Setting the stage

The unkempt, boozy Berenger and the handsome well-heeled Dudard sit in a peaceful café in a small French town. Suddenly, a thunderous, ear-splitting noise rents the air, and a massive rhinoceros rampages through the square, trampling everything in its path and leaving a dust storm in its wake. All quietude is lost as the two men and townspeople gather to analyze and debate the horned giant’s invasion.

When this occurs in March at the Yale Repertory Theatre in Eugene Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros,” directed by Liz Diamond and set designed by Jennifer Yuqing Cao, the actors perform on a stage floor that resembles the gray-toned, latticed hide of a rhinoceros, expertly crafted by Yale scenic artists who, above all, love to paint.

Mikah Berky, charge scenic artist for Yale Rep and the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, and scenic artists Nate Jasunas and Lia Akkerhuis, profess the same enjoyment of the act of sinking a brush into liquid color and covering a surface with technical mastery. The trio, alongside scenic art intern Michaela Meyer, creates everything from aged stone walls to gleaming metalwork — expertise that spans an impressive range of faux finishing techniques, including wood graining, brick texturing, and trompe l’oeil effects.

“I think I can speak for my colleagues,” said Akkerhuis, “when I say that we love the physical motion of painting and immersing ourselves in the environment of the designs.”

Every academic year at Yale, this team transforms blank surfaces into theatrical scenery. Working across fourteen shows of varying scales — from full Yale Rep productions to intimate Shakespeare Repertory Projects — they touch nearly every scenic element that appears onstage when the curtains go up.

In two recent productions, the first full staging of Zora Neale Hurston’s “Spunk,” directed by Tamilla Woodard, and Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” as directed by James Bundy, the paint shop touched most of the scenery onstage. For “Spunk,” they blended real trees with a painted dirt floor. For “Hedda Gabler,” they painted faux wood paneling and installed custom-printed wallpaper. Their artistry was on view in many crafted surfaces that brought the playwrights’ stories to life on stage.

The production calendar for the shows across the school and Yale Rep is a carefully orchestrated interplay of assignments that encompasses five Yale Rep plays, six fully realized David Geffen School of Drama productions (including three as part of the Carlotta Festival), and three Shakespeare Repertory Projects. What keeps the paint shop buzzing with activity is that its team works on three or four shows at a time.

Creative solutions craft scenery

The demands of theatrical scenic art require versatility and problem-solving expertise. Berky, the daughter of a professional theater artist, brought these skills to her Yale role from time working in regional theater in Chicago and a 8-year stint at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Graduate school in London followed before she joined the university more than two years ago, not only as charge scenic artist but also as an assistant adjunct professor.

While Berky doesn’t get to paint as much as she did earlier in her career, she appreciates the variety her job now offers. Budgeting and purchasing responsibilities intersect with communicating with other departments about scheduling and paint shop priorities and teaching in the classroom. Berky meets with graduate student designers, production managers, technical directors, and colleagues Jasunas and Akkerhuis to strategize on their theatrical projects.

“I really enjoy it when we come up with an efficient solution that enables us to take action quickly,” said Berky.

She mentioned “Dangerous Liaisons,” the first student show of 2025, directed by Destyne Miller and set designed by Richard Lee, when the designer’s sketches showed an ornate pattern on the room’s crown molding. The paint shop ordered blank wallpaper and painted the desired pattern on that.

“This solution meant that we didn’t have to wait until the scenery was built,” added Berky. “Painting the wallpaper in the shop allowed us to work on it a lot longer and then have a quick turnaround when the scenery was built and ready for us to step in.”

From samples to show time

The role of the scenic artist involves detailed collaboration and creativity. The process starts with a design presentation and collaborative conversations between the set designer and paint shop.

“Then we create some samples for the designers based on the renderings that they bring us,” said Akkerhuis. “Sometimes they simply provide an image without knowing what’s required to achieve it, and it’s our job to figure that out.”

For “Hedda Gabler,” the set designer, Jessie Baldinger, brought the paint shop a packet of information for the general wall treatments and sketches of what she wanted the final paint treatment to look like.

“I took her images, and I created an in-scale sample of the dark wood grain she wanted,” Akkerhuis added. “Then I called her back into the shop, and she asked for adjustments; instructions like ‘make it warmer, darker, cooler, or lighter.’ Once the sample was approved, we moved forward with painting the set.”

Scenery is built at 222 York St., loaded into a truck, and brought over to the paint shop at 149 York St. Once it arrived for “Hedda Gabler,” the scenic artists painted the prescribed technique for the walls. When they finished painting, the scenery was picked up again by truck, brought to the theater, and assembled by carpenters on stage. Then the designer reviewed the finished work during the technical rehearsal under stage lights and communicated adjustments to the paint shop.

Akkerhuis studied set design and technical theater in college spending most of her time painting scenery and sewing in the costume shop. While freelancing in New York City in both trades after graduation, her focus shifted entirely to scenic painting around the time a position opened up at Yale 13 years ago.

Her interest in the scenic arts began in high school, sparked by a simple yet pivotal moment. “My next-door neighbor, who was also my English teacher, saw that I could paint and dragged me to the theater,” said Akkerhuis. “By my junior year, I realized this could be a real job.”

Simple tools make sophisticated theater

A scenic artist’s tools are as simple as the work can be complex. Jasunas noted that they are often items you can pick up at the hardware store, starting with a paintbrush or paint roller.

“Many days, our most sophisticated piece of technology,” he said, “is perhaps a garden sprayer full of paint. We also often attach brushes to bamboo poles so we can paint standing on the floor. It helps us see the bigger picture without being too intent on a single piece.”

The overall goal in the paint shop is about how the team can take a designer’s image, often digital, and do their best to transfer it into the physical world with their hands, making as good a representation as possible of the designer’s vision.

“It is important to be nimble; to be able to shift gears on the fly,” Jasunas added. “I’ve learned not to get flustered, to go with the flow, and in return, I get immense satisfaction from directing a lot of my creative energy into the projects I get to work on.”

Jasunas has been doing this work at Yale for more than 12 years. His journey began after graduating from Hamden’s now-former Paier Art School with a major in illustration and applying to the paint shop for an internship — a suggestion from his mentor who was a drama school graduate. Jasunas was accepted into the program, and spent two years there, subsequently worked for summer stock theater until landing a job in the paint shop.

Reflecting on his career, Jasunas marvels at how his professional path unfolded. “When I first walked into this building, trying to figure out what I was doing with my life, the place felt almost mystical, and some days it still does.”