Set designer Carl Tallent lives up to his name

Alana George, Campus Carrier Asst. Arts & Music Editor

Kendall Aronson, Campus Carrier Social Media Director

Senior Tyler Hooper and junior Morgan Smith play Ken and Chris Gorman. BCTC’s production of “Rumors” is playing now through Oct. 7.

New York set designer and Berry alumnus Carl Tallent is back on campus to design the set for Berry College Theatre Company’s upcoming production of Rumors, which opened Wednesday.

Tallent graduated from Berry in 2001 and went to New York to pursue a career in set design.

“I was always artistic and crafty, but I just never thought of set design as a career,” Tallent said.

Tallent has been the props master for several Broadway shows, and has worked a few design jobs in New York through different connections he has made, including designing the merchandise tables for some of the Disney Broadway shows and painting for Cirque de Soleil.

Lenny Ganz, Claire Ganz, Cookie Cusack and Ernie Cusack, played by junior Andy Sphar, senior Kayla Ronchetto, junior Hannah Avery and sophomore JW Perry converse in the townhouse.

This year, Tallent was able to return to his alma mater and design the set for Rumors. According to Berry’s resident set designer Logan Reagan, Tallent collaborated with him and the director of the show over the summer to figure out what the set should look like. Tallent then designed the whole set, down to small details, like what color of paint should go on the walls and how far downstage a couch should sit. Tallent sent Reagan pictures of the design, along with the dimensions. Reagan, as the technical director, and some of the woodshop students then built it. Tallent has been on campus for two weeks putting the final touches on the set, shopping for furniture and picking out artwork.

Reagan and Tallent are at a similar stage in life and Reagan has enjoyed having him as a design partner.

Ken and Chris Gorman exchange dialogue across the set. Photos by Caroline Jennings | Campus Carrier

“Carl’s great; I’ve really enjoyed my time with him,” Reagan said. “We had a similar experience going through undergrad and grad school and working professionally, so it’s always nice to have somebody around like that to chat with.”

A fun design challenge for Reagan to figure out was a curved wall, which was supposed to turn a complete 90 degrees. The project involved getting skilled wood artisans and proper building materials; according to Reagan, you could not get the wood necessary for this project from Lowes or Home Depot. However, Reagan did not shy away from the challenge; he enjoys having to figure out how to build different projects.

“If it was always just the same thing over and over again from every show, I would get pretty bored,” Reagan said.

Students and the general public can see Tallent’s and Reagan’s work come alive in BCTC’s production of Rumors, which is playing in Sisters Theatre Oct. 3-7.