"Murder by the Book"

Perry and I were asked by the director of the play Murder by the Book to build three bookcases for the play. We shopped for lumber at Home Depot and found a pretty good grade of plywood made of fir. We priced alder, birch and oak plywood, but thought the price too great. This is a theater in the round, well, technically in the round. The audience of 82 actually sits on the stage with set pieces behind them or around them. So we must build furniture and set pieces that look really good. When building for a conventional stage production, the furniture and set can be somewhat shabby because the audience never gets a real good look up close. We consulted with a clerk at Woodcraft in Boise about painting plywood in such a manner that the grain of the plywood would not show or at least not be prominent as is usually the case when one paints over plywood. He suggested that we sand down to a 320 grit sandpaper and then shellac the plywood. We did this and were really pleased with the results. We did face all the raw edges of the plywood with poplar and then painted two coats of a dark chocolate latex. Perry and I spent some time looking at paint chips and just knew we were going to screw this decision up. You know what women think of men and their choice of colors. So we told the director to go buy a gallon of paint that she thought would work well. Haha. We dodged that bullet. She did well. And we are looking good. Haha. We got the rich look of an old Victorian style bookcase. We had to create the molding at the top of the bookcases with a router. We dadoed grooves into the side panels to fit the shelves. We glued all joints and resulting in three very sturdy bookcases that stand seven feet tall and thirty inches wide.

Since we are not likely to have a need for book cases soon, we suggested to the board of directors that they conduct a silent auction during the six nights of performances to sell the bookcases. The accepted our idea. We have about $250-300 into the three bookcases. I don't know the exact figures because Perry was keeping all the receipts. We are hoping the theater can recoup the cost of building the cases by selling them.

You all have a wonderful day. If you are in Weiser the second or third weekend of October consider joining us for dinner and a nice performance of Murder by the Book. And, of course, you can bid on those very well built and nice looking bookcases. Call the Weiser Chamber of Commerce for tickets. 208-414-0452

Papa Coyote loves you all