty Prewitt , founder and owner of BellaTex, LLC out of Jackson, Tennessee (http://bellatex.com/). Regardless of how well I knew and respected Prewitt, my worries stemmed from working with an unfamiliar crew. These might be men who did not understand historical scenery and the need for careful handling.
It was not until October 2 that the CEO finally accepted Prewitt’s initial estimate to remove and transport this scenery. This ultimately meant a delay in the submission of the final contract. The finalized proposal for the removal and transportation of scenery was submitted on October 15, 2015 – approximately two weeks before the start of the project. Since September, there had been continued negotiations concerning insurance and liability, specifically addressing concerns of “who” would insure the drops during removal, transportation, and their unloading into storage bays?
We were all skating on thin ice in terms of timeline and the project was now in jeopardy.
My largest concern continued to focus on the weather in Kansas. In Fort Scott, we would be working in an unheated building for three weeks without water. Due to the size of the theatre and height of the fly loft, it would be extremely difficult to heat the space. I knew that it would be a cool working environment, but desperately hoped that it would not become too frigid.
On October 26 – a mere six days before my departure- I received confirmation of a signed contract and immediately emailed both the rigger and Fort Scott contact to nail down logistics of my arrival and the commencement of the project.
To put this scenery acquisition in perspective necessitates looking at my contributions during 2015 as both a Historical Consultant and the MMHC Curatorial. My plate was full with numerous MMHC projects during the planning and initial construction of the complex. All of my duties as an independent historical consultant simply carried over into my Curatorial Director responsibilities as the contracted duties for this position would not completely begin until the center opened in June 2016.
Since the fall of 2014, I had worked nonstop with architects, interior designers, theatre consultants, and others to provide insight and examples of historic ornamentation, color palettes, painted décor, or other decorative details standard for Masonic edifices constructed between 1910 and 1930. I had also directed the theatrical consulting firm of Schuler Shook to recreate a Scottish Rite space for the CEO’s anticipation of the folding of the Valleys. This meant that we recreated a Scottish Rite space that could accommodate drops on lines spaced 4” apart, with the exception of motorized electrics.
Besides directing these visual elements, I had also functioned as a Masonic scholar, designing the thematic layout and selecting artifacts for the six-gallery museum exhibit planned for the opening, working with other Masonic scholars from Washington, D.C. to finalize the majority of graphics and text panels prior to my departure. In addition to both these artistic and scholarly endeavors, I worked with the Director of Communications for Minnesota Masonic Charities as she continued to develop the MMHC website and marketing of this new corporate identity. I had been pulled into this aspect as I would be the first “employee of interest,” a marketing strategy to constantly keep MMHC in the news both before and after the opening. Part of this role meant participating in local radio interviews to raise awareness of the MMHC mission.
The Fort Scott scenery collection was simply another acquisition for the center and not the main focus of my job. Earlier acquisitions had included the St. Paul Scottish Rite library composed of approximately 10,000 items that would form the basis for the MMHC library.
In the big picture, Fort Scott was just one MMHC project that I took the lead on and nothing more.
To be continued…
