Some Interesting Information ABOUT ME

In July 2011, my 12-year-old daughter wanted to be a part of a musical and signed up for the Urbana Park District's performance of Cole Porter's musical "Anything Goes".

By happenstance, my Wife Cindy volunteered to do the props for the show and was given a small budget to purchase the props for the show.

In order to stretch the dollars farther, she asked me to construct an antique 1920's era wheelchair, because the ones she was looking at on-line were going to cost around $200, which would eat up most of her budget, and she felt the one that was donated just didn't have the right look. As a result, I was able to cobble together the donated modern wheelchair, with an antique desk chair to give the audience the right 1920's feel. It was a big hit.

In the upcoming years, Cindy volunteered for the UPD's summer musicals, and I was again hired to build items to save her budget. As my daughter started High School, the prop volunteer work followed Cindy.

In the early days of prop building, the trait of stretching the budget was a necessity, but today, it has become a source of enjoyment. Creating and building props from nothing or garbage picked items is my version of a complicated puzzle. Each technical prop is considered a problem, where a solution could (and would) be found, and way under budget.

In the early days, Cindy was the "prop master" for UPD, Centennial High School, and when Centennial & Central merged to become C2 and put on performances at the Virginia, she was once again volunteered.

After my daughter graduated High School, Parkland Collage Twin City Theater Company, Playwright Kenny Chumbley have all hired Cindy to do props for some of their productions. This web-site is a sampling of some of my works.