St. Charles man builds ideal settings

It's not the backstage of a popular Broadway theater. It's not even backstage at the Paramount Theater in Aurora.

But the small backstage area and upstairs workshop that John Curran occupies behind the Perry Theater at Aurora University is a haven for sharing his artistic skills with students.

The 41-year-old St. Charles resident is an associate professor of theater, helping guide Aurora University's theater department through its first year. Curran's specialty is behind the scenes, in designing theatrical sets and teaching classes titled "Stage Craft" and "Design for the Theater."

The backstage area where Curran spends most of his time at the college could pass for a furniture factory, as it is cluttered with desks, chairs, tables and large pieces of wood. Students are busy painting or building parts of what eventually will be the setting for the school's next production, "Anna in the Tropics," a free show to be staged at 7:30 p.m. March 18 and 19 and 26 through 29 at Perry Theater.

For Curran, "Anna in the Tropics" started six months ago with discussions with the play's directors and actors so he could "get a feel for what they wanted to accomplish and how they felt the stage setting should look."

Curran starts his process by creating a mini set, or model, of what eventually will appear in a much larger version on stage.

"I enjoyed performing in plays for a short time, but there is something magical about all of this," Curran says while pointing to his miniature sets. "This is my Zen."

And that Zen has resulted in work on more than 50 shows across the country throughout his career, leading to a life of a "nomad," Curran said.

"We have lived in virtually every state in the country, and my wife and I finally decided that was enough, and we were going to stay put," Curran said.

Staying put meant finding a home near the Fox River in St. Charles four years ago and getting back to teaching. He took a job at Harper College before being hired at Aurora University two years ago when offered a chance to help start a theater program.

"I have always been something of an artist and struck out as a music major, so I ultimately went into sculpture for a while," Curran said. "My sculptures were getting larger and larger, and my wallet was getting smaller and smaller.

"Then one of my professors at Glenville College in West Virginia told me to go down to the theater department because they can use sculptures and that kind of art, and you wouldn't have to pay for any of your materials," Curran said. "I went down there and never got out of it."

It's in the research

The creation of a theater set requires patience and attention to detail.

"First, you have to know the script inside and out, forward and backward," Curran said. "You have to really know what the script is asking for regarding the time period, and there is tons of research."

Curran said he spends much of his time in the library doing research after talking to the director about the vision for the play.

"After that, it's a lot of discussion and a lot of scribbling down images on napkins or paper pads," Curran said. "You have to love the research because that's the part that doesn't get the accolades."

The set designer has to have a reason for every decision, Curran said.

"I tell my students that it is a lot like acting," Curran explained. "An actor rationalizes everything, even if they are just walking over to get a drink of water, there has to be a reason for that. It's the same with this; why did we choose that kind of door, why is that there, does it fit the time period?"

Curran said that if the theater set is not meticulous in its accuracy, particularly for a period piece, it will reflect poorly on the play.

"The minute you just pull something out of nowhere, there is going to be someone in that audience who knows exactly what that factory looked like in that time period and, for them, then the show is done."

The mini models that Curran builds won't necessarily result in an identical setting on stage. He said the models allow the director to get a feel for what the set might look like, though they could ultimately be quite similar or far different.

Curran said he builds two types of models -- a computerized version that he prints and attaches to foam boards; or those he puts together by hand with foam-core board and any other materials that fit the model.

"I have a lot of Starbucks stir sticks," he says, smiling. "One stick is used for my coffee, and then 10 go into my pocket."

After attending Glenville College, Curran went to work for a short time, then went back to school at Ohio University, where he graduated in 1997. At that time, he said, the hot job market for set designers was at the Walt Disney theme parks or with Microsoft in graphic design.

After what he calls a recent "reality check" in undergoing radiation treatments for a small cancerous tumor in this throat and also having his wife, Tavia DeFelisce, working with him on set and costume designs, Curran knows he has landed in his own dream setting.

"The reason I think I did well in theater was because at the time there was a big drought (in workers) because they were all getting gobbled up by the big corporations," Curran said. "I just really wanted to do this, and I had done a few movies and such, but this is really where I wanted to be."