Tim Parati has worked as a Scenic Designer and Resident Scenic Artist at Children's Theatre of Charlotte for 15 years. Working at a theatre for young audiences requires him to create some pretty far out places...even the moon! In fact, the moon was one of the settings that Tim and his team had to fabricate for Pete the Cat, the final production of Children’s Theatre of Chalotte’s 71st season. Below, he explains how he used Rosco Fluorescent Scenic Paints to create some of the imaginative settings the show required.
The popularity of the Pete The Cat books has driven audiences to come see their favorite blue cat live on stage. In the show, Pete takes Jimmy on a true adventure, mostly by means of a magical VW bus. My assistant and I used Rosco Scenic Paints for the whole set as they’re very colorful and we felt they were the best choice to convey the feel of the designer's concept. At one point, Jimmy and Pete travel to the moon and it was decided by Set Designer Alessia Carpoca, Lighting Designer Aimee Hanyzewski and Director Ron Chisolm to make the moon glow using black light UV effects.
The moon, which is a recycled sun from an earlier production, is plywood covered in muslin with textured craters and valleys of the moon that have been painted on using regular paint. Because the scene was lit with black light, we knew that we needed to do something to make it to pop! Having used Rosco Invisible Blue many times before, we all agreed it was the best and brightest paint to bring this scene to life.
I thinned the Rosco Invisible Blue with water to make it spread easier, with hopes that the painted texture of the moon underneath would come through – and it did! We also used the Invisible Blue on the top portion of the bus, and the other Rosco Fluorescent Paints were very effective for painting the glowing rainbow on the side of the bus as well.
