Many of the audience members who come to view NDP’s plays and musicals each year are unaware that the sets of each play and musical are created over a series of weeks by hardworking girls, parents and cast members. Before any of the building and painting can begin an art team meets with Ms. Ward, Mrs. Reichelt and Ms. Gutierrez to create a vision of each room and scene in the play or musical. After the design plan is laid out, parents come in, during weekends, to build the set pieces while the students paint them along with the back wall. The whole project and production takes weeks to create, but those working on it love what they’re doing.

This year, the crew and design team has been assisted by Mr. Cusick and the STEM class to produce a very special piece, the pumpkin carriage Cinderella rode to in the famed “Prince’s ball.”  When asked to describe the process of designing the carriage, Michelle Stanley said, “To start, Mr. Cusick had each of us draw what we imagined the carriage would look like. I cannot speak for everyone, but I imagined the typical carriage, combined with the fairy tale, magical sort of structure, that is seen in the movie. The next day, we brought our designs to class, and we compared the different aspects. Our beginning plan for the carriage was not entirely unanimous. We debated different options on the structure, which eventually led to three groups, a one sided carriage, a spherical carriage (the current design) and a semi circular carriage. We presented our structural and decorative ideas to Mrs. Ward, who chose her favorite aspects of each, combined to our final design.” The design process for carriage was very thought out to make sure it would function properly and convey a magical feeling to the audience.

The actual construction of the carriage took two weeks of class time and a lot of help during the girls’ free time to complete. They enjoyed learning how to use certain power tools and were allowed to use whatever Mr. Cusick brought in. The girls were also excited to place special effects on the carriage like the flashing lights that gave of a magical aura and added sparkle to the carriage. The carriage was built on a 9 x 4 platform with wheels to make it move that has been used throughout the history of NDP plays. The inside of the carriage was spacious and had benches for the Fairy Godmother, Cinderella and Prince Charming to sit on.  To create such a vision, the girls used plywood, golden paper and PVC piping. It isn’t known what will happen to the carriage now that the play is over; the carriage may be taken apart or saved for later use. The girls who worked to build the carriage are proud of their work and hope it will remain intact.  The audience members who watched the carriage glide so wonderfully across the stage hope so too. As the Fairy Godmother said, “Impossible things are happening every day,” and the STEM class is proof.