Finding a Home in Memphis Theater

by Cary Vaughn

If you’re interested in getting involved with your local theater, I’m sure they’d be thrilled to hear from you. Theaters often welcome volunteers to assist with set painting or even performing on stage. Many also offer classes on a range of topics, from dance and performance to technical skills. When I first began participating in Memphis theater back in 2000, I didn’t know anyone. Yet, after nearly 25 years, I’ve had the privilege of performing on several Memphis stages and have met the most remarkable and talented people along the way. I’m very excited to introduce them to you.

Theatre Memphis has built a reputation for its exceptional production standards, and one of the key people behind the scenes is Jack Yates, an award-winning scenic designer and a beloved member of the Memphis theater community. Since 2013, Jack has made his home at Theatre Memphis, designing exceptional sets for stage productions that effortlessly immerse audiences in the world portrayed on the stage. Despite his busy schedule, I was lucky enough to catch Jack for a brief moment between a production meeting and dinner. Dressed casually in paint-streaked gym shorts and a t-shirt, we sat down in his office to discuss his journey into the scenic design profession, where he finds inspiration, and how others can get involved.

So are you always covered in paint when you’re at work?

Well, I do come to work in paint clothes because almost every day I’m painting something or I’m lifting heavy things and potentially getting grease on me and everything. But about half of my wardrobe has paint on it.

Paint-covered gym shorts and a t-shirt. That’s just pretty much my work attire.

Yep.

And your exact title is what?

Resident Scenic Designer and Properties Master.

What is a “properties master?”

Anything that you see on stage, from set dressing to items in people’s hands. Each of us at Theatre Memphis wears anywhere from two to four to six hats. So, not only do I design all the shows, but I paint and do all the props for the shows. I do help build things, but not as much.

Of all careers, what made you decide to do this?

When I was growing up, I was always kind of artsy, and I wanted to be an artist, which isn’t always the most lucrative of careers. I ended up moving to a school that had a technical theater class, and me and my siblings all took the class together, but I stuck with it. They taught me that this is a way I can be an artist and make a living doing it. So, I went to college in Oklahoma and earned a BFA in Theater Design.

And how did you end up down here in Memphis?

I went to school with the lighting designer at Theatre Memphis at the time, and he messaged me that this position was opening and he thought I would be a good fit. I was in the process of figuring out what I was doing with my life at that point. So, they invited me down to interview, and here I am after 12 seasons.

What was the first set you designed here?

Proof. That was on the Next Stage. It’s actually still one of my favorite sets that I’ve designed. It’s about a girl who loses her father, and he’s this brilliant mathematician, and she starts seeing numbers and patterns. So we hid math equations and numerals that you may not notice in the scenic design, but it was all intentional. Handrails had Roman numerals, and the fence had plus signs and division signs, stuff like that. That was a fun one to work on.

How many sets do you usually design in a season?

We have an eleven-show season. A Christmas Carol is already designed, so we don’t have to design that every year.

What was the most complex show?

(Laughs) That’s a very difficult question.

Because I have a feeling…

Yeah. I want to hear what you think.

I want to say Cinderella because you had to pretty much just come up with magic tricks, right?

It’s a lot of magic tricks in that one. Between the pumpkin growing and becoming the carriage, I would say that that was a big one. Mary Poppins is another massive one. And then lately, one that was fun and had maybe one of the most scene changes was Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

Really?

There was something like 48 scene changes. It was quite a challenge figuring that out.

So how many awards have you won?

I think my nominations are over 60. But won…16?

I swear I thought it would have been more.

To be fair, there are no other full-time resident designers in town doing what I do. And a lot of theaters across the country don’t have resident designers. It tends to be freelance-based. I was very fortunate to find this job, and it was always a goal of mine to not necessarily work a freelance life, especially being type one diabetic, so insurance was always very important to me.

And how did you get the National Awards of Excellence?

That was during Covid. Theatre Memphis is a part of the American Association of Community Theaters, and they were having a virtual design competition since everything was shut down. So we sent in a couple of designs, and I was fortunate to receive one for The Drowsy Chaperone for scenic design and a special award for my design of the dragon in Shrek: The Musical.

Oh my God, yes. What was that dragon made of?

That was a giant block of white bead foam that we carved into.

And you pretty much made it into a puppet.

Yeah, that was a huge collaborative process. I did most of the carving, but figuring out how it gets up there and moves was mostly our technical director, Michael Compton. And then the lighting and movement of the eyes was our lighting designer. It was a huge project for the whole team.

Out of your 12 seasons here, what’s one of the funniest set-related stories you have, and we can’t talk about the person who thought the bathroom was on stage during a show? Like that time someone from the audience walked onto the stage during a show and into what they thought was a bathroom.

But the question is, which time? Because it happened during 12 Angry Jurors. It also happened during a show called Rasheeda Speaking, which had another fake bathroom entrance. So going forward, for show designs that include a bathroom entrance, I started adding “Out of Order” signs to the design. For The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, for example, I had a doorway that led to a bathroom, but it had a big “Out of Order” sign across it to keep people out.

(Laughing) That’s so funny. So where do you get your inspiration? Having to design 11 shows a season, I would imagine that by now your ideas would run dry. At least, mine would.

My inspiration doesn’t come from other designs. It comes from arts and architecture and other images. It’s about the era the show is set in, and what I see that speaks to me, if that makes sense. What I love about my job is the collaboration. It’s not just me, and it’s not just the director, but it is the whole team. From the color of the walls to the color of the costumes to how the lighting hits those things and affects both of those things, it’s all talked about from the first day. We work 20 weeks on a production before it opens, and we work on anywhere between four to six shows at a time, each in different stages of the process.

That’s a lot. If someone wanted to help (such as paint a set or work backstage), how could they get involved?

Anyone is welcome to reach out to Theatre Memphis’s Outreach and Education department. Becky Casper, Chelsea Robinson, Karen Samuels, and Abi Wiggins help volunteers find their place, whether it’s backstage crew or getting people in for auditions. They also have a Tech Academy for 13 to 19-year-old students to learn about and participate in all realms of technical theatre like stage management, lighting, sound, sets/props, costumes, makeup, and more. Anyone should feel welcome to reach out to the theatre for any upcoming volunteer opportunities.

Top photo: Set of Blithe Spirit.  Bottom photos: A Raisin in the Sun concept and set. All photos by Calra McDonald