It’s one o’clock in the morning on a Saturday in November, and Peter Whinnery is watching students rip aluminum tape off a makeshift coffin. The students, all 30-plus of whom have spent the semester working on the Penn Players’ production of “Heathers: The Musical,” are incredulous that they’ve finally arrived at every production’s mortuary ritual: striking the set. In sleep-deprived, post-show giddiness, they drill out screws, unhinge wood flats, throw out scraps, fold up costumes, shelve props, and maybe keep a stray memento. Whinnery is overseeing it all but lets the producer and tech director—students as well—take charge. It’s only a matter of time before they start redirecting questions to him.
“Ask Peter,” someone will inevitably say. “Peter knows.”
“It’s one of the things that’s gonna be hard for the next person that has this job,” says Whinnery, who’s retiring from his position as technical adviser for Platt Student Performing Arts in the spring. “I just know. I mean, I’ve been here for 36 years, so when someone says, ‘Do you have X, Y, or Z?’ it’s like—‘God, we used to, let me see if I can find that thing.’”
The Performing Arts Council wood shop can be an overwhelming space to navigate. Whinnery helped design the space after the previous shop in Irvine Auditorium was closed in 1997—and he’s thought of everything. The shop has a ramp and an elevator to bring set pieces up and down. There’s also a props closet, two costume rooms, a furniture room, a tool shed, and a wide, paint-splattered floor. What started as a nine-month gig supervising the shop in Irvine would turn into a 36-year career.
Read more at the Pennsylvania Gazette.
