Emily Węgrzynowicz
Minister | Director | Actor | Designer
Tech & Design
Matilda
Over the summer of 2025, I worked with St. James Theatre in Arlingtons Heights on their production of Matilda as a spot op and on construction crew. Construction built 31 letter blocks for the cast, a platform with two staircases, and a couple of doors for this production. Since so many of the actors in this production were children, especially those handling the boxes, they had to be constructed in such a way that was easy for them to pick up and transport without hurting themselves. We made cut-outs that were off-center for the actors so that they were easier to hold for people with short arms. In order to do this, we used a drill press to make two holes, cut out the space between the two holes with a router, and then routed it to make it safe for people to handle with bare hands.
The Rude Mechanicals Most Vehemently Present: The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe
I worked as the scenic & props coordinator for Rude Mechs. A couple of the props I made for this show were the bush and the donkey head. The whole vibe of this show was very scrappy. The play is a comedy about a group of blue-collar workers who get together and produce an amateur production of the "play within a play" or "PWIAP" for fun. The rehearsal period canonically takes place over the course of a week, so all the props also have to look like they were made in a week's time and no budget. As a result, they were most of the props were built from cardboard, hot glue guns, a paintbrush, and a dream. The bush prop is a cardboard cut out painted with sponges and a fin-tipped brush for the details, and the donkey head was meant to be worn behind a curtain with backlighting, so the audience would never actually see the prop. They only ever saw Nick Bottom's silhouette with a suspiciously equine head from behind the cloth.
Scenic
Practicum
A decorative piece for the midterm made of plywood and luan, stained. The Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.
My final project- a table for You Can't Take It With You. I designed a Cernunnos image for the top heavily inspired by the Gundestrup Cauldron, one of the most famous depictions of the Celtic god Cernunnos. I chose this for You Can't Take It With You because I believe that it is fitting for this family to have pagan iconography in their home.
I started by making a circular base and top and then cutting the baluster to an appropriate height. I then painted a wood grain onto all the pieces. For the top, I sketched my Cernunnos design with pencil and then painted over it with a fine-tipped brush. I attached the base with screws and the top with some decorative metal connectors.
