Flight Risk
By Meg Braem
New West Theatre
Flight Risk
New West Theatre— October 2026
Directed by Anastasia Siceac
Scenic, prop Design & Construction by Jake Rose
Projections Design by Jake Rose
Scenic Construction by James McDowell
Stage Managed by Melissa Cadick
Lighting Design by Julia Wasilewski
Sound Design by Michael Ayotte
Costume Design by Jamie Johnson
Flight Risk is a touching, intimate story about WWII Veteran Hank Dunfield and Nurse Sarah. The two get to know each other leading up to Hank’s 100th birthday by talking of old age, sickness, autonomy, and building a model Lancaster bomber together.
Set mainly inside a care home, my design took airplane shapes and angles as inspiration for the walls around the room. The centre window is based around the rear tail gunner window of a Lancaster Bomber—Hank’s position. The scumbled “Puce” coloured walls give texture, and the pinks, and baby blues serve to infantilise Hank, who struggles to maintain his autonomy in the care home, though a few greens remain to represent the small amounts of freedom he still has.
The set folded and opened up to reveal a field behind the set. Movement was aided by a pivot point on the outside walls that helped the walls smoothly move without distracting the audience.
Photos by StrudelBrand
Behind the Scenes
Above the walls, a trapezoidal flat connected the flats as a ceiling of sorts and became a surface to project onto. When the set changed to the field outside at night, the flat lit up with clouds, the moon, and stars. As Hank recalls his fallen comrades, a new star appears in the sky. The projections were animated in Blender and Procreate dreams, to mix 3d and 2d Animation, and ran through QLab.
Lancaster Bomber
Props included two scale Lancaster airplanes. One painted and finished, and another that had to be assembled throughout the show, piece by piece. I partially built the model and inset magnets to help the actors assemble the plane throughout the show.
