SETS, EXHIBITS & MORE
We have ‘set the stage’ in most of the theatres in and around Indy…and the museums, too! Our production team has worked on dozens of professional theatre productions, designing and fabricating full sets, hand-painted murals, turntables and other technical components. And our theatre skills have been applied to interactive exhibits and custom cabinetry in museums across Indianapolis and the country.
CLICK HERE to view the Playlist of PRODUCTION SERVICES Videos on YouTube
THEATRE - design & fabrication of sets, backdrops, specialty props & set elements
SUMMER STOCK STAGE Design & Fabrication of entire Summer Season [2026]
Founded in 2003, Summer Stock Stage (‘SSS’) has become one of Indianapolis’s most treasured cultural institutions — a nonprofit powerhouse that transforms young talent into professional artists. Each summer, it produces Broadway-caliber musicals at Butler University’s Schrott Center for the Arts, pairing Indiana’s top student performers with seasoned directors, choreographers, and designers to create experiences that rival anything on a professional stage.
In 2026, The Sapphire’s team provided ALL set designs, fabrication and installation for the entire 2026 season lineup of Grease, Ragtime, Newsies, and Dear Evan Hansen as mainstage productions. In addition, SSS debuted a new High School Studio Show in 2026 — Beetlejuice Jr.
What makes SSS truly shine is its legacy: alumni have gone on to perform on Broadway (including in Hamilton, Six, and The Outsiders), national tours, and regional theatres across the country. For more than two decades, it has served as the launching pad for Indianapolis’s next generation of artists — giving young people their first professional performance opportunity and giving Central Indiana audiences world-class musical theatre right in their own backyard.
SSS – GREASE 2026
SSS – GREASE 2026
SSS – GREASE 2026
SSS – GREASE 2026
SSS – GREASE 2026
EXHIBITS - museum quality interactives, custom cabinetry, displays and props
NEWFIELDS’ LUME Exhibit [2021]
The LUME Indianapolis is a totally immersive exhibit that combines great art and cutting-edge technology with floor to ceiling projections of some of the most famous paintings in the world. Created by Australian-based Grande Experiences, The LUME opened in 2021 featuring the work of Vincent van Gogh.
In addition to a hallway of angled mirrors, The Sapphire’s production team re-created an interactive 3-D set of Van Gogh’s bedroom as depicted in his three paintings The Bedroom, The Bedroom in Arles and The Bedroom in Arles II. The Van Gogh Bedroom served as a finale to the LUME experience and featured three of Van Gogh’s other paintings replicated on canvases by The Sapphire’s David Orr. (Portrait of Milliet Second Lieutenant Of the Zouaves, Rocks with Oak Tree, and Self Portrait XIV).
Van Gogh Bedroom 3D set
Gary Gee David Orr and Andrew Hastings in Van Gogh’s Bedroom
Replica of Van Gogh painting Self Portrait XIV
A hall of mirrors
3D set of Van Gogh bedroom
Bed from Van Gogh bedroom
Replica of Van Gogh painting Rock with Oak Tree
Replica of Van Gogh painting Portrait of Milliet Second Lieutenant Of the Zouaves
The CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF INDIANAPOLIS: Chinese Lantern [2014] + Seti’s Tomb [2011]
SETI’S TOMB – David Orr was the lead artist in the Treasures of the Earth: Seti’s Tomb multi-disciplinary installation at The Children’s Museum. The exhibit is an interactive replica of parts of this 3,500 year old Egyptian Tomb – “a recreation of the longest, deepest, and most complete of any Egyptian tomb in the famed Valley of the Kings.” David guided the process from 3D hieroglyph fabrication; panel sculpting, painting and aging with an artistic and durable, child-safe finish.
The CHINESE LANTERN – This huge Chinese Lantern (17” tall x 12” wide) was designed and built for the opening of The Children’s Museum’s Take Me There: CHINA exhibit in 2014. Hovering high in the air, this gigantic lantern hung in the Sunburst Atrium, greeting all visitors. Made from lightweight sheet metal, plywood, foam, epoxy, silk fabric and tassle fringe, the who sculpture weighed 650 pounds.
Conservators restoring Egyptian wall mural
David Orr painting Egyptian figure
David Orr paints Egyptian figures
giant Chinese lantern hanging from ceiling
Indoor Chinese lanterns with Terracotta Warriors exhibit
Chinese lanterns and Terracotta Warriors exhibit.
