Mr. Popper’s Penguins

Children’s Theatre of Virginia and Virginia Repertory Theatre
Richmond, VA
Set Design by Chris Raintree

Based on the book by Richard and Florence Atwater, this adorable kids musical was put up in the theatre at Willow Lawn. The design of this set was meant to trick the eye combinig 3D elements painted to look flat and flat elements painted to look 3D. The through line thought was “drawn to life.” With so much source material from the books to draw from, I was given a lot of freedom to create in a style that matched the books and fit inside the large books that opened to create each scene. I worked with Kylie Clark to build the penguin puppets which included several cute little baby penguins.  One of the major challenges of this production was creating a large crate for the penguin to arrive in that unfolded flat when the lid was taken off. 

Shrimp can
In Mr. Popper’s Penguins, the penguins get a snack of canned shrimp from the freezer. I made a label for a can of peanuts and filled it with foam sculpted shrimp and hot glue. 

Mr. Popper’s Penguins Camera
Based on the book by Richard and Florence Atwater, this adorable kids musical was put up in the theater at Willow Lawn. The design of this set was meant to trick the eye combining 3D elements painted to look flat and flat elements painted to look 3D. The through line thought was “drawn to life.” With so much source material from the books to draw from, I was given a lot of freedom to create in a style that matched the books and fit inside the larger r books that opened to create each scene. This camera was one of those flat props that was cut out of ¼” plywood after being sketched. It was then painted on both sides. It also came with a cutout of a comic style “FLASH” sign.