Bold, Brave, Curious! Scenic Design
Enjoy this behind the scenes look at Nicholas Kryah’s scenic design for Bold, Brave, Curious! This world premiere is available for touring to schools September 9-October 16 and streaming September 19-October 16. Pay-what-you-wish public performances are October 15-16 at The Sun Theatre, 3625 Grandel Square and pay-what-you-wish streaming is September 19-21.
It’s an understatement to say that Nicholas Kryah wore lots of artistic hats in his thirty-seven-year tenure with Metro Theater Company. From the day Zaro Weil hired him in 1977 through 2014, when he stepped down from his post as MTC’s Resident Artist, Nick did it all. He gave over 5,500 performances in roles ranging from Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird) and Babe Ruth (Jackie and Me) to a Fat Lie (Arm in Arm) and Emcee Dog (Go, Dog. Go!) He wrote plays: Beowulf, Iceman, A Short Hike on a Long Trail, Stix & Stonz, and Talkin’ Trash. He directed productions: Tomato Plant Girl, New Kid, Delilah’s Wish, and Long Road to Freedom. He served as both actor and stage manager for fourteen years of MTC’s tours. He designed and built thirty sets that fit in a van, yet filled a stage. Tours to Hawaii, Alaska, Japan, Italy, and Taiwan required figuring out to re-build and pack those sets to ship via air cargo. Nick did that, too. A master organizer and fastidious craftsman, Nick managed MTC’s production, construction, and storage space. He knew where every single tool, prop, musical instrument, and costume piece was stored. When MTC moved to its current home in Grand Center, Nick single-handedly built the sprung floor in the large rehearsal hall and designed and built out the scene shop and costume/props storage area. Nick also taught. It is impossible to count the thousands and thousands of young people and educators Nick inspired with his imaginative workshops in school classrooms.
Now, when he isn’t traveling or gardening, Nick is in his studio painting, making books, and tapping into the four-year old that he believes lives inside each of us. His play Everything is Round had recent productions at Pollyanna Theatre in Austin and Magik Theatre in San Antonio, Texas. My Name is Loofa Tutu is slated for production next season. He created the collages for MTC’s 2021 virtual production of Idris Goodwin’s Jacked!
Nick is thrilled to be part of MTC’s 50th Anniversary Season, designing for the return of one of his favorite characters, Madeline Delilah, in Mariah Richardson’s Bold, Brave, Curious!
Nicholas Kryah is a graduate of the Conservatory of Theatre Arts, with a B.A. from Webster University and an M.A. in dramatic literature, theory, and criticism from Michigan State University. With Carol North, he was honored with the Arts and Education Council’s 2014 Lifetime Achievement in the Arts award.
Nicholas Kryah