Ancient Egyptian mural restoration in progress.
painted wall replica of Seti’s tomb in Egypt
WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN: Tennis Museum [2013] & Rookwood Trophy Case [2015]
Cincinnati’s Western & Southern Open is the nation’s oldest professional tennis tournament played in its city of origin and has been a fixture in the Queen City for more than a century. The Sapphire’s production team had the honor of building custom cases for the prized Rookwood Trophy and the on-site Tennis Museum, displaying racquets, photos, memorabilia and tennis gear worn by past champions.
Two men standing by trophy display case
David Orr and David Mill in Tennis Museum
W&S OPEN Rookwood Trophy in Case
lit trophy case in Tennis Museum
Large cut-glass crystal sports trophy in case
David Orr working Tennis Museum
Man assembling glass display case with tennis poster
David Orr working on trophy case
OUTSIDE the BOX - using theatre skills to support the community in so many ways...
MURAL STAGES for the Arts Council of Indianapolis [2021 & 2022]
Our team built 5 interactive stages to exhibit the murals of 5 local artists around downtown Indianapolis. The sports-themed works of art were displayed during March Madness and the College Football Playoffs. <#”>SWISH Indy murals celebrated basketball and were part of the SWISH arts and cultural festival during the 2021 NCAA March Madness and the Goal Post Murals were an artistic tribute to football and part of “The Art of Football” arts and cultural activities for attendees of the College Football Playoffs in 2022. We were thrilled to provide stages for people to walk onto to enjoy the art and “stage” spectacular selfies!
Andrew Hastings, Daniel A. Martin, Gary Gee and David Orr in front of mural
Daniel A. Martin and David Orr assemble basketball mural stage
Workers installing colorful space-themed mural panels
Gary Gee, Andrew Hastings, Tonie Smith and David Orr
three people assembling mural frame
Gary Gee and Andrew Hanstings in front of basketball mural
Daniel A. Martin shows off basketball mural
Artist Israel Solomon in front of mural
Masked artists painting colorful basketball mural
person looking at basketball mural
people assembling mural stage
David Orr assembling mural frame
Tonie Smith in front of football artwork
Workers installing football-themed mural and turf
COVID-19 Barriers [2020]
The Sapphire uses theatre to meet the needs of the community, which held true when the pandemic swept the nation. We had partners who suddenly needed COVID barriers…so we made COVID barriers! For the Arts Council of Indianapolis, we made and installed barriers for the Indianapolis Arts Garden and their downtown offices. Barriers were also made and installed at the offices of Young & Laramore and for local actors who moonlight as Lyft and Uber drivers.
reception desk with COVID barriers
View of a contemporary office space interior.
Sunlit atrium with circular information kiosk
Daniel A. Martin displays COVID barrier in car
person hands paper through window of COVID Barrier
Modern office reception area with brick accents.
kiosk with curved COVID barriers
SLEEPING GODDESS at the INDIANA FLOWER & PATIO SHOW [2016]
The theme for the 2016 Indiana Flower + Patio Show was “Mother Earth” – so, Landscape Architect Cheryl Jacques commissioned The Sapphire to build a giant sleeping goddess that would weave into a hillside with giant grasses for hair and adorned with spring flowers around her forehead and ankle, and that people could reach out and touch. The Sleeping Goddess won ‘Most Photographed Feature’ that year.
Child touching giant reclining garden sculpture
David Orr with Sleeping Goddess
Scott Stockhouse, Cheryl Jacques and DAVID ORR
David Orr and Cheryl Jacques at Flower + Patio show
Giant sleeping goddess figure under tree
Camera-shaped trophy with flowers and plaque.
wide view of sleeping goddess in exhibit
The LUXURIOUS UNDERPASS [2014]
As part of the Arts Council of Indianapolis’ “Vibrant Corridors” initiative, The Sapphire turned the cement pillars of New York Street’s underpass at I-65/I-70 into a luxurious pathway of marbled columns. This project was a partnership between the Arts Council, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and Lilly who supplied volunteer painters during their Lilly Day of Service. David Orr was the project designer and coordinator, working with the organizations and volunteers to create a visually pleasing pathway for all who traveled this “Luxurious Underpass.”
Check out this VIDEO about the project!
plans for Luxurious Underpass mural
highway underpass pillars painted like marble columns
People painting pillars under a bridge.
David Orr painting underpass to look like marble
Decorative concrete pillars under an overpass.
Worker painting an underpass support beam.
Volunteers in red shirts painting underpass columns
