Making Mattress: A new Players performance process

In celebration of its 20th anniversary season, the SFArtsED Players, a troupe of 39 young performers ages 10 to 14, were all set to revive the classic Broadway musical comedy Once Upon a Mattress, which their predecessors had performed two decades before when the company was still new.

When the pandemic threatened to change everything, the performers, guided by a team of visionary artist mentors, adjusted their process. Rehearsals would be exclusively via Zoom, and the stage musical would now be a movie musical to be filmed via Zoom and with key solos captured one a time against a green screen. Vocals would be recorded individually, and the designers would work in bold new ways. Tiersa Nureyev’s costumes would have to be made without any in-person measurements or fittings, and set designer Stacey Ransom would create a virtual world through PhotoShop. Director of photography and editor Pete Belkin would also be required to master and implement a whole lot of new technology to get the film ready for its March 18 premiere at the Flix at Fort Mason drive-in.

To continue the celebration of the Players’ 20th anniversary season and to extend the applause for all the artists involved in the project, SFArtsED is pleased to present Making Mattress: a new Players performance process. This exhibition highlights the work of the designers through the display of their colorful sets, props, and costumes and sheds light on the creative process with a new behind-the-scenes documentary created by SFArtsED Artistic Director Emily Keeler and Pete Belkin.

Says Keeler: “This is an in-person celebration of a work of art made with the peculiar restrictions of the pandemic and with the indomitable spirit of human creativity.”

sfartsed.org