tetter said “Lion in Winter” was his first major

tetter said “Lion in Winter” was his first major set production.

And nugor it is.

The set is composed of three pieces — each 10 feet in height. It is glamorized with the rich golden colors of drapes and the finely woven costume produced by Sam’s “Sew’ers.”

Beneath a single archway — four feet long and 10 feet high on a plywood base — the royal blue of Eleanor’s gowns sway, the rustic brown of Henry’s robe stand with dignity and the soft colors of Alais blend creating an authentic 12th century castle atmosphere.

This castle’s arch is wood — a Philippine mahogany plywood — supported by four six inch PVC plastic drain pipes.

“It was interesting work,” Hostetter said of the three weeks of work dedicated to this project. “It’s the first time I’ve ever done carved arches” like the ones used on stage, he said.

Hostetter was forced to create the arches on his own. The script includes an overhead plan of the set with an inadequate list of props but due to differences in stages and sets, no dimensions were included.

Waldron O’Connor designed the set to fit the Gay Street stage. Under his directions and Hostetter’s own experience, Hostetter set to work to produce the three flats.

Besides the arch, the other two flats — again, made from Philippine Mahogany plywood and drain pipe — were 10 feet in height and created what Hostetter calls “a rectangle with a hunk taken out.”

The pie piece, with three sides each viewable at some time during the production, is a quarter circle shape nine feet by seven feet. The 1shaped section, again, with all sides viewable at some time, was roughly eight feet by seven feet.

The entire production was painted to look a very authentic castle stone.

Hostetter explained that ex-Rappahannock artist Linda Heimstra supervised set painting. A decorative artist, presently living in Northern Virginia, Heimstra returned to Rappahannock to work with a crew